Oboz Finds Nearly Half of Outdoor Media Are Wearing the Wrong Size Shoe

July 22, 2026

93% of those wearing the wrong size overestimated their size — most by nearly a full size

BOZEMAN, Mont. (July 22, 2026) /OUTDOOR SPORTSWIRE/ — Oboz Footwear set up a fitting station at last week’s OMA Media Show, the outdoor industry’s twice-yearly gathering of media, PR agencies, and brands, and offered attendees something more useful than a swag bag: an accurate answer to a question most people think they already know.

Over the two-day event, Oboz Outreach & Education Coordinator, Scott Wilfling, measured the feet of roughly 40 attendees. Wilfling and the Outreach & Education team travel the country throughout the year, clinicing retail staff on proper fit, supporting retailer sales events, and showing up at running races, trail days, and music festivals spreading the Oboz stoke.

Of the 32 attendees with confirmed measurements, only 56% were wearing the size that matched their actual foot. Of the remaining 44%, the pattern was strikingly one-sided: 93% had overstated their size, reporting sizes larger than what was measured, with only one attendee undersized. On average, attendees were off by roughly three-quarters of a full size, with the largest gap reaching a full size and a half.

Scott Wilfling, Oboz Outreach & Education Coordinator, measures an OMA attendee’s feet.

The tendency to report big was especially pronounced among men. Of the 19 men measured, 10 (53%) were wearing an incorrect size, and in each case, they reported a larger size than what was measured. Conversely, only 4 of 13 women reported an incorrect size.

“People don’t think about their shoe size the way they think about, say, their pants size. It’s not something that gets tested as often as it should,” said Wilfling. “But an ill-fitting shoe isn’t just uncomfortable. It changes how your foot moves, and over enough miles that catches up with you.”

The findings echo existing research on footwear fit. A 2018 review published in the Journal of Foot and Ankle Research by researchers Andrew K. Buldt and Hylton B. Menz, found that a substantial share of the population wears shoes that don’t match their feet, and that a greater proportion of men wore footwear that was too long compared to women, a pattern that lines up with what Oboz found at OMA.

Every attendee who took part in the fitting left with a pair of Oboz Bozeman II matched to their actual, measured foot size.

About Oboz Footwear

Named for its founding outside Bozeman, Montana, Oboz premium, trail-ready footwear is well-known in communities of outdoor enthusiasts and professionals for its lasting quality, out-of-the-box comfort and fit, and dedication to service. This includes its One More Tree Program, where for 20 consecutive years every pair of shoes sold contributes directly to planting millions of new trees across the globe. As a certified B Corp, Oboz is committed to doing the work required of a purpose-driven company striving to transform business as a force of good. True to the trail since 2007. For more information, visit obozfootwear.com.

Media contact:

Michael Collin, Pale Morning Media
michael@palemorning.com
802-496-6082