In fact, all shoes (except for flip flops) are made from "lasts." A last is a prototypical model of a foot. The last is reproduced up or down to scale for different sizes. However, the last is one company's idea of what the proportions of a "standard foot" are.
During the fabrication process, the parts of a shoe or boot are fitted and assembled on these lasts so the shoe or boot attains the correct shape. Search You Tube for making a shoe. It is remarkable to watch. Not everything can be automated. All shoes are still at least partially assembled by hand. This also explains why shoe manufacturing has increasingly migrated to locations with low labor costs.
One year, while on tour in Florence, Italy, my wife and I had the chance to watch Ferragamo shoes being hand made by factory artisans. Of course, it is all done by hand, using centuries old processes. It was fascinating.
Accordingly, manufacturers in different regions of the world will have differing lasts or models based on their clientele and the local population. Interestingly, foot shape is a thing that can be passed on genetically. As a result, some manufacturers have lasts that typify the shape of feet in a defined geographic region.
In my experience, I have found that shoes made in Asia tend to be smaller in each size. Shoes made in the US tend to be larger (but there are relatively few show manufacturers here anymore). In Europe, the shoes tend to be more "Normal." However, this may be because many people from around the world have their foot shape passed along from their ancestors, who where originally from Europe.
For example, all my shoes were high-end Allen Edmunds shoes, handmade in the US. Back in the 1990s I was induced to buy a pair of Mephisto shoes while in on a business trip to France. My life changed in an instant. I returned home and started getting rid of all my Allen Edmunds dress shoes, replacing them with Mephisto shoes on successive trips to Europe. The reason is that the Mephisto last fits like a glove. I attribute that to my Italian ancestors, who gave me a Euro shaped foot. Lesson, all lasts are different, all feet are different. Finding a one-to one match is a marriage made in Heaven.
The point I am making is that buying shoes is a caveat emptor process. Buyers must do their research, and contact companies to ask how a particular shoe or boot runs to size. For example, Keen footwear typically run either one half size larger or one-half size smaller, depending on the style. YOU HAVE TO DO YOUR RESEARCH. My boots run one-half size small. My Keen hiking sandals run one half size large. But the look almost exactly the same. They are NOT.
This is why buying footwear over the internet is a bad idea, unless you have first had the exact make and model fitted and you KNOW FOR A FACT how a particular make and model will fit. Buying replacement pairs after you have had experience with the exact make and model can be a good idea. but buying, fitting not done, based on a web ad is a bad idea unless you are one of those rare folks with feet that happen to match closely the last used to make the show or boot. I have yet to meet one.
I hope this helps.
