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AIBU?

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Original poster

Mainstream women's shoes only going up to a size 8

210 replies

AlwaysFreezing · 10/08/2023 17:08

And even then its not always a 42!

Took ds school shoe shopping today and while I was in and out of the various shoe shops, I had a quick look in the women's sections.

I am a 9, but a 43 9. Sometimes a 10. Not a single shoe was bigger than an 8.

Now, luckily I know where I can buy shoes that fit, but I was thinking about this, and isn't it ridiculous?

So, I'm wondering how many women here have feet larger than an 8? I mean, I imagine there aren't tens of thousands of us, but there just be enough to warrant shops selling 9s and 10s?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
HandsomeJack · 10/08/2023 17:32

Shoe zone generally stock up to size 9.
When I was much younger I asked for a size 8 at
new look and the sales assistant told me they only stocked womens shoes.

pyewatchet · 10/08/2023 17:33

Fitflop do a proper size 9 in a good range of styles. Clarks used to be better but their size 9 selection is awful now. Gabor also go up to 9.

midsomermurderess · 10/08/2023 17:34

When I was a teenager, even in to my 20s, it was so hard to find size 8 shoes. If you saw anything you liked, it was wise to buy 2 pairs. It is better now but they do still sell fast. Size 41 is often presented as a UK 8. It isn’t.

KirstenBlest · 10/08/2023 17:36

Unisex shoes tend to be wider and longer than women's shoes.
Shoe brands and shoe shops are usually a better bet than high street fashion shops.
Try Ebay and look for brands like Hotter, Rockport, Timberland, Gabor, Solovair (like DMs but better quality), Birkenstock, Teva, Rieker, Josef Seibel, Ecco, Church's etc

Original poster
AlwaysFreezing · 10/08/2023 17:37

midsomermurderess · 10/08/2023 17:34

When I was a teenager, even in to my 20s, it was so hard to find size 8 shoes. If you saw anything you liked, it was wise to buy 2 pairs. It is better now but they do still sell fast. Size 41 is often presented as a UK 8. It isn’t.

Oh, this is exactly what I do, even now.

OP posts:
Ponderingwindow · 10/08/2023 17:37

This is the first I have heard that size 9 is considered large.

FofB · 10/08/2023 17:38

Land's End have some size 9's- not super trendy but ok for work

Tippexy · 10/08/2023 17:39

42 is a nine, isn’t it? You take 33 and add the British size. Apart from at M&S Hmm

cuckyplunt · 10/08/2023 17:40

Magnus, they’re expensive unfortunately.

Original poster
AlwaysFreezing · 10/08/2023 17:40

Tippexy · 10/08/2023 17:39

42 is a nine, isn’t it? You take 33 and add the British size. Apart from at M&S Hmm

Maybe for women's, I don't know. All I know is that I am a 43, sometimes even a 44.

OP posts:
ginandtonicwithlimes · 10/08/2023 17:42

Hotter do big sizes. I am a 8.5 or something like that. Very awkward.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 10/08/2023 17:42

I guess it’s a profit thing? They don’t go above an 8 or below a 3 - kind off comparable sizes in terms of distance from the average which I think is 5.5 - because there aren’t enough people at those sizes to make the profit they want?

As it is those sizes always end up in the sale - if you’re a middle size like 5 you never get shoes in the sale.

Obviously you need to buy shoes OP, and I’m not saying it’s ok that everything is profit, profit but that’s probably why. I don’t know what the answer is for you or for women who take a size 2!

TheSnootiestFox · 10/08/2023 17:42

Absolutely not helpful but just to illustrate the attitude to larger feet, I am a size 8 but went up half a size after each pregnancy and spent a good few years as a size 9. I went to a v. posh Country Living Show in London with my mum, and said to her in a crowd of people 'I just want to look at those shoes as they go up to a size 10.' 2 women in front of us looked at each other wide eyed, pulled a horrified face and burst out laughing and I've been self conscious about my feet ever since. It's not fair as I'm 5ft 9 and would topple over in a strong wind if they were much smaller. Just because I have big feet it does not mean I don't like pretty shoes FFS! Anyway, my go to is Fairfax and Favour as they have size 9 shoes to die for!

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 10/08/2023 17:43

PS my very close female friend is a 13 so not saying it isn’t shitty!

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 10/08/2023 17:44

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 10/08/2023 17:42

I guess it’s a profit thing? They don’t go above an 8 or below a 3 - kind off comparable sizes in terms of distance from the average which I think is 5.5 - because there aren’t enough people at those sizes to make the profit they want?

As it is those sizes always end up in the sale - if you’re a middle size like 5 you never get shoes in the sale.

Obviously you need to buy shoes OP, and I’m not saying it’s ok that everything is profit, profit but that’s probably why. I don’t know what the answer is for you or for women who take a size 2!

Kind of not kind off

Dolphinnoises · 10/08/2023 17:44

Tippexy · 10/08/2023 17:39

42 is a nine, isn’t it? You take 33 and add the British size. Apart from at M&S Hmm

Not as clear cut as that. An old-style 8 came out as 41.5. Most shops initially (Clarks, Jones, M&S, Gabor) had 40 as a 7, 41 as a 7.5 and 8 as a 42. But then a lot of cheaper styles didn’t want to bother with a half size. Then Jones “re-sized” 15 years ago or so.

Violinist64 · 10/08/2023 17:45

Ponderingwindow · 10/08/2023 17:37

This is the first I have heard that size 9 is considered large.

Well of course it is. However, many women are taller and have larger feet than they did a generation or so ago. It doesn’t hide the fact that it is a large size. I would imagine that the average size today is probably size 6. My adult daughter takes size 2, which can be problematic at the other end of the spectrum.

SoupDragon · 10/08/2023 17:46

As it is those sizes always end up in the sale - if you’re a middle size like 5 you never get shoes in the sale.

My memory is of there being racks and racks of sale shoes in size 6 and below and one single rack for 7 and above.

AndIKnewYouMeantIt · 10/08/2023 17:47

I used to be a footwear buyer for a brand mentioned on this thread.

The factories were exclusively women's shoe makers and did not have a size 43. And when we did pay them to develop a 43, and we stocked our 60 or so lines in size 43, we sold one or two in maybe 20 of the styles, leaving us with a big stock to try and flog in the sale. So we tried to stock maybe half the lines in a 43 and got complaints that it was discriminatory just to do the more boring styles in a 10.

Essentially we lost money on both the size 43s and the size 35s (2). It is easier to not do them.

KirstenBlest · 10/08/2023 17:50

@Tippexy , how are the M&S sizes different?

BrioNotBiro · 10/08/2023 17:51

I'm a 9 and I'm sure sizes have got smaller - as others have said the conversion of British to continental sizes have scaled down the half sizes, not up.

Compounded by my feet spreading as I've got older/put a bit of weight on and I really struggle to find nice 9s, not ugly, mannish things.

Original poster
AlwaysFreezing · 10/08/2023 17:52

KirstenBlest · 10/08/2023 17:47

9 is 41 or 42.
I'm usually a 5 but depending on the shoe I might be a 4 or a 6.

Read more at: https://www.shoesizingcharts.com/

Well, based on that I'm a 12 or even a 13!

Weird, because the 9/43s I buy are labelled as 9/43s....

OP posts:
AffIt · 10/08/2023 17:52

Toucan123 · 10/08/2023 17:14

I'm a 9. Finding shoes I like in my size (or ANY shoes in my size a lot of the time) has always been a nightmare. I have a pair of Duo boots which I love (and they actually fit my calves too which are fairly narrow) but they were really expensive. Well over £200.

Please share!

I have long, narrow feet (size 9) but also slender ankles and long, narrow calves and it's almost impossible to find close-fitting long-boots.

TheBitterBoy · 10/08/2023 17:53

KirstenBlest · 10/08/2023 17:47

9 is 41 or 42.
I'm usually a 5 but depending on the shoe I might be a 4 or a 6.

Read more at: https://www.shoesizingcharts.com/

That chart is American, and is categorically wrong. I am a size 41, which in the UK these days usually means I buy an 8, or if available a 7.5