Guide to getting our ballet and jazz shoe size right

Shopping online can be hard, especially when it comes to getting the correct fit for your ballet or jazz shoes. We’ve been selling shoes online since 2008, and have operated a dancewear shop, so we’ve had loads of practice in helping families pick the right size of shoe.

We can’t stress enough, that sizes vary a lot between different brands and one size in X brand, will not always match the same size in another brand. Don’t base your sizing off a brand you’ve tried before and don’t assume your ballet or jazz shoe will be the same size as your street or school shoes. Usually (but not always) your ballet and jazz shoe will be one size down from your street shoe size. Note also that our sizes are based on AU sizes. Ballet and jazz shoes are sometimes called slippers and this is because they are a soft shoe and should ideally be worn as a snug fit.

We strongly recommend that you always CHECK YOUR CHILD’S FOOT SIZE prior to selecting the shoe size.

Please check our size charts below and also remember to measure your child’s feet from back of heel to end of the longest toe then add 1cm for wriggle room. This is best done by taking an A4 sheet of paper and standing on it on a flat hard floor surface, then tracing around both feet. Take the length in centremetres then add 1cm for wriggle room.

The shoes are a medium width, so if your child has a wider than average foot then choose a larger size. Always choose a larger rather than smaller shoe.

For example, if the foot measurement is 19.4cm + 1cm = 20.4cm = C13. You will choose C13. As a crosscheck, your child is most likely wearing an Australian Adult Size 1 school shoe/sneaker/street shoe.

When trying your ballet shoes for the first time we would appreciate it if you could refrain from pulling or tightening the front elastics, or dirtying the soles of the shoes, as we are unable to refund or exchange the shoes once you have done this.

Size      Shoe Length (cm)
C4        12.9
C5        13.7
C6        14.5
C7        15.3
C8        16.1
C9        16.9
C10      17.7
C11      18.5
C12      19.3
C13      20.5
A1        21.3
A2        22.1
A3        22.9
A4        23.7
A5        24.5
A6        25.3
A7        26.1
A8        27.0

We hope you found our instructions to be clear and easy to follow.