The Brogue: a Shoe Fit For a King

December 09, 2014

The brogue is one of the most iconic shoe designs for men. Popularized in the thirties by King Edward VIII, the brogue is now an essential business shoe in black, or a relaxed but smart country or leisure shoe in brown or burgundy.

The brogue was originally designed in Scotland and Ireland as shoes suitable for wearing while working outdoors. As the Irish and Scottish countryside is wet and characterized by bogs, the perforations of the brogue allowed water to drain from the shoes.

The term “brogue” refers to the punching of holes into leather. A full brogue has punching on the toe, around the sides (wing-tip or long-wing) and the rear counters. A semi-brogue has punching just on the toecap and rear counters. A quarter-brogue has a single row of punching on the toecap.

Wing-tip brogues are characterized by a pointed toecap with extensions (wings) that run along both sides of the toe, terminating near the ball of the foot. Viewed from the top, this toecap style is "W" shaped and looks similar to a bird with extended wings. Long-wing brogues are characterized by a pointed toecap with wings that extend the full length of the shoe, meeting at a center seam at the heel.

See our selection of brogues: Dufferin, Turner II, Sherritt and Ronny.

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Size chart

US/CAN	Europe	UK	Australia	Mexico	Japan	China	Inches	Cm
2.5	35	2	2	-	20	33	8.750	22.22
3	35.5	2.3	2.3	-	21	34	8.875	22.54
3.5	36	3	3	-	22	35	9	22.86
4	36.5	3.5	3.5	-	22.5	36	9.125	23.18
4.5	37	4	4	-	23	37	9.25	23.5
5	37.5	4.5	4.5	-	23.5	38	9.375	23.81
5.5	38	5	5	4.5	24	39	9.5	24.13
6	38.5	5.5	5.5	5	24.5	39.5	9.625	24.45
6.5	39	6	6	6	25.5	41	9.875	25.08
7.5	40	7	7	6.5	26	-	10	25.40
8	41	7.5	7.5	7	26.5	42	10.125	25.72
8.5	42	8	8	7.5	27	43	10.25	26.04
9	43	8.5	8.5	8	27.5	43.5	10.375	26.34
9.5	43.5	9	9	8.5	28	44	10.5	26.68
10	44	9.5	9.5	9	28.5	44.5	10.625	26.98
10.5	44.5	10	10	9.5	29	45	10.75	27.30
11	45	10.5	10.5	10	29.5	46	10.875	27.62
11.5	45.5	11	11	10.5	30	-	11	27.98
12	46	11.5	11.5	11	30.5	47	11.125	28.26
12.5	46.5	12	12	11.5	31	47.5	11.25	28.58
13	47	12.5	12.5	12	31.5	48	11.375	28.90
13.5	47.5	13	13	12.5	32	-	11.5	29.22
14	48.5	13.5	13.5	13	32.5	-	11.625	29.54
14.5	49	14	14	13.5	33	-	11.750	29.86
15.5	50	15	15	14.5	34	-	12	30.48
16.5	51	16	16	15.5	35	-	12.25	31.12

Shoe Width

Our standard shoe width is an F fitting. However, in order to accommodate variations in foot size, alternative width fittings are available in certain styles.

Narrow Fit = D width (USA E Fit)

Standard or Average Fit = F width (USA EE Fit)

Wide Fit = G width (USA EEE Fit)

Extra Wide Fit = H width (USA EEEE Fit)

As a shoe increases in size, the length and width both increase. A size 10F shoe is therefore one size bigger and one size wider than a size 9F shoe. A size 9G shoe is a size wider than a size 9F - in other words the width of the shoe would roughly correspond to a size 10F.

In the table below, the 11D, the 10F, the 9G and 8H would all be roughly the same width.

Shoe size	D Fit	F Fit	G Fit	H Fit
11	X
10	Y	X
9	Z	Y	X
8		Z	Y	X
7			Z	Y
6				Z