Did your favorite brand change the fit of their running shoes in 2025?

Fit is a key component of running shoe comfort. Customers expect a consistent fit from their preferred brands. This is why we commonly hear statements like, "I'm a Nike girl," or, "New Balance always fits my foot the best."

What happens when a popular brand changes the fit of their shoes? And how do we measure these changes?

Measuring shoe fit is easy and accurate with the SmartLast system. Through partnerships with retailers, 3D foot scanning companies like Aetrex, and purchasing shoes, Heeluxe is able to grow a large database of current production shoes.

Here's the 3 things everyone needs to know when a brand changes their fit:

1. Change can be good. It's a win for a brand to consciously change their fit to meet the needs of the customers IF they communicate these changes to their retailers and customers. When a brand has changes to fit that were not expected, they will likely lose customers when "they don't fit like they used to."

2. It's vital to know how brands compare to one another. While many of these brands have "good" fit, they do have different fits compared to one another. Many of the brands here have more than 1/2 size difference in ball and toe fit, so customers will need to go up or down 1/2 size when they switch between these brands.

3. Consistency is key. This data is the average for all of the production running shoes we've tested for these brands. If all of the styles for a brand are consistent with their average, that encourages customers to try different styles from them and get the same comfortable fit. However, many running brands suffer from inconsistent fit across the product line. When a customer has to purchase 1/2 size to full size differences across your product line, you're risking high returns or worse: losing the customer.

Criteria for shoes used in this analysis:

1. Shoes must be running styles currently in production for the given year and available to the public. No sample shoes factor into this calculation.
2. We included all brands that had 6 or more production styles in our database in both 2024 and 2025. Not all brands in this graph are current Heeluxe customers.
3. All shoes were tested using Heeluxe's SmartLast system.
4. Mens and Womens styles are used in this analysis
5. 4 psi = 1/2 size difference
6. Ball measurements are the average of medial and lateral fit pressures. Toe measurements are average of big and pinky toe.