to be annoyed that it's easier for people with wide feet than people with narrow feet to buy shoes? It pisses me off.

[ethelb]

Honestly. It's true. I have two pairs of shoes and a pair of trainers as shoe shopping is such a 'mare.

[dolcelatte]

I wholly sympathise - Ferragamo or James Inglis cater for narrow feet, although the styles can be a bit dull. Jimmy Choo is also good for narrow feet and has some lovely styles, although it is a bit pricier.

[uggmum]

I have wide feet and dropped arches. I find it impossible to buy shoes. I tend to wear uggs in winter and fit flops in summer. Even shoes labelled for wide feet don't fit me. I've also had a double bunion removal which doesn't help.

My dd has inherited my awful feet. When she needed school shoes we had 5 trips to buy shoes. They didn't have even have 1 pair of shoes that would fit her in...Bantano, Clarks (including adults) m&s and Charles clinkard. I was seriously losing the will to live. Finally got some hush puppies but she hates them.

[LaVolcan]

Directoire knickers are those ones with legs which go to the knees. Just doing a quick google, I found these: www.woods-online.co.uk/shop-by-product/traditional-underwear/directoire-knickers.html

[SchrodingersUndeadMew]

Try finding shoes for size 4, narrow, flat feet that need orthotics!

:o

[Sneepy]

Take comfort, narrow people, in the fact that your feet will always look more elegant. The most expensive and beautiful shoes are made for narrow feet, you can wear converse without a care and will never find the perfect pair of sandals only to discover that your toes are scraping the ground on either side. DD1 has got little fairy feet and even at 6y always looks fashionable because of them (or maybe because all of her shoes are £££ as she has the step out issue).

[PurpleGentian]

YABU.

I have wide feet, and usually have to go up a size or two to get a shoe that's wide enough for my feet. And then it looks like I'm wearing clown shoes, because there's so much empty space at the end of the shoe.

I appreciate it's hard for people with narrow feet too, but the people it's easy for is people with feet of a "normal" width.

[expatinscotland]

YANBU

[whattodoo]

lavolcan what is a directoire knicker and where do I get them from?

I can't get boots to fit my fat calves.

[skyebluezombie]

I have wide feet and cannot find shoes to fit! I end up buying a size bigger sometimes, but then they are too long.

I have to have a triple E fitting in boots or I cant get them on

[LaVolcan]

The nylon doesn't burn my inners but just doesn't come up far enough and my thighs rub. Not nice. I suppose I could wear those 'directoire' knickers that old grannies used to wear for that reason.

[LaVolcan]

And what if you have long narrow feet with a high instep but a different size for each one? Like me? Although if they do half sizes I usually find that I can manage OK with one foot being a closer fit than the other. And I blister easily too. (Maybe that's because the size isn't quite right?)

[whattodoo]

Oh good google!

I'm short, fat and have wide feet. I wear glasses and underwired bras. Do I need to feel guilty about anything else?

If its any consolation, I find that tights seem to be made for the slender thighed, not cake munchers like me with thighs of thunder. The nylon burns my inners.

And hold ups are a nightmare - many's the time I've walked down the street hoping that no-one will notice the pool of american tan gathering around each ankle.

[TheBigJessie]

Why are women's shoes so impractical? I was looking for shoes that I could a) walk a mile in and have dry feet, and
B) wear to a interview for an office-based job.

[maristella]

I hear you OP! Pumps, nice flats etc, I leave them all behind when I'm walking along

Mary Janes shoes are the only way!

[monsterchild]

digerd mine has always been that way. Makes wearing any kind of dress shoe pure agony, doesn't it?

[MrsTwinks]

yabu to assume its easy for wide feet, trust me it really isnt. I have wide, thick feet with a high instep. I work in a shoe shop. I still can't get shoes easily, infact I have to wear at least 2 sizes to long even in EEEE ballet pumps to fit my feet.

yanbu to find narrow feet impossible thou. Like I said I fit shoes and it can be really hard if you are anything slightly different from "normal"

[digerd]

Monster child,
I too have an achilles tendon flush with my heel, but don't think it was when I was younger.
Went for a bone scan in which they measure the width of the heel - mine has become narrow- and was diagnosed with thinning bones !!!!!!!!

[monsterchild]

I agree with VegemiteSandwich that shoe buying is hard for everyone. And I will go a step further, and say that if you have any sort of pain threshold, shoe buying is even more difficult!

I have sausage feet, no arch, blunt toes, an achilles that is flush with my heel bone, and finding shoes is extremely difficult for me. I also blister like crazy, so must be selective and have injury from sports that limit the amount of height I can wear.

I wear a lot of "sensible" shoes.

[digerd]

Servalen
You have wedge shaped feet too.

[digerd]

I am an E fitting, and feet swell in the humid heat. I find that shoes seem to have got bigger than they used to be. And then just recently a pair that were fine are now too tight. Was told some years ago I had a wedge shaped foot. Favourites at the moment are my 1996 calf lenth boots bought in Germany for shopping, and Hush puppies suede, lightweight, flexible sole, velcro stap, chic trainer style bought several years ago. In burgundy, black and beige colours - 3 pairs !!!!!!

[SuePurblybilt]

I am finding all these threads baffling.

Surely these hugely successful international retail giants (the ones that make it easy to buy stuff) have scores of people researching what will sell. And then stock that. So it will always be easier to buy stuff if you fit into a majority demographic (do I mean that? YKWIM anyway). And not so easy if your needs are more niche, at whichever end of the scale. There is always going to be more choice available for the masses in the middle.

It's like me saying 'AIBU to be outraged that it's easier to buy black tights than it is to buy ones with patterns of dolphins on?'. Then a million posts saying 'dolphins are EASY. God, I need squid tights - try finding them'.

[DrCoconut]

I find most shoes in high street shops to be too narrow. I have to order from catalogues. And try finding anything in a wide fitting that doesn't look like you raided your granny's wardrobe! All the girly shoes I'd love to buy are teeny tiny Cinderella shoes :(

[DowntonTrout]

I have average feet but long legs so my calf is very high. Long boots are almost impossible to buy as the shaped calf bit sits below my calf and they won't do up around my actual calf IYSWIM.

DD has long narrow feet and is almost impossible to buy for. Some shops just won't sell us a pair of shoes because they don't fit properly. We can't buy anything from a normal shoe shop. If we find just one pair that fits we have to have them as there is no choice. Even Clarks/start rite struggle to fit her.

[YerMaw1989]

No it bloody isn't!!! size 9 EEE here bloody horrendous,

[maddening]

No - it is easier for people with average size feet. V narrow or v wide will be equally hard.