I tried on 3 different pairs of shoes, all 8.5, and they were
all too tight. I made the mistake of trying to break one pair in,
broke the nail of the big toe of my left foot and got some blisters
instead (and couldn't return them). So I bought a 9, which seems to
fit. I've been wearing 8.5 all my adult life. Has this happened to
you? I'm 68.

I have noticed something similar over the decades - I always used to wear 45, but nowadays it's always 46.
I think the industry has learned a new trick: smaller shoes == less material, smaller cost == more profit.
But maybe it could have something to do with age also, I actually never considered that.

I'm inclined to agree with ondoho as I've seen the same in clothing other than shoes. People's feet often get wider with age but not longer. It might simply be inflammation in your feet which can be caused by a number of medical problems. You might ask family members/friends if your feet look inflamed/swollen before you see a medic.

My feet are inflamed and I have difficulty getting shoes on which previously were loose but I know it is am medical problem. Inflammation can be a sign of various medical problems but I wouldn't rush off to the local medic if that's the only problem.

Baby.

You might want to get tested for Diabetes since that has become so common and does often show in early stages by swelling of the feet. Don't worry about it. Just rule it out or alter your diet if you test positive... better sooner than later.

No, but I can say that different manufacturers can sometimes fit differently. I've worn a 14.5 (48-49), and it hasn't fluctuated since I was a teenager.

It's gotten worse in the last few years - I need anything from 10 to 12 (Aus, 43-46 EU) depending on manufacturer. Standardisation of shoe sizes seems more a fond memory than anything else.

I have not noticed this, at least not with the clothing and shoes that I have bought in the past couple of decades.

It is about the shoe maker.
Nike shoes are always smaller than what they say. You can check this out.
I wear a 11.5 in Nike and a 11 in Rebock.
The only system I found that keeps close is the cyclist shoes for riding bikes. They stick to Euro size.
I really believe the standardization is up to quality control of a certain brand.

it is nothing for a 11.5 narrow to feel like a 11. etc etc.
Do not for get to trim them toes.

There's a well-known practice in women's dress sizes to make them larger because some women don't want to think they're wearing a larger size. The New York Times's excellent Vanessa Friedman wrote about this recently: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/01/s...confusing.html (If you can't browse the link, try right-clicking on the URI, saving the file, reading the local copy.) Material is such a small part of the cost of shoes I don't think this likely.

Have been recently. I eat a healthy diet, maintain a healthy weight, get a lot of exercise, am unlikely to get diabetes.

They look okay, show no other signs of inflammation. I wear reusable plastic gloves to wash the dishes. If I pull the right one off by the fingers I tear them, so I have to pull them off from the other end, turning them inside out, which is swelling at least, if not inflammation.

People's feet, like their ears, slowly grow bigger over time. You may have noticed that 100 year old people have big ears. Perhaps the same applies to hands.

In the UK, big sizes are available at Sports Direct and Next. Clarks do wide fittings, which may be as good as a bigger size.

Also, UK shoe sizes are bigger than US shoe sizes, so imported US-size shoes are much smaller.

Nope, sorry. Ears and nose are the only two things that grow as we age because they're made of cartilage. Your feet and hands aren't.
https://www.quora.com/Which-parts-of...ntire-lifetime
Sorry again: UK sizes are SMALLER than US:
https://www.blitzresults.com/en/shoe-size-conversion/

The sizes in your link are incorrect (because UK 6 = US/M 7 = US/W 8) but still agrees with what Grumpy is saying, which is not that for a specific length the size number is smaller, but that for the same number size, the length of a US shoe is shorter.

i.e. UK 6 = ~24.6cm and US/M 6 = ~23.7cm so for size 6 the US shoe is is ~9mm smaller.

The actual difference is 1/3 of an inch, because that's what both UK and US shoe sizes increment in, thirds of inches, and they're only different due to having different starting points.

Huh...was going by the sizing charts only, which is what I knew. Good catch!

Thank you for correcting that.

JFC, one would have thought the internet would make us cleverer, not dumber. Apparently information is not the same as knowledge.

Well I can't say much in this case; boughtonp corrected me about the shoe size vs. actual length. I certainly didn't know that, but it IS interesting.