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.

[mrsbugsywugsy]

ethel your feet sound like mine. I have narrow size 3 1/2's.

I have never found a pair of ballet pumps that fit and don't fall off. I don't wear heels, any kind of girly shoes come to think of it.

The narrow width birkenstocks are great for me in the summer. Size 36 fits me perfectly so maybe a 37 would fit you? Also clarks 'regular' fit are fine and they do half sizes, although they come up small so I need a 4 anyway.

Trainers are usually OK as I buy them in a 4 and lace them up tightly so they stay on!

[peppersaunt]

I recognise that mantra!

[Selks]

Well you might find it hard to buy narrow shoes (and you have my sympathy) but why assume that it is easier for those with wide feet? I can assure you it is not! Most 'shoes for wide feet' are either not very wide really at all or designed for someone aged around 70. 'Tis a nightmare and I live in two or three pairs of shoes max.

[peppersaunt]

Try ballet pumps with elasticated backs mrs bugsy

[KitKatGirl1]

Yep, me too. Can't wear any shoes which don't have s strap on (like a little girl). All my evening shoes are only halfway to being grown up cos they have to have a strap.

And as for narrow fitting boys schools shoes. No chance. Friends with dcs with E fitting try and tell me they struggle to find shoes. Try having a boy with a C width fitting!

[KitKatGirl1]

Wonder why I love winter (boots are usually much easier to find) and the middle of summer - narrow birkenstocks are pretty good - but hate it when the weather's in between?

[SecretNutellaFix]

I have very wide, very short feet with a high instep, and large muscular calves.

It took me three winters to find a pair of boots.

I can't wear heels wither due to tendon injuries. I have one pair of walking shoes rather than trainers, a pair of work shoes that cover my foot instead of being fucking strapped and 2 pairs of very thin summery ballet flats.

It's easy to get shoes when you have wide feet?

[bruffin]

We have the same feet secret

I have ordered a pair of boots from fashion world, the do really high width fitting and a super curvy thigh fit.

[bruffin]

Calf not thigh, not really into thigh high boots.

[mrsbugsywugsy]

Thanks for the tip pepper

[Scholes34]

Regardless of whether it's fat or narrow feet, it's impossible to buy a nice pair of ladies shoes fit for purpose - ie sturdy enough to be able to walk any distance in them, thick enough soles that the cold doesn't penetrate, but still look good and are not clod-hoppers.

High insteps are bad news. I can barely get my big toe in some sandals.

[maddening]

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

[YerMaw1989]

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

[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.

[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 :(

[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'.

[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 !!!!!!

[digerd]

Servalen
You have wedge shaped feet too.

[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]

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 !!!!!!!!

[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"

[monsterchild]

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

[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!

[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.

[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.