Is it just me or are size 8 shoes a range of sizes now?

[RoaRiRi]

I used to fairly confidently be able to buy shoes from shops online but recently size 8s now sometimes mean an EU 41 or EU 42 - and some shops have either sizes listed as size 8?
There are some shops I would never buy shoes from as they would never fit me (H&M, Zara) but now M&S and Adiddas and more seem to also be really confused about what a size 8 shoe is.

They always have been depending on whether the manufacturer designs a women's 8 to be a EU 41 or 42. It's really annoying. Of course a man's 8 is always a 42 🙄
I always go for the EU size, I wouldn't order shoes online unless they have an EU size.

Yes, I lost 40kg and dropped a shoe size, which was really convenient as my old size was a 9!

I'm a size 8.

Since the 1980s I've been having teeth gritted conversations with sales assistants that a 41 IS NOT AN 8.

This has always been the case! I only order online if I can see it’s a 42, and avoid anything where I can’t see the EU size.

I like the brands that measure the shoe interior in centimetres. Makes it far easier when buying online due to nothing actually in the shop.

This is a good point. I think my feet got a bit bigger in pregnancy and I've gained weight over the years since having my kids, too.

It’s not just a UK sizing issue as there are inconsistencies within continental European too, for example Italian shoes tend to be much narrower than German shoes. But as Brits we get impacted because most continental sizes don’t have a clear mapping to UK sizes. A EU 41 is actually somewhere between a size 7 and a size 8. So some companies map it to size 7.5 (which is the most accurate) but lots of companies don’t do half sizes so they have to choose either 7 or 8, and that’s why UK sizing can seem so inconsistent, particularly now more shoes are made in continental Europe (Portugal especially) rather than the UK.

I try to buy a 41 as that almost always fits perfectly but you really have to watch out for any size conversions.

I’ve been saying this for a while! Why have shops all of a sudden changed the way they are sizing shoes! I’ve always bought a size 42/8, but now it seems a 42 is a 9! And my daughter has always bought a 43/9, Sonia a 43 now a 10 and sage needs to buy a 10! Why have they suddenly changed this? Xx