Do Kuoma boots run big?

Ask a Nordic parent about Kuoma and you get the same review: warm, light, roomy. The roomy part gets repeated as 'they run big, size down', and that advice can go wrong, because Kuoma is unusual in a way most brands are not: it tells you the exact inside length of every boot.

Size 27 in the classic models measures 176 mm inside and 67 mm across. The width is where the reputation comes from: that is genuinely generous, a thick wool sock fits without squeezing. But 176 mm of length with Kuoma's own 15 mm rule fits a foot of at most 161 mm, which is on the small side of what other charts put in a 27. Sizing down would trade toes for folklore.

What we do instead

Ignore the size number entirely. Measure the foot in the evening, add 15 mm, and read Kuoma's inner-measurement table like a ruler. Our own four-year-old measured around 16 cm and wears the lined 27 this winter: exactly what the table says, no size-down, no size-up, just millimetres.