Work Boot Size Chart: One Foot Length, Eight Makers' Sizes

Most people order work boots in their sneaker size and hope. Line up each brand's work boot size chart side by side and you can see why that's a gamble. For a US men's 9, 10 and 11, here's the length each maker prints. Where a maker publishes centimetres only, we show its centimetre figure rather than converting it, so you're reading the maker's number, not ours.

Look at the men's 10 column. Ariat and Carhartt put a size 10 foot at about 10.6 inches. CAT, Reebok Work, Timberland PRO and Wolverine put it at 11.0 inches. That gap of roughly three-eighths of an inch is close to a full size step on several of these charts. A foot that measures 10 5/8 inches is a 10 on Ariat's chart and a 9 on CAT's, where 10 5/8 inches is the listed length for a men's 9.

Reading the chart that way round, from your measured length to the size, is the whole trick. If your foot is 11 inches, Ariat lists that length at a men's 11, while CAT, Reebok Work, Timberland PRO and Wolverine list roughly that length at a men's 10. Neither is wrong. Each maker sizes its own lasts, and the chart is the only public statement of how.

A few caveats sit behind these columns. Wolverine and CAT head their length columns simply “Inches” and don't say whether that is foot length or the length of the last (the foot-shaped form the boot is built on), so treat them as each maker's reference length. Carhartt has no standalone footwear chart; its figures come from the Size & Fit panel on a boot product page and may not cover every Carhartt style. Ariat prints its women's sizes 7.5, 7.5 and 8.5 in its first three rows, so there is no women's 8 to quote. We copy charts as published rather than correcting them.

Both CAT and Wolverine label their unisex rows “US Unisex Size (Runs as Men's Sizing)”, so a woman ordering a unisex style from either brand should convert to men's first. Ariat's fit guide gives its own rule of thumb: “Women should size down 1.5 sizes in men's work boots. For example, a women's size 9 is typically a men's size 7.5.” Reebok Work's women's chart uses the same inch values as its men's chart offset by two sizes, which is a different offset from Ariat's. That's another reason to work from length, not from a conversion rule.

Length is only half of it. Width is where most work-boot returns start, and here the makers are even less consistent, because there is no single width scale that every brand prints. The letters below are copied from each maker's own size page or from the product pages in our catalogue. Where a maker doesn't publish what its letters mean, we say so instead of guessing.

Ariat is the most explicit. Its size guide says its widths are “approximately 1/6 of an inch” apart, and that “For men, B is Narrow, D is Standard, EE is Wide, and EEEE is Extra Wide. For women, B is Standard and C is Wide.” It also warns that “Available widths vary by style”, which is true of every brand: a maker offering EE in one boot doesn't mean the boot you want comes in EE.

Other makers use words or their own codes instead of letters. Wolverine sells men's boots in M (medium) and EW (extra wide). KEEN Utility labels its options Regular and Wide. Skechers says its “Men's Wide Fit is equivalent to Men's 2E / 3E sizes” and its “Women's Wide Fit is equivalent to Women's W or D width.” Brunt ships boots in Regular (D) and says removing a grey insert under the insole takes them to a wider EE fit. Carolina's 28 Series 6-inch composite boot is listed in D, 2E and 4E, and Reebok Work's Sublite Cushion alloy-toe shoe in M, W and 4E. 2E and EE are the same width written two ways.

Thorogood's printed chart has one instruction that runs against instinct: “Read the width on the right side of your foot. Do not allow for additional room. Boots are built with extra room.” In other words, don't size up in width just to be safe. Read what the measurement says, then order that width if the boot comes in it.

The most common sizing complaint on safety boots is pain at the tips or tops of the toes, and it has a cause a regular boot doesn't: the safety cap is a rigid shell. Leather stretches; a steel, alloy or composite cap does not. Ariat says it directly: “Remember that the toe box won't stretch over time, so it's important to have enough room for the widest part of your foot from the start.” CCOHS says the same in fewer words: “Do not expect footwear to stretch with wear.”

So the fit test for a safety boot happens at the front. Thorogood's guidance is that “Your toes should have about half an inch of room in front of them so your toes aren't completely pressed against the front of your boots, but they shouldn't slide forward as you walk and hit the front of the toecap.” CCOHS puts the gap at “about 12.5 mm”, which is the same half inch. Ariat adds the side-to-side check: wiggle your toes, and “you do not want to feel any tightness or pinching in the toe box.”

Should you size up? The makers don't agree, and we won't pretend they do. Wolverine says its products “tend to fit true to size” and recommends “sizing up to the next whole size if a half size is not offered.” Ariat says to stick to your standard size, but that with steel-toe boots “you may need to go half a size up for extra comfort.” Thorogood's sizing page tells readers to “always size up to account for socks!” Xena Workwear says its safety boots “fit either true-to-size or 1/2 size small depending on your selected model”, and flags individual styles, such as the Vega, as running half a size small. Brunt says most of its boots “run true to your typical boot size.”

The practical reading: measure, take the chart size for your length, and only go up if the maker itself says that style runs small or the toes touch the cap when you stand. Going up a full size to relieve toe pressure moves the cap forward, but it also lets your heel lift. Thorogood's test for a boot that's too big is exactly that: “your heel comes up as you step forward.” If your toes hit the top of the cap rather than the end, the problem is toe-box height or width, and a wider fitting, or a different toe shape, is the fix, not a longer boot.

A work boot size chart gets you close; a few checks before and after the box arrives get you the rest of the way. Fit is also a safety point, not only comfort: OSHA's general-industry PPE rule tells employers to “Select PPE that properly fits each affected employee” (29 CFR 1910.132(d)(1)(iii)), and the construction rule gained the same wording in December 2024 (1926.95(c)(2)). A boot that slides or pinches is a boot people take off.

Most makers make returns possible only on unworn boots. Timberland allows returns within 30 days for size or fit “as long as they're unworn, unwashed, unaltered, and undamaged”, and Red Wing's online chart carries a similar 30-day line. That means the try-on happens indoors, on carpet, before the boots ever see a job site. Xena suggests wearing new pairs at home for two to four days to confirm the size, and notes the footbed settles and the leather gives during that time. Check each maker's current return terms before you wear them outside.