Paris point
The Paris point is a unit of length defined as . It is commonly used for shoe sizes in Continental Europe. The unit was invented by French shoemakers in the early 1800s. Its origin probably lies in centimetre being very close to inch; a French inch is around 27 mm, a quarter of that is 6.7 mm, close to 6. mm defined for the Paris point. See also Point (disambiguation) Barleycorn (unit), used in the English shoe sizing system. References Units of length