Differences in Men's & Women's Nike Shoes

According the Nike website, men can wear many of the women's style shoes, and women can wear many of the men's style shoes. The differences between men and women Nike shoes include fit, size and style. Nike also makes a category of shoes that are unisex. To be sure the size and fit are right, be sure to walk in the shoes before buying them.

Men's Nike shoes tend to have an equal width between the forefoot and heel. Women's Nike shoes most often have a narrower heel than forefoot. Some women with a wider foot will often select men's shoes for comfort, because women's shoes are often more narrow than men's shoes. According to Nike, other fit differences between men and women's shoes include arch length and height.

Women's Nike shoe sizes 7 through 12 are exactly one size smaller than the men's shoes. For example, a size 7 in women's shoes is a size 6 in men's. A size 11.5 in women's sizes would be a size 10.5 in men's. Sizes below 7 in a women's size shoe or below 6 in men sizes are less consistent. For a complete Nike size conversion chart with men, women and children shoes sizes, visit the official Nike website.

Stylistically, women's shoes come in a tremendous variety of bright colours and tend to use white in the sole and design of the shoe. Men's shoes tend to use a lot of greens, blues and reds, and use black more frequently than white in their soles and design. A look at the difference in style between the men's Nike "Free" and the women's Nike "Free" line reveals certain consistent similarities. For instance, the design on both lines is fairly clean and simple, and the shape of the shoes is very similar. The main difference between the lines is the colour palette, and again the women's shoes have a brighter range of colour choice than the more earthy colours of men's shoes.

Nike offers more sports shoes options for men than they do for women. The styles also vary. For instance, with the women's softball cleats, all of the options of cleats are low-top sneakers. However, there are several choices of high-top sneakers in the men's section. Some women may choose a man's Nike sport's shoe for better style and fitting options. Since the Nike sports shoes are all about finding a great fit, men and women should feel free to try on options from either gender.