You're talking about widths, right? You can definitely buy varying widths, but only some brands sell wide shoes, and even then, you are very limited. (I have very wide feet. Saucony is pretty much the only brand that consistently has models that can fit me.)
Yeah. Widths are very badly defined. I also have wide feet; in Europe I find that some random Ecco models fit me well, but finding them is a puzzle every time. They're even worse than Apple when it comes to model name consistency over the years.
/Worse/ than Apple? But…Apple enjoy designating something like "Model: M1136" and using that same designation over, seemingly, decades of variation, such that Apple staff have to ask about various attributes to identify anything: "You say that's a 2019 iMac? Does it have x RAM or y RAM? An n GB drive, or o GB? With ATI FoonlyX 646 graphics? Late 2019 or early?"
Somehow, Apple Computer Inc. were somewhat competent to select model numbers, but Apple, Inc. is not. (-:
I recently went shopping for boots that I can get work done on a step clay hillside. I went through the entire store (whose primary merchandise is boots) to end up with exactly one pair that didn’t squeeze my feet the wrong way.
Running shoes in the past was a similar struggle.
Some people hate looking at toe-shoes (aka VFFs) but they consistently fit like a glove for me. Too bad they don’t support at all!
Beware, that website is unusable. I have very wide feet and only moderate nearsightedness. The Lems site has white text on yellow backgrounds, overrides browser chosen font size, and seems to distort badly on zoom on my iPhone. I like really can’t read or use the website. You lost a potential customer, idiots in Lems marketing team. Do some real world testing next time.
I also have wide feet. I discovered Merrell has wide sizes of outdoors shoes. I found models fit and I like, and just keeping buying them as they wear out.
I can definitely relate to this. I feel like my shoes fit differently from day to day. Sometimes they're perfect. Sometimes it feels like my feet are going to explode my shoes from the inside. All very interesting.
Not to seem glib, but have you spoken to a podiatrist? The reason I ask, is that my chess teacher would complain about his shoes fitting differently every day, and his doctor found that it was just his feet swelled considerably. In his case, it was due to an underlining health issue
Maybe I'm missing the point, but... well, why would anyone think that feet grow into discrete sizes like that or that the shoe sizes would be precise while still being comfortable?
I suspect that people familiar with buying womens' wear are much less prone to this mistake, seeing as how one person might fit two or three size increments depending on brand.
Sizes don't vary between brands as much as they vary between the materials used. That's true for all clothing. The second reason would be vanity sizing: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_sizing
Yet another reason is that quality control tends to be pretty terrible for anything but boutique/luxury brands (and even they have their missteps). There are situations where you can buy multiple of the same SKU and wind up with stuff manufactured in three different countries with obviously different fabric quality and measurements off by multiple inches.
There's been something like a "marathon to the bottom" across things like clothing, shoes, and just about anything else textile-adjacent for almost a century. You can find articles from 50+ years ago lamenting how clothing used to last longer and have more consistent quality, and it's only gotten worse since then.
I don't understand why in the year 2023 with what ... 15 years of the "long tail" of the internet, we don't have mass market shoe companies that will scan your feet (e.g. in an in-store kiosk, or using your iphone (hello lidar!)) and then shop you shoes that fit your feet exactly.
this from a guy with one foot size 12.8 and the other foot size 13.6. My feet have hurt every day since I was a teenager
PS I would pay, like a lot, to get shoes to fit my feet exactly
I remember from Sports Illustrated that Dave Cowens, then center for the Boston Celtics, belonged to some organization that swapped odd-sized shoes. Given that NBA centers tend to have unusually large feet, one might have thought it unlikely that he could have found someone else with unusually large feet, but disproportioned symmetrically. Yet apparently he did.
My local Red Wing store had a gadget that mapped my feet in 3D. I've since seen links the company gave other people to profile pages showing their results.
While the machine was doing its beepy-flashy dance, I told the sales guy I bet he could beat it. He did. The machine recommended a width they had in stock. Sales guy himself told me to order in a different one.
There are old patents for electro-mechanical devices. The dream goes back a long time.
Meanwhile, even bespoke makers in London do test fittings. They'll often start with mock pairs made of scrap leather, then investigate the fit destructively. It isn't just how the feet are shaped and how they move, but how the shoe will move with them, how the shoe materials will form over the last, how the shoe materials will stretch and sag over time, how the design of the shoe itself will affect the biomechanics. It's an incredible trade.
Because almost everyone needs shoes, shoes are still made by hand and custom orders would be expensive in this model, very few people can afford custom shoes, and even if you could, feet grow for a while and out of the box shoes work for almost everyone.
Also, ordering custom anything to your body is an ordeal. Most folks wouldn't be okay with waiting weeks for shoes that don't fit them right only to do a back and forth for weeks trying for a perfect fit.
that said, you can absolutely buy custom shoes and trainers if you mind them not being from Big Sneaker. Usually starts at US$400 and takes about six to eight weeks to get.
It still baffles me how different shoe sizes are for the same foot.
I'm a 12.5 in most modern sneakers and a 12 in most modern dress shoes (already annoying that they label differently) but then I'm a 13 in certain New Balance and 11.5 in certain Converse.
And this is just length, not width or anything. It's so bizarre they can't just work out a consistent measurement label for length.
Part of this issue is that sizing is a moving target on both sides. For many sports you size up or down for the desired performance fit, so companies don’t want to buck the trend even if it’s more accurate, since they’ll end up with unhappy customers.
I wear “barefoot style” sandals throughout the year. Winters are OK here with the occasional dip below freezing. I carry woolen socks as emergency measure.
Picking size is easy, you only need to measure the sole area. If you go a bit above in size it is possible to cut down from the sole with scissors.
This style of footwear makes my life a lot simpler.
My heal isn't shaped like everyone else's I think, so many nice shoes cut into my tendon so badly, I have to try every one to make sure I can walk without sharp pain.
In college I bought a pair of Doc Martens and just about crippled myself before just giving up and taking a hammer to them. (Yes, literally.) After beating the crap out of the back of them I was finally able to use them without blood being shed. Not something you can do to most shoes though.
This is my problem as well. I usually have to modify the shoe or wear some tape or a silicone band around my foot. I would love to simply pick a shoe and have no pain.
pro tip - use the EU sizing instead of the US. I've noticed I get on the whole much better results. I also wear a "13" but I noticed that the "13" that fit me generally are 47.5. I've seen the following sizes for the US "13" 46, 47, 47.5, 48 ....so I generally do better when I select sizes by the EU ones.
As the man says, we need to shop for shoes just like clothing. I keep telling my wife that a dress size is merely a guide, and to start a size or two low then keep increasing till the dress fits. Who cares what that final number happens to be.
I live in trainers. I have learned that my size and model is New Balance model 624 in a 4E wide and a size 42 European. I use the European sizing by preference because it gives a finer sizing than the British or American sizing.
It's almost frightening that I can walk into the shoe store and walk out again in less than two minutes with my shoes.
But if I want to buy any other shoes, I have great difficulty. Invariably, the shoes on sale are not wide enough. Sometimes I have bought shoes in a larger size like a 43 or even a 44 to get enough width. But almost invariably again, they are just NQR. And forget about elastic-sided shoes. They are just so tight that I can't even get my foot into the ones with the correct length. I would love a pair of espadrilles. Yeah, right. Dream on.
As I said above, I live in trainers. They're the only ones that 'fit right'.
I have never worn a dress, but I've learned that dress sizes are worse than feeble guidance. They have become, for certain brands and items, a sales lever. And a subtly cruel one one at that.
Menswear brands creep ever closer to parity. Measure waist and leg on a pair of new Levi's sometime!
I like European shoe sizing for putting everyone on scale: men, women, adults, children, everyone. But I understand those sizes refer to last length, rather than foot length.
The higher numbers lend a sense of precision, but the limiting factor is what shoe lasts the manufacture uses, not how they number them. Europeans measure in Paris points, or 2/3 of a centimeter. The US and UK measure in barleycorns, or 1/3 of an inch. 1/3 * 1 in * 2.54 cm per in = 0.847 cm, which is very close. And there are often half sizes.
There is a pretty, clean, uniform system, Mondopoint, which makes a lot more sense. Basically nobody uses it. Ski boots, I'm told.
The wiser online sellers publish fit tables based on heel-toe length, Imperial and metric. When they offer different widths, they publish tables with ball circumferences. Not linear widths, like Brannocks measure.
The "barefoot" phenom is a current fashion. And a recurring one. Most of their marketing points---down to radiographs of feet crammed in shoes---go at least as far back as Munson's book on military footwear.
Fashionable shoes have more pointed toe boxes, but a well fitted Oxford doesn't smash the toes into its point. The toes lie naturally, with empty space ahead. The last designers literally build up the toeboxes.
Stand with your feet flat on the floor, barefoot, then lift one one heel as far as you can while pressing the ball into the floor. How much wider do your toes splay, at their maximum?
I'm all for people using tools to try toe running. Rucking, too. I wouldn't toe run in combat boots, and I wouldn't ruck in "zero-drop shoes". I wouldn't do either in a size too small.
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[ 9.4 ms ] story [ 1320 ms ] threadSomehow, Apple Computer Inc. were somewhat competent to select model numbers, but Apple, Inc. is not. (-:
Running shoes in the past was a similar struggle.
Some people hate looking at toe-shoes (aka VFFs) but they consistently fit like a glove for me. Too bad they don’t support at all!
https://www.lemsshoes.com/
That said, feet do tend to swell as days go on, especially active days. That's why nearly every guide to sizing recommends measuring late in the day.
There's been something like a "marathon to the bottom" across things like clothing, shoes, and just about anything else textile-adjacent for almost a century. You can find articles from 50+ years ago lamenting how clothing used to last longer and have more consistent quality, and it's only gotten worse since then.
this from a guy with one foot size 12.8 and the other foot size 13.6. My feet have hurt every day since I was a teenager
PS I would pay, like a lot, to get shoes to fit my feet exactly
Maybe a store like that doesn't exist in your country, but it's definitely a thing.
While the machine was doing its beepy-flashy dance, I told the sales guy I bet he could beat it. He did. The machine recommended a width they had in stock. Sales guy himself told me to order in a different one.
There are old patents for electro-mechanical devices. The dream goes back a long time.
Meanwhile, even bespoke makers in London do test fittings. They'll often start with mock pairs made of scrap leather, then investigate the fit destructively. It isn't just how the feet are shaped and how they move, but how the shoe will move with them, how the shoe materials will form over the last, how the shoe materials will stretch and sag over time, how the design of the shoe itself will affect the biomechanics. It's an incredible trade.
Also, ordering custom anything to your body is an ordeal. Most folks wouldn't be okay with waiting weeks for shoes that don't fit them right only to do a back and forth for weeks trying for a perfect fit.
that said, you can absolutely buy custom shoes and trainers if you mind them not being from Big Sneaker. Usually starts at US$400 and takes about six to eight weeks to get.
I'm a 12.5 in most modern sneakers and a 12 in most modern dress shoes (already annoying that they label differently) but then I'm a 13 in certain New Balance and 11.5 in certain Converse.
And this is just length, not width or anything. It's so bizarre they can't just work out a consistent measurement label for length.
This style of footwear makes my life a lot simpler.
In college I bought a pair of Doc Martens and just about crippled myself before just giving up and taking a hammer to them. (Yes, literally.) After beating the crap out of the back of them I was finally able to use them without blood being shed. Not something you can do to most shoes though.
I live in trainers. I have learned that my size and model is New Balance model 624 in a 4E wide and a size 42 European. I use the European sizing by preference because it gives a finer sizing than the British or American sizing.
It's almost frightening that I can walk into the shoe store and walk out again in less than two minutes with my shoes.
But if I want to buy any other shoes, I have great difficulty. Invariably, the shoes on sale are not wide enough. Sometimes I have bought shoes in a larger size like a 43 or even a 44 to get enough width. But almost invariably again, they are just NQR. And forget about elastic-sided shoes. They are just so tight that I can't even get my foot into the ones with the correct length. I would love a pair of espadrilles. Yeah, right. Dream on.
As I said above, I live in trainers. They're the only ones that 'fit right'.
Menswear brands creep ever closer to parity. Measure waist and leg on a pair of new Levi's sometime!
I like European shoe sizing for putting everyone on scale: men, women, adults, children, everyone. But I understand those sizes refer to last length, rather than foot length.
The higher numbers lend a sense of precision, but the limiting factor is what shoe lasts the manufacture uses, not how they number them. Europeans measure in Paris points, or 2/3 of a centimeter. The US and UK measure in barleycorns, or 1/3 of an inch. 1/3 * 1 in * 2.54 cm per in = 0.847 cm, which is very close. And there are often half sizes.
There is a pretty, clean, uniform system, Mondopoint, which makes a lot more sense. Basically nobody uses it. Ski boots, I'm told.
The wiser online sellers publish fit tables based on heel-toe length, Imperial and metric. When they offer different widths, they publish tables with ball circumferences. Not linear widths, like Brannocks measure.
Fashionable shoes have more pointed toe boxes, but a well fitted Oxford doesn't smash the toes into its point. The toes lie naturally, with empty space ahead. The last designers literally build up the toeboxes.
Stand with your feet flat on the floor, barefoot, then lift one one heel as far as you can while pressing the ball into the floor. How much wider do your toes splay, at their maximum?
I'm all for people using tools to try toe running. Rucking, too. I wouldn't toe run in combat boots, and I wouldn't ruck in "zero-drop shoes". I wouldn't do either in a size too small.