Great Guide from tangoshoeguide.com

Getting the size right with your tango shoes makes a huge difference to your tango. Dance shoes get much more wear than street shoes, and finding the right fit is vital.

When thinking about sizes for your Argentine tango shoes, bear in mind that some materials stretch and others don't. For example, if I'm buying leather tango shoes, I get them in a 37, because I know they'll stretch to fit my foot like a glove. But if I buy shoes made of something stiff, like glued glitter, than I buy a 38 because I know they won't stretch at all.

You'll hear different advice about whether you need to get your tango shoes tighter or looser than street shoes. I find that if they're loose I feel very insecure in them. I once got a pair that felt incredibly comfy when I bought them, but once I'd worn them a few times they'd stretched to the point where they were too loose. I know one woman who always buys her tango shoes a size too small because they stretch. Personally I think that's going a step too far. I find shoes that are too tight very painful to dance in, and I feel like I can't use my toes.

I would say you want your tango shoes to fit snugly, but you don't want them to squeeze. Besides, if you get them too small, your toes may end up sticking out the end and onto the floor. This is a common problem for girls with narrow feet, because they have to get shoes that fit their width, even if they're too short. Girls with slightly wider feet may have the opposite problem, and find they have to get shoes which feel a little too long in order to have a comfortable width. There's one Argentine tango shoe company I know that offers a solution to this – Diva Boutique carry some lines that you can get in wider or narrower fittings.

Most Argentine tango shoe suppliers are very helpful with sizing, and very experienced, and can offer good advice about sizes. If you're buying tango shoes by mail, with quite a lot of stores, you can email them a drawing of your foot, and they'll tell you which size they think you need.

To make the drawing, stand on a piece of paper on a hard surface, and draw round your foot with the pencil vertical (they'll adjust the measurement to account for the width of the pencil). Then draw two lines – one going down the 

length of your foot, from the middle of the heel to the longest point of your toes, and one going across the widest part of your foot. On those lines, mark off centimeter intervals. Then write down the precise total measurements as well. Do this for both feet, as they won't be quite the same. If you've marked the centimeters, then you can email the drawings or fax them, and the people in the shoe store will still be able to see the measurement accurately.

Argentina	35	36	37	38	39	40
USA	5	6	7	8	9	10
Europe	35	36	37.5	38.5	40	42
UK	2.5	3.5	4.5	5.5	6.5	7.5
Centimeters	22.8	36	37	38	39	40

In case for any reason the staff can't help you work out your size, here's a tango dance shoe sizing guide for women. Basically, Argentine sizes run about the same as American street sizes, plus 30. For example, I take a 37 or 38 in Argentina, and in the US I take about a 7 or 8. In the UK I take about a 5.

One thing to note if you're a European shopping for tango shoes – if a shoe claims to be a 38, then that's probably an Argentine 38, which is not the same as a European 38. So be careful to check!