>
 > -> Isn't that the truth.  The difference in the quality
 > of the mens and womens
 > -> boots still makes me MAD.  If I pay over a hundred dollars
...
 >
 > Hey buy the mens then.  They can't be a lot different style
 > wise.  Just have to
 > find the right size equivalent.
 
Sometimes that works, Mike, but sometimes it doesn't.  It depends on how much 
the bootmakers have changed the last between the men's and the women's sizes, 
and how close your feet are to the shape of the last.  If a woman has 
relatively narrow feet, it will be difficult for her to find a man's boot 
that will be the right width.
 
The arch-length equivalent is 2 sizes different in the US: a woman who wears 
an 8 will take a man's size 6 shoe.  I haven't yet figured out the size 
equivalent in the width, but they might be the same (i.e. the question is, is 
a man's D width shoe the same as a woman's D width). 
 I do know that a "medium" woman's shoe is a B width and a "medium" 
man's shoe is a D width; a woman's "wide" is a D and a man's "wide" is 
probably a EE; and a man's "narrow" is a B, while a woman's 'narrow' is 
probably a AA.  So if a woman takes a "medium" woman's shoe, she'll need a 
"narrow" in a man's size.
 
Note that I say in the US; I think that in the UK and Europe the men's and 
women's shoes are all on the same scale (where the hypothetical man who wears 
a US size 6 and woman who wears a US size 8 will both wear a UK size 6, 
something around a 38-39 in Euro sizes.
 
I won't even go into the fact that men's shoes are likely to be too big in 
the heels for most women, or talk about the fact that high- quality shoes are 
made on a last which is a combination of sizes (a 
'combination last').
 
The real kicker is, I've known guys who wore a 5 1/2 or 6 men's shoe, and 
they often bought women's boots because they were easier to find! 
 So we gals may not be able to *find* a man's boot in the right size 
to fit us -- they may not make them!  Or they may only be made for the kid's 
market in which case they will be cheap because the shoemaker expects them to 
be outgrown before a good shoe will wear out.
 
Sorry you suggested it yet?  ;-)
 
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