I read the reviews which said by two sizes up. He loves it and comfy too. Theyre comfortable and they always look good. the Packtalk Bold JBL seems thus far to be hitting the mark, great music quality even at full volume. But it did not hold well. A+ purchase. So it does it?s job in keeping shoes in an organized fashion. Not much you can do about it, but you may want to take them off periodically and wipe them down/vacuum them off. This can be remedied somewhat with your music players EQ options. I havent been gentle with them at all and theyve held up.