Tired of buying shoes that don’t fit? Measure your feet with this free app

March 28, 2021

By Kim Komando

Buying new shoes should easy. You’ve been doing it your entire life. But according to a recent study, many people are wearing the wrong shoe size without even realizing it.

Only 37% of people wear the correct shoe size for their feet’ length and width. How is it possible that almost 60% of shoe wearers don’t know what size to buy? Well, that stems from incorrect measuring. Tap or click here to see how Adidas is turning plastic bottles into shoes.

There’s a good chance you’ve been wearing the wrong size shoes all these years. Fortunately, an app can show you what your correct size is once and for all.

Here’s how it works

Few people will know this, but not all shoes are made equal. We’re not talking about design or materials used, but rather sizing charts. There will be small differences between the same sizes of two competing brands, and that can cause some confusion.

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Canadian startup Xesto estimates that as many as 40% of online purchases are returned due to incorrect sizing, and 70% are returned for an improper fit. That translates to almost a billion shoes being returned.

Considering those statistics, the company came up with an app that will help you find the exact fit for your feet. According to the developers, Xesto fit is the first and only 3D foot sizing app that incorporates over 150 shoe brands.

Using the camera on your smartphone, the app will scan your feet within 1/16^th of an inch. The results are easily shared with friends and family – making gifting more convenient.

The app not only helps you with an accurate fit, but the company hopes it will help the environment and economy as well. When shoes are returned due to sizing, it costs a retailer about $20. That stacks up to $15 billion in annual losses for the shoe industry.

By reducing the return rate, it can save smaller retailers money while also helping the environment. “Some brands dispose of up to 84% of returned fashion items for reasons such as damaged packaging or minor cosmetic damage. This contributes to over 10 million metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere,” Xesto said in a press release.

The app is currently only available for iPhone and can be downloaded from the Apple App Store.