How Mondo sizes works

The international standard for measuring ski boot sizes is the Mondo chart. Mondo only applies to ski boots and no other shoes or boots of any kind, which should make us skiers feel extra special…

So how do you figure out your Mondo size? Fortunately it’s not that hard, pretty simple actually. The Mondo size is nothing more than the length of the foot in centimeters (cm). As soon as you know that an inch equals 2.54 cm you’re pretty much home free. The US shoe size chart is not based on length in any way humans are meant to understand so using this as a length measurement won’t work unless you’re the lucky guy that’s an 11 size as that happens to be an even 11 inches foot.What is the Mondo size of a US men’s 11? It is 11 x 2.54 = 27.94 which we’ll round up to 28 cm i.e. a Mondo size of 28. If you are any other size you will need a piece of cardboard (longer than your feet), a tape measure, a pen and a helping hand. Stand on the cardboard, have the helping hand mark the front extremity of your big toe and the end of your heel. Measure that difference and multiply the inches and fractions of inches by 2.54. Et voila! You’ve got your Mondo size. Now unfortunately there is lot more going into knowing what your perfect boot size, liner size, size and thickness of innersole etc. you may need, but knowing your Mondo size will help you narrow down your search a lot. How about half sizes? They often (but not always) mean you have to go up one half a size. I am a Mondo 27.5 and consistently end up fitting the best in a 28 boot.