I sat down with Jon Notary, the footwear buyer at?

• The era of “shrink it and pink it” is over (sort of). Shoe brands have been constructing shoes on women’s lasts, dialing into their differing anatomy from men.
• Women with bigger feet have to resort to wearing men’s shoes because sizing is limited in the women’s shoe category.
• In the age of super shoes, many are still made unisex; we still have a long way to go when it comes to providing women with better-fit carbon shoes.

Does it really matter if you run in a men’s shoe or women’s shoe? Besides our master list of the best running shoes, Health & Injuries the best men’s running shoes and the best shoes for women. We base these decisions on wear-tester input (our test team is 350-plus runners of various experience levels, gait patterns, and arch heights, with the sex divide approximately 50:50), market research, and our own experiential testing.

Recently, a reader commented how the women’s best shoes buying guide “sort of just reads as list (sic) of ‘best shoes’ regardless of gender.” They’re not wrong. Even though brands have made these modifications, they’re subtle. In fact, a sizable group of our shoe testers, including some RW staff, run in the opposite sex’s shoes because of limited sizing.

“I have noticed zero differences between the two,” says Senior Video Producer Pat Heine-Holmberg, who is a men’s size 8 and tests women’s size 9 to 10 depending on the brand and model.

Editorial Assistant Michael McDonough also didn’t notice any variance between men’s and women’s shoes. “The size translation is almost exactly the same, I haven't noticed a difference at all fit-wise,” he says. “Honestly, if the labels didn't have the W, I wouldn't have known they’re women's shoes at all.”

However, some of our women testers who run in men’s shoes did notice minor differences in terms of the midfoot area.

“I believe it depends on the shoe!” says tester Beth Levengood, who finds it difficult to find women’s size 11s when she shops. “Most of the men’s shoes I’ve tested have fit pretty similarly to the same shoe in a women’s (I’ve had both) but some are definitely wider in the midfoot and toebox. The cushioning seems pretty much the same and the weight feels pretty much the same too. I’ve not noticed a huge difference in the ride but the wider widths prevent the snugger fit.”

The Differences Between Men’s and Women’s Shoes

Even though we’ve criticized shoe brands for “shrinking and pinking” men’s shoes to create women’s shoes (translation: literally taking a men’s shoe and making it smaller), several companies today have adapted the practice of using women-specific lasts (the mold a shoe is constructed on) to manufacture trainers that pertain to the “average” woman’s foot: a narrow heel, wider midfoot.

They’ve also modified women’s shoes using data that goes beyond footshape. For instance, brands like lululemon have taken into account the difference in Q-angle, where women’s quadriceps tend to be 17-degrees from hip-to-knee and men’s tend to be 14 degrees. The women’s version of the new lululemon Split Shift, for example, has an added arch reinforcement for more support in the midfoot area.

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Comparing the lululemon Split Shift Men’s and Women’s Shoes

We took a look at the men’s and women’s lululemon Split Shift, a shoe that has some obvious and not-so-obvious differences between the men’s and women’s models.

Outsole

Women's

The outsole has more cutouts in the forefoot to enhance flexibility since women tend to be lighter than men.

Men's

The outsole has less cutouts in the forefoot since men tend to be heavier; less flexibility means more snap.

Lacing System

Women's

The heel area is subtly narrower since women tend to have smaller heels.

Men's

Hoka’s Plush Bondi 9: Best Version of the Shoe Yet.

Arch and Cushioning

Women's

The women’s shoe has arch reinforcement to provide more support in the midfoot area. A subtle design difference in geometry from the men’s accommodates a women’s footstrike.

Men's

The arch and cushioning are subtly different, however, both shoes have the same 7mm drop.

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I sat down with Jon Notary, the footwear buyer at Aardvark Sport Shop, a running store in Bethlehem, PA to find out if there’s any reason women shouldn’t run in men’s shoes. Notary has worked at Aardvark for 26 years—a marathon anniversary!—so he’s seen how the tides have changed in the shoe industry and witnessed the dawn of super shoes. We first addressed if the industry as a whole is truly accommodating women runners with women-specific trainers.

“I definitely think that ‘shrink it and pink it’ on a large scale has kind of been done away with,” he says. “I would say the main players in the industry now use women’s-specific lasts and molds versus men’s-specific lasts and molds. However, with the rise of the super shoe, that is where a lot of stuff has been shoved into that unisex silo.”

A men’s sized shoe is typically a size and half larger compared to a women’s. A men’s size 9 would be a women’s size 10.5. However, this equation isn’t perfect across brands and models.

Basic Shoe Conversion Chart

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“Some brands have different conversions,” says Notary.

A time ago, before 3D foot scans, which you can now find in most running stores, shoe sizing was limited to length and width. A store associate would use a Brannock device, a foot measuring tool, to find your size. Now, with 3D scans, shops can measure how “voluminous ”a foot is.

“One of the things that it was lacking was this vertical kind of measurement of the foot. There was no way to really assess that,” says Notary. “The three dimensional scanners are now giving us those measurements, and that is typically what you’ll see when it comes to differences in last shape and mold. Women tend to be slightly shallower. Men tend to be a little bit more voluminous just in terms of what we typically see.”

This higher instep in a men’s shoe also provides women with a more accommodating midfoot option if a shoe they’re interested in buying feels too narrow. The natural solution would be to switch to a wider width shoe, but some women would experience lace-bite because of the lower instep. A men’s shoe prevents that from happening. However, dimensions aren’t the only modification between men’s and women’s shoes. Midsole foam sometimes comes into play, as well.

Yes, That Men’s Shoe Is Heavier and Stiffer

“There are now more options in women’s-specific-tuned shoes in terms of the durometer of the foam, so how dense that foam is, the stack heights of the foam,” says Notary. Hoka’s and Adidas’s women’s shoes, for example, have slightly lower stack heights and offsets compared to men’s.

Even though McDonough initially said he didn’t notice any differences between men’s and women’s shoes, he admits if he had to point out one dissimilarity it would be that women’s shoes feel slightly lighter. Tester Emily Stolkowski also comments, “I always feel like men’s shoes tend to be heavier but after the first few miles you don’t notice it.”

Wearing men’s or women’s shoes is a decision that should be based on comfort, fit, and performance.

Notary offers an explanation on why men’s shoes feel slightly bulkier compared to women’s.

“When some of your wear testers say ‘some of these men’s shoes just feel kind of heavier, stiffer, stiffer or clunkier,’ that may very well be that the brands use a higher durometer, or firmer foam, on the men’s side anticipating more weight and compression on it than you would typically see on a lady’s shoe,” he says.

What About Super Shoes?

Though Notary confirms these differences, and that they’re at times detectable, there’s no reason men and women should be siloed into wearing their sex’s shoes. The choice isn’t always biological, especially since not every man and woman fits the same mold when it comes to sex-specific shoe lasts. When it comes to choosing running shoes, the decision is purely preferential.

But when it comes to super shoes, we have a ways to go. A sales report by Fleet Feet showed a surge in super shoe sales in the past five years. The most intriguing aspect of this report is that, while men’s super shoe sales steadily increased over the years, women’s increased at a much lower rate. One reason could be because several brands still release carbon-plate shoes as unisex.

Men and Women Super Shoe Units Sold

“A lot of racing shoes are built on what they’d call a performance last,” says Notary. “So they might have more of a tapered fit, not necessarily all of that natural volume you’d find in wearing a daily trainer. Even so, it’s pretty much more of a D (standard men’s width) with last, so women may feel the shoe is a little bit wider [in the instep] and maybe a little bit boxier, more voluminous.”

Notary also notes how carbon stiffness and the density of the foam can feel different in terms of ride between a 200-pound man and 110-pound woman running in the same shoes. “The super shoe force for some ladies may feel a little stiff and almost harsh.”

Super shoes were also built for elites going head-to-head with competitors, i.e., the fastest in the world. It’s a privilege we can run in the same gear as the pros, but that gear can provide a different experience for us lay-runners.

“The shoes were designed for the elites, and that’s not to disparage everyday runners who want a shoe that’s snappier and faster, but like, when I look at who those shoes were designed for, it’s really like 1 percent of 1 percent of my customer base.”

For a more forgiving option, where you can still reap the benefits of running on super foam with a plate, Notary recommends a shoe with a composite plate or nylon plate, such as Saucony’s Endorphin Speed.

Then there’s Nike, whose rep confirmed that the same last is used for both men’s and women’s shoes, trainer and super shoe. Beginning with the Vomero 18, a plush daily trainer, the brand used women’s feedback to create a shoe that’s “better for everyone.” These learnings were applied to Nike’s premium super shoe, lululemon Split Shift, which now has a wider midfoot.

Download Your Training Plan (The Nike Vomero Comes in 3 Different Flavors. We Help You Decide Which You’ll Like Best follow this same blueprint). As our own testers prove, you don’t necessarily need a completely different shoe when the differences are undetectable—but making a shoe with modifications for women could make products more accessible.

When shopping for super shoes, consider buying ones exclusively for women (not the ones listed as “men’s size / women’s size”). Some brands, like Saucony, have two kinds of super shoes that are sex specific (the Endorphin Pro series) and unisex (Endorphin Elite). If you’re keen on wearing the latter, give both shoes a test run first.

When to Consider Men's or Women's Shoes

Wearing men’s or women’s shoes is a personal decision that should be based on comfort, fit, and performance. Here are some pointers for when you should consider wearing the opposite sex’s shoe:

• For more options for women who wear a W10 or higher and men who wear a M8.5 or lower, consider wearing the opposite sex’s shoe.
• Runners with wider feet, higher instep, or longer toes may find men’s sizes more accommodating and less snug.
• The lace-lock method (lacing through each lace on the top most eyelet to create a loop and crisscrossing the opposite laces through the loop to “lock” in your heel after tightening) can make the fit around the ankle more secure if it feels loose.
• Download Your Training Plan.

In short, neither sex’s shoe is more supreme and wearing the opposite sex’s shoe won’t destroy your run. A unisex racing shoe, however, may require some modifications, like thicker socks or lace-tying techniques.

The opposite sex’s shoe is just another footwear option and a chance to find that perfect fit for your next run.