UKC

Just bought some Sportive tarantulas from go outdoors and am wondering now if I've bought them too big. I got them in a size 7 same as my street size shoe. My toes aren't right at the end but very nearly are. I just worried that if I got them smaller then they'd be very painful for my very wide feet.

Initially I'm just going to be climbing indoors a couple of times a month so not sure how much it'll matter. At least they won't be painful. They're stiff shoes at least so that perhaps mitigates them my toes not quite being at the end. 

It’s a bit of a game trying to figure out sizing. In Unparallel and Five Ten I’m roughly true to street size depending on model. In La Sportiva I have to go down two or three sizes! Scarpa one or 1.5 sizes down. You just have to try them on really and get used to the peculiarities of the make/ model. The usual problem is people sizing too small and just being too painful to wear so you’ve dodged that bullet. The overall point is the shoe amplifying your ability to use footholds, so slightly big and stiff shoes might not give ultimate performance but I doubt it’s going to be a massive problem. 

Years ago we stocked about 30 models of rockshoe and I fitted from a UK4 to 7.5, depending on mode on my side 7.5 foot. LaSportiva pretty much always needed going down at least two full sizes from your street shoes, most other models about half or one size.

A knowledgeable shop should be able to make a good guess of what size X offers a comparable fit to Y, but often you see people going bigger to try and make a shoe that is simply the wrong shape fit their feet. The shop also should have a good idea of which models will have the most stretch (generally unlined leather) and be able to advise, IME though all sorts stretch to some degree and the tighter you fit them the more they stretch.

Yeah they're definitely stiff so even if slightly too big they should be fine for casual indoor climbing.