Riedell Fit Question

[EvangelineRain]

ETA: I've now moved on to Risport, but will leave the below post for anyone who might find it helpful!

If you have Riedell skates, what size do you buy in their skates and what is your street shoe size?

The background -- I'm looking at the Riedell Crystal skate and I wanted to get a "check" on sizing by seeing how their sizes typically compare to street shoe sizes.

For regular street shoes, I'm a very consistent 8.5 B/Medium. I'll go down to a size 8 for cowboy boots and I'll go up to a size 9 for running shoes that I want a looser fit for, but that's the extent I'll vary from a size 8.5.

From measuring my foot, the size chart seems to indicate a size 7. Does that sound right?

For width, the size chart indicates I'm a wide, but I'm reluctant to go with that measurement. I want a narrower skate than the Jackson skate I currently have, and it just seems off. The Riedell skates come in 6 widths, and it just seems unlikely I'm the widest (C on their chart). For comparison, in ballet pointe shoes which I'm more familiar with, my current shoe comes in 11 widths, and I wear the 5th widest (meaning they make 4 shoes narrower than my foot, and 6 shoes wider than my foot). Out of the 6 more standard pointe shoe widths, I generally wear the second most narrow. So that measurement is just not passing the gut check (I doubt I have a narrower than average foot for a ballerina but the widest foot for a figure skater), so I'm thinking of ordering the B width instead of the D (the only two options for the Crystal skate).

(I know the proper advice is to go to a professional fitter, but I've done that before and I seem to be unable to communicate effectively with fitters to arrive at a good fit...I have a long history of rejected skates, ski boots, and pointe shoes that I was professionally fitted for by the "best". I do better starting with crowdsourced size information.)

For more background, I'm a dancer who is a competent though infrequent skater, who likes to do basic jumps for fun and wants to start skating more regularly -- I figure skated for a few years as a kid and want to do more skating for some cross training.

Thanks!

 

[leia1979]

Disregard street shoe sizes and measure your feet (better yet, have someone else measure). What I've learned seeing similar questions on a forum for roller skating is that people with the same length feet will choose wildly different shoe sizes.

What measurements are you getting for length and ball circumference? I'm not sure that pointe shoes are a good comparison. I don't do pointe, but I do have a hard time finding narrow enough ballet slippers, and my feet aren't that narrow by skating standards. My old Riedell A/AA-width skates are too narrow for me and I'd wear a split B/AA width these days if I got Riedell.

 

[EvangelineRain]

Disregard street shoe sizes and measure your feet (better yet, have someone else measure). What I've learned seeing similar questions on a forum for roller skating is that people with the same length feet will choose wildly different shoe sizes.

What measurements are you getting for length and ball circumference? I'm not sure that pointe shoes are a good comparison. I don't do pointe, but I do have a hard time finding narrow enough ballet slippers, and my feet aren't that narrow by skating standards. My old Riedell A/AA-width skates are too narrow for me and I'd wear a split B/AA width these days if I got Riedell.

24.6 cm pretty reliably for length -- I skipped the "drawing" method entirely and used books to mark the beginning and end of my foot, then measured the distance. Got the same result using a wall instead of a book to mark my heel.

Just over 9 inches for circumference (both my mom and I got the same results). I still hesitate to buy a "Wide" size, notwithstanding their size chart. The Riedell Stride boot that I'm looking at now comes in Narrow, Medium, and Wide, and Medium just seems to make more sense than Wide. But of course, joke's on me if I ignore the size chart and it ends up being too narrow.

 

[leia1979]

Your feet are pretty close in size to mine in length, but you regularly wear a full size bigger (which is why I said to disregard shoe size). My feet are 24.4 to 24.5cm in length and 22cm in circumference. I have 6.5 A/AA Riedell boots that are too narrow but almost too long (bought them 20 years ago when my feet were narrower). I think you're on the cusp of 6.5 and 7 for length.

For width, this is where a fitter could help. Maybe you're not wide but are high volume (my feet are low volume). By the way, you didn't say which Jackson skate size and width you had. I was fitted for Jackson Debut 7R last year and they disappointingly ended up too big all around once they broke in. Maybe a 6.5R would have been better, but I'm not sure. They were much too high volume for me.

 

[FlossieH]

You cannot compare pointe shoe widths with skating boots. Neither have standard sizes/widths. Each pointe shoe brand and model has different width measurements (also affected by things like box shape, vamp length, presence or absence of wings on the individual model). Similarly, each brand of skating boots has its own measurements.

It sounds like you may well have compressive feet when working enpointe. This means that the width of your feet decreases on pointe, and is something which can make pointe shoe fittings more difficult. You are unlikely to be compressive in the same way with street shoes or skating boots.

Please also get input from a proper figure skating coach rather than doing jumps on your own 'for fun'. You need to learn proper technique, otherwise you risk serious injury which could jeopardise your dance career as well.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

You need to see a proper fitter so they can measure and trace your feet. It's difficult to do what they do on your own for your own feet.
Also, never base skate boots on street shoes.

 

[EvangelineRain]

You cannot compare pointe shoe widths with skating boots. Neither have standard sizes/widths. Each pointe shoe brand and model has different width measurements (also affected by things like box shape, vamp length, presence or absence of wings on the individual model). Similarly, each brand of skating boots has its own measurements.

It sounds like you may well have compressive feet when working enpointe. This means that the width of your feet decreases on pointe, and is something which can make pointe shoe fittings more difficult. You are unlikely to be compressive in the same way with street shoes or skating boots.

Please also get input from a proper figure skating coach rather than doing jumps on your own 'for fun'. You need to learn proper technique, otherwise you risk serious injury which could jeopardise your dance career as well.

Oh that's a very interesting point about why I might always get fitted too wide for pointe shoes!

I've always considered figure skating and gymnastics to be like riding a bike. I had great training back in the day, and I can more or less do the same skills now that I could do back then that my body is currently capable of doing...meaning, I can no longer do most gymnastics skills. But my old coach complimented a handstand picture I posted on Instagram relatively recently, so I haven't forgotten the technique. It comes back pretty quickly. I won't try a skill I've never been taught how to do properly (and succeeded in doing under a coach's supervision). To the extent a risk still remains, it's one I'm willing to take. I also quit both skating and gymnastics in part because I'm not enough of a risk taker -- I'll never attempt something without having a high degree of confidence I can do it successfully lol.