To choose running shoes size online, a buyer has to deal with three well known sizing guides that give three different rules for the space at the front of the shoe. Running Warehouse, ASICS and RunRepeat each describe a separate method, and mixing them produces a number that none of them recommends.
The size a person wears in casual shoes is only a starting point. The steps below follow one method from start to finish, and then look at whether the remaining problem is length or width.
Running Warehouse describes the tracing method in plain steps. Stand on a sheet of paper in the socks you will run in, keep the weight balanced on both feet, and draw a thin line around the foot with the pen held perpendicular to the ground.
ASICS adds a wall to the process. The heel is placed against the wall, both feet are traced, and the distance from the heel to the longest toe is measured in centimetres.
Both feet need a tracing, since the left and the right foot are rarely identical. The longer outline is the one that decides the size, and the paper can be kept for later comparison with a brand chart or with the inside of a shoe.
How much room should a running shoe leave at the toe?
A foot outline gives only the base figure, and each source then adds room in a different way. ASICS adds 1 to 1.5 cm to the measured foot length, so that the foot has space to expand during a run. Running Warehouse does not use a centimetre figure, and describes a good fit as half to a full thumb’s width of space in front of the toes.
RunRepeat works on the shoe and not on the foot. Its rule is that the internal length of the shoe should be at least 5 mm longer than the foot.
These three are separate methods. A buyer who has traced the foot at home can apply the ASICS rule to a brand chart in centimetres, while a buyer trying shoes on in a store can use the thumb test. The RunRepeat figure applies only where a brand publishes the inside length of the shoe, which makes it the hardest of the three to use when ordering online.
Should I size up for length or for width?
RunRepeat says that when the length feels right but the fit still bothers, the foot probably needs a different width. Width labels also vary by brand, so the step of roughly 3.18 mm between one width and the next does not hold for every maker.
For men, Running Warehouse lists the widths as Narrow (B), Medium (D), Wide (2E) and Extra Wide (4E), and says most runners find the standard width comfortable. ASICS uses the same 2E and 4E labels for men’s wide and extra wide in its wide feet guide.
A buyer who feels pressure along the sides has two choices. One is to move up a size, which adds length that the foot may not need. The other is a wide version of the same shoe, and most Indian brand pages do not list one.
RunRepeat also gives a checklist for the moment the shoe is on the foot. The heel should be locked in, the midfoot should be snug but not tight, and a shoe should feel right from the box instead of relying on a break in period.
What Indian brand pages show
None of the Indian brand pages opened here state India size equivalents, so no conversion table is printed here. Each brand’s own chart in centimetres is the safer reference, and a traced outline in centimetres can be held against it.
Skechers India shows the problem clearly. Its product pages list sizes in US numbers, and the India and UK size field read “null” on all three pages checked. The GO RUN Consistent 2.0 listing shows sizes in US numbers from 7 to 14 and states no width, which leaves a buyer with the size chart link as the only route to a centimetre figure.
The GO RUN Persistence listing also states no width, and the page did not show in November 2026 whether it could be ordered. The page describes a removable Arch Fit insole. A removable insole can be taken out and laid on the traced outline to compare the two at home, although the Skechers page does not suggest this use.
ASICS says its stores offer a FOOT ID fitting service, which is the only in person fitting service named by the sources used here. For a buyer who cannot visit a store, the traced outline, one allowance rule and the width signs above are the available tools.
The rules in this guide come from a footwear retailer, a review site and ASICS pages written for other countries. None of them is an Indian brand or an Indian standards body, and none of them makes a claim about foot health, so the guide makes none either.
One more point concerns the order of the steps, and it applies to every method above. Length is settled first from the longer foot and one chosen rule, and width is considered only after a pair of the right length has been worn. Changing both at once makes it hard to tell which change helped. A buyer who keeps the traced paper, the chosen rule and the brand chart figure written down in one place will find any later return or exchange easier to describe to a seller.