The Brannock Device - For the perfect size

When you go to the shoe shop for a pair of shoes or sandals, you will be made to put your foot on a device to measure the size of your foot, so a perfect pair can be found for you. This gadget is called the Brannock Device.

- Gayathri Krishnan

The Brannock device is an International standard of the footwear industry. It was invented by Charles F.Brannock who was born on the 16th of May 1903 in the USA.

Before the Brannock device was invented, the size of the foot was measured with a length of wood.

In the early 1920s, Charles F.Brannock used to spend his college holidays working in his father Otis Brannock’s Park-Brannock Shoe shop in Syracuse, New York.

He noticed that the customers’ feet were measured with a long ruler type gadget that measured only the length and not the width, so the customers had to wear ill-fitting shoes. Charles Brannock realised that ill-fitting shoes were not only uncomfortable but also resulted in hurting the feet.