Wide Last Xplorer Boot?

[Capercaillie]

Coming a little closer to the OP’s subject, Alfa recommends size 42 for 26.0 cm foot length. Further, Alfa recommends 43 for 26.6 cm and 44 for 27.3 cm foot lengths. At least they first instruct how to measure your feet, and then give the numbers above,

That explains why the US equivalent sizes on Alfa's boots are wrong (the 43 Guards and 43 Skarvets are labeled as US 9, which is far outside typical conversion ranges). The formula for converting foot length to EUR shoe size is (0.15 * foot length in millimeters) + 2. The way you would arrive at the above strange foot measurements is if you take the EUR size and subtract 3 instead of 2 before dividing. Huge algebra fail on Alfa's part.

(BTW that formula is how you can tell you are a size 42 if your feet are between 265mm and 270mm).

At-home foot length measurement using a paper and tracing is not very accurate: it depends on how thick your pen/pencil is and how much you angle it, and if you do it yourself your foot pronation will be off, which affects length. Even a Brannock device will be off if the most prominent part of your heel is above the lip of the device (me), or you wear thicker socks while on it. Then there is the variability from foot swelling, maybe you are tired and your arches are low, etc. etc. The best you can do is determine whether your feet are between 26.5 and 27.0 centimeters.

On the other hand, my issue with the 44 Guards were heel blisters, and I do not understand how toe box shape would be related. Yup, I do agree that for wide feet, toe box is important. However, a wide toe box has helped me mainly to avoid several toe area issues.

IMO toe box shape is the most important part of getting a wide boot to fit in the proper length. You can stretch out boots for width mid-foot, but toe caps usually cannot stretch out. Far too many "wide" shoes have toe boxes that are too narrow. Then you either have to wear a size too large (and get heel blisters), or find a better shoe. Fortunately, Alfa Guard, Skarvet, and Horizon all have good toe boxes.

I suffered 15 years of buying oversize shoes before I knew better. Proper fitting shoes took me from a week of foot recovery after a 25km day hike, to easily backpacking 30+km days with no discomfort. It really is life changing. There is no reason to get "bored" of Compeed.

[tkarhu]

the US equivalent sizes on Alfa's boots are wrong (the 43 Guards and 43 Skarvets are labeled as US 9, which is far outside typical conversion ranges). The formula for converting foot length to EUR shoe size is (0.15 * foot length in millimeters) + 2. The way you would arrive at the above strange foot measurements is if you take the EUR size and subtract 3 instead of 2 before dividing. Huge algebra fail on Alfa's part.

(BTW that formula is how you can tell you are a size 42 if your feet are between 265mm and 270mm).

The page you link to has good information! Also under section ”Deriving the shoe size: Foot versus shoe and last”. It says that there are three different things a shoe size system can refer to: average user foot length; inner cavity of a shoe; and length of last, which is told to be a shoe manufacturing tool. May each of the three gives different numbers?

It looks like Alfa Guard and Nike follow same shoe sizing system. ~270 mm foot width is US 10 in Nike men’s shoes, too. https://www.nike.com/a/how-to-measure-foot-size

IMO toe box shape is the most important part of getting a wide boot to fit in the proper length. You can stretch out boots for width mid-foot, but toe caps usually cannot stretch out. Far too many "wide" shoes have toe boxes that are too narrow. Then you either have to wear a size too large (and get heel blisters), or find a better shoe. Fortunately, Alfa Guard, Skarvet, and Horizon all have good toe boxes.

I suffered 15 years of buying oversize shoes before I knew better. Proper fitting shoes took me from a week of foot recovery after a 25km day hike, to easily backpacking 30+km days with no discomfort. It really is life changing. There is no reason to get "bored" of Compeed.

Great to hear that! Luckily you can tell toe box shape from most photos of shoes, and just have a look at your own feet for comparison.

I do agree that oversizing shoes is generally a bad idea. However, buying second hand for entry level use is a special case. That is how I have ended up with size 45 Alpina ski boots twice.

[Capercaillie]

It looks like Alfa Guard and Nike follow same shoe sizing system. ~270 mm foot width is US 10 in Nike men’s shoes, too. https://www.nike.com/a/how-to-measure-foot-size

Unfortunately, you are giving Alfa too much credit. If that were true, they would label their 43 boots as US size 9.5, not size 9 (https://www.nike.com/ca/size-fit/mens-footwear). It really is a very stupid arithmetic mistake on their part. They took the EUR sizes from whoever they outsourced the design to (if they had done it in-house, they would have known the real last lengths), and converted those wrong. A lot of people on this forum have complained that Alfa boots are too large for the listed US sizes. Now we know why, because you helped solve the mystery.

REI is one of the largest chain store retailers of outdoor goods in the US. Their recommendation chart that Tom posted on page 1 goes the other way - someone who buys a 43 Alfa Vista expecting a US size 11 boot might find it too short. I wonder how many returns due to the wrong size information REI has had, and how much this influenced their decision to discontinue selling Alfa boots. This stupid mistake must be really expensive for Alfa.

[tkarhu]

If that were true, they would label their 43 boots as US size 9.5, not size 9 https://www.nike.com/ca/size-fit/mens-footwear

A more empirical approach, to complete our ”literature analysis” I measured the internal lengths of my size 43 and 44 Guards:
43 <—> 274 mm
44 <—> 282 mm

The Guards have round and quite deep heel cups, so actual internal length may actually be a little more than the above numbers. For clarity, I measured just above the sole of shoe, to get a horizontal measure.

Based on the manual measurements of Guards vs. Nike US size / foot length conversion chart:
43 <—> 10.5
44 <—> 11.5

The above comparison again, assuming that boot length should be 0.5 cm longer than foot length:
43 <—> 9.75
44 <—> 10.75
EDIT: a calculation error corrected in above numbers

Alfa Guard size ”names” vs. Nike US / EUR size chart:
43 <—> 9.5
44 <—> 10

What Rei says on Vista:
43 <—> 11
44 <—> 11.5

A Zappos calculator says EUR 43 is US 10 and EUR 44 is US 11.

Well, there certainly seems to be something weird going on with the conversions.

If Alfa has stated that a 43 would be US 9, they really seem to be on a low / ”running-big” extreme of a distribution.

Considering all the variations above, it looks like given sizes have almost +-1 deviation, so a difference between the size charts of two companies can be two full euro sizes.

Alfa recommends size 42 for 26.0 cm foot length. Further, Alfa recommends 43 for 26.6 cm and 44 for 27.3 cm foot lengths.

As a European / Scandinavian person, I would assume that my shoe size is 42, if sizing is based on foot length. I think Birkenstock has that proper way of doing things, they are very German However, I assume that most often shoe sizes are shoe or last length based. With such a way of putting it, for a wide shoe I would assume a 43 to fit, +-0.5 sizes. And, for a wideish regular shoe, I would assume I need a 44 to compensate my EEE (double extra) wide feet. The 44 wideish regulars might work well, too, if heel cup and toe box shapes match my feet shapes.

Back to the original subject, my size 45 Alpinas have felt like wideish 44 regular fit shoes to me. So their sizing seems to be at a high / ”running-small” extreme of +1. Besides their shoes being narrow, to me it seems that Alpina boots are running small, too.

[voilenerd]

Just got my Alfa boots in! They fit my feet like a nice tight glove. Glad I went with your guys recommendations. My heel feels locked and toe fits my wide feet much better than Alpina. Now I just need my skis and bindings!

Another thought, due to the weight and feeling of these boots I’m strongly considering shaving other 75mm quiver. Only using my Voile Skis with Voile TTS with the F3s on deep days and lots of vert.

[Inspiredcapers]

voilnerd- just curious, what is your ‘regular’ size and what size Alfas did you get?

[voilenerd]

I wear a 28 mondo in Scarpa tele boots. I’m an 11 in most US shoes. I got the 43 Alfa.

[voilenerd]

Well I’m on the hunt again for new boots. The Alfa 43 Vistas are okay. But longer tour I want to take them off. Getting odd heel blisters and the 43 seems a bit short after skiing more for my size 11 wide foot. I think the 44 would have been too big. The boot also offers very little control on the down.

So now I am considering Crispi Futura with carbon cuff. Any thoughts on size for those? I talked with Telemark down and they mentioned I’m a 44 to 45. Im thinking I should go with the 44.

[lilcliffy]

Well I’m on the hunt again for new boots. The Alfa 43 Vistas are okay. But longer tour I want to take them off. Getting odd heel blisters and the 43 seems a bit short after skiing more for my size 11 wide foot. I think the 44 would have been too big. The boot also offers very little control on the down.

So now I am considering Crispi Futura with carbon cuff. Any thoughts on size for those? I talked with Telemark down and they mentioned I’m a 44 to 45. Im thinking I should go with the 44.

I am bit confused by your personal USM to EU size conversions-
I don't understand how you would equate a 43EU to 11M-US...I am not surprised that the 43 feels a bit short...I am actually surprised that you can wear it...

I am- ideally- a 42.5EU in terms of footbed length- but often need to wear a 42EU in a large-volume boot (eg Alfa Guard).
I have the 42EU Alfa Guard and the 42EU Svartisen (and the Futura Pro)- both of these boots are the same length-last- and feel a tad bit short on my slightly longer left foot. A 42.5EU would be better for me in the Svartsen/Futura- but, a 43EU in the Guard would be waay to volumous for my skinny feet.

The 44-45 sizing seems more reasonable if you are typically a size 11-
but, perhaps you often need size 11 because of the the width of your foot- as opposed to its actual length? (ie that would explain how you can wear a size 43 Guard (otherwise I would think it would be too short)).

I just bought a 42EU Futura Pro XP (the interior geometry is identical to the Svartisen). I would not describe it as a wide boot- in fact, a 43EU would probably be a bit more comfortable for me in terms of width at the metatarsus (and I have a medium-width foot). But the a 43EU would probably be too large in the instep; heel; ankle. If I could order them in CAN, I would have ordered botht he 42 and the 43, and sent one back.

Are you in the US? If so, I would strongly consider ordering both the 44 and the 45 and sending one back.
If you have a wide foot- you may well need the 45.

[voilenerd]

Well I’m on the hunt again for new boots. The Alfa 43 Vistas are okay. But longer tour I want to take them off. Getting odd heel blisters and the 43 seems a bit short after skiing more for my size 11 wide foot. I think the 44 would have been too big. The boot also offers very little control on the down.

So now I am considering Crispi Futura with carbon cuff. Any thoughts on size for those? I talked with Telemark down and they mentioned I’m a 44 to 45. Im thinking I should go with the 44.

I am bit confused by your personal USM to EU size conversions-
I don't understand how you would equate a 43EU to 11M-US...I am not surprised that the 43 feels a bit short...I am actually surprised that you can wear it...

I am- ideally- a 42.5EU in terms of footbed length- but often need to wear a 42EU in a large-volume boot (eg Alfa Guard).
I have the 42EU Alfa Guard and the 42EU Svartisen (and the Futura Pro)- both of these boots are the same length-last- and feel a tad bit short on my slightly longer left foot. A 42.5EU would be better for me in the Svartsen/Futura- but, a 43EU in the Guard would be waay to volumous for my skinny feet.

The 44-45 sizing seems more reasonable if you are typically a size 11-
but, perhaps you often need size 11 because of the the width of your foot- as opposed to its actual length? (ie that would explain how you can wear a size 43 Guard (otherwise I would think it would be too short)).

I just bought a 42EU Futura Pro XP (the interior geometry is identical to the Svartisen). I would not describe it as a wide boot- in fact, a 43EU would probably be a bit more comfortable for me in terms of width at the metatarsus (and I have a medium-eisdth foot). But the a 43EU would probably be too large in the instep; heel; ankle. If I could order them in CAN, I would have ordered botht he 42 and the 43, and sent one back.

Are you in the US? If so, I would strongly consider ordering both the 44 and the 45 and sending one back.
If you have a wide foot- you may well need the 45.

I’m in the US. I ordered the 43 Alfa based on what Rei chart recommended and what people told me on the forum here that the Alfas run one size big. I plan on returning them to REI since they don’t have any more Alfas in my size and getting something with more support in cuff.