Which skate shoe sizes sell out first?
The bigger your feet, the less choice you have. 85.6% of every size 15 listing we read is already gone — against 52.1% across the middle of the range, sizes 8 to 11. Measured on 44,083 individual size listings at the shops we read twice a day, not on products.
Every size, and how much of it is gone
| US size | Listings we read | Still in stock | Sold out |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 505 | 221 | 56.2% |
| 3.5 | 215 | 111 | 48.4% |
| 4 | 931 | 462 | 50.4% |
| 4.5 | 484 | 264 | 45.5% |
| 5 | 1,298 | 652 | 49.8% |
| 5.5 | 698 | 330 | 52.7% |
| 6 | 1,740 | 779 | 55.2% |
| 6.5 | 834 | 416 | 50.1% |
| 7 | 2,856 | 1,188 | 58.4% |
| 7.5 | 1,175 | 576 | 51% |
| 8 | 3,774 | 1,914 | 49.3% |
| 8.5 | 2,058 | 1,035 | 49.7% |
| 9 | 4,731 | 2,157 | 54.4% |
| 9.5 | 2,585 | 1,347 | 47.9% |
| 10 | 4,621 | 2,088 | 54.8% |
| 10.5 | 2,600 | 1,233 | 52.6% |
| 11 | 4,496 | 1,976 | 56% |
| 11.5 | 1,416 | 624 | 55.9% |
| 12 | 4,047 | 1,806 | 55.4% |
| 12.5 | 190 | 93 | 51.1% |
| 13 | 2,263 | 884 | 60.9% |
| 14 | 427 | 90 | 78.9% |
| 15 | 139 | 20 | 85.6% |
What this does not tell you
It does not tell you which shoe to buy — that needs a tester, and we read catalogues instead. It does not tell you about a size that too few shops name: a size needs at least 120 listings before it appears here, because three listings make a percentage without meaning.
The same question asked of clothing, where the answer is different: which clothing sizes sell out first. And what a pair costs: the price distribution.
Questions this raises
Why are large skate shoe sizes so hard to find?
Because shops buy a size curve built for the average foot, and the ends of that curve are thin to begin with. Once they sell, they are rarely restocked — the reorder goes on the sizes that move. It is not that big sizes are popular; it is that few were made.
Which size has the best choice right now?
Size 4.5, with only 45.5% of its listings gone. That changes with every sweep, which is why this table is read from the database as the page is built.
Does "sold out" mean sold out everywhere?
No. It means that listing, at that shop, is marked unavailable. Another shop may still have the same shoe in your size — that is precisely what reading 475 catalogues at once lets us see and a single shop cannot.
How is a size counted?
One line per size, per shop. A shoe offered in twelve sizes at three shops is thirty-six listings, not one product. We take the first number in the shop's own size label, which is the men's size by convention in the catalogues we read.
Why not just ask the shop?
A shop can tell you what it has. Nobody but us can tell you what the market has, because nobody else reads every shop twice a day and remembers.