Dear Boden... please give size 43s a try...

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Boden offer long length clothes but stop at a size 8 in shoes. Knowing they keep an eye on Mumsnet asking nicely that they consider extending their shoe size range.

If it could include these I would be even happier...



The website Zalando have a great selection of size 9+ shoes. Some are pricey but they have a great range of prices.

I agree that shoe retailers are missing a trick. I would love to spend a fortune on shoes but sadly it is impossible. I wear fit flops in the summer and live in wide fit boots in the winter (M&S size 8 from about 3 years ago but very generously sized). I own other shoes which are at best uncomfortable and at worst possibly slightly too small. I have given up going into shops where you have to ask for your size. If I had a pound for every time the assistant returns with a 7 as that's the largest in stock

Long Tall Sally do size 7-13.

I keep trying LTS shoes but other than some espadrilles a few years ago and a pair of boots last year, they never fit well. And don't get me started on their flats... completely flat shoes are so bad for your back etc and I look like I'm wearing slippers. Just half a cm heel makes all the difference.

Zalando and Sarneza both used to have a good range but this seems to shrink each season.

I do sometimes find shoes on Amazon especially German/Austrian brands like Hogl but again the range is very limited.

I want some pretty Boden shoes!!!!

I need to get myself to Crispins and Ellie Dickins and pay silly money for some nice shoes

👏🏻 Size 9 here. I messaged Boden about this very thing about a month ago. Thus bus what they said. They said similar about my request for longer length shirts and blouses.

This is what they said, sorry, photo didn’t attach.

Another size 43 here. I’d love to have more choice, Boden included. Second the comment about longer skirts too.

Bikerunski will try the same. May be if enough of us email them?

I find it baffling too that the Scandi brands only seem to go up to a 41 (Cos, & Other Stories etc). Surely loads of the H&M empire's home market customers must have bigger feet than that?

And another thing (warming to the theme here), even if you get lucky and find a mid-range high street brand that does go above an 8 in range, they will never, ever, ever carry it in store stock. For quite a while I was on first name terms with the staff of my local branch of Next because I've had to order every pair of shoes I've tried on in there online.

This discrepancy between the equivalent sizing - is it to do with which lasts the shoes are made on do we think? Almost everywhere seems to agree that an EU 43 = US 11, but there are loads of places (the aforementioned Office, Topshop amongst them) that equate a 9 to an EU 42/US 10. So the EU/US sizes tend to remain constant relative to each other, but the equivalent UK size varies. Any retail types out there who can shed light on this anomaly?

@Zinnia - I think the discrepancy between equivalent European and UK sizes is due to them not actually being equivalent. The increments between EU sizes (6mm ish) are smaller than those between UK sizes (8.5mm ish), so there is often some rounding up or down to do. There is also inconsistency between manufacturers.

I think that’s right BikeRunSki but there’s also been a recent-ish change in UK brand labelling (maybe due to moving manufacturing?).

I’ve been size 43 for 20 odd years. Back then, it was hellish difficult to buy a “size 9” - in my non-London backwater, my sixth form ball strappy stilettos were purchased in a fetish shop! - but if you managed to find a 9, it was a 43. Nowadays, many many more shops sell “size 9” but they’re 42s.

It’s frustrating because most of the time you have to do a fair amount of digging through the website to find the size chart (not available in store as pp said) to establish that there’s no point even ordering what the retailer states with fanfare is available in a size 9.

Would definitely buy 43’s. But please don’t make them all wide fit. Just because you’re feet are longer doesn’t make them any wider

I totally agree @AMillionMugsNoTeabags. It’s like the shoe industry was told to start making ladies 9s, so they just rebranded their largest sizes as a 9, and carried on regardless.

I am 43/44 too.

Wow, found my tribe, sometimes think I am the only woman in the world with big feet. Mine are wide and sometimes a wide 42 works for me, but buying online is really tricky with shoes and buying instore is just completely embarrassing because of being brought size 41 or even 40 and being made to feel like a freak.
I have found good shoes in tkmax, although not always in the right section, and through that have learnt that Ara fit beautifully. But oh yes please Boden, I would love pretty.

Thanks @BikeRunSki @AMillionMugsNoTeabags, that's very illuminating.

This thread is most cathartic!

@3dogs2cats I think we might be foot twins

I worry quite a lot about my 11yo, whose feet are a size 6G/H, and her little sister (8) who's a 3F/G. DD1 could be a size 9 herself before she leaves school! If only one of them had inherited DH's small feet...

I’ve just bought my 12 yo DD size 8 school shoes (41 natch!). I told her to enjoy pretty shoes now because she won’t be wearing any in a couple of years.... ‘tis very sad.

I have nothing new to add to this, just delighted to find other people with big feet!!!

Also agree with pp about the lack of in-store size 9s - lost count of the number of sales assistants who’ve brought me a size 7 instead of size 9 because “that’s the largest we have in stock”... it’s not like I can lose a bit of weight off my feet, is it?!

I am on friendly terms with the staff in my local Clarks. These days I just ask them straight out what they have in stock in a 9. They set the filter and hand me their ipad so I can scroll down pointing out the styles I’m interested in trying on. It cuts out wasting my time admiring styles not available in a 9.

I know I started this because I wanted some "pretty" shoes from Boden (still do) but just discovered that Dr Martens women's sizes go up to a proper 9.

Went to a store today to get DD some school shoes (feet have stopped growing at 7 1/2 - 8 thankfully) Bought these today: www.drmartens.com/uk/en_gb/p/24722001

Ooh. I've been feeling a pair of DMs coming on for a while now and my office is near one of their shops...

I do count my lucky stars that we live in an era of trainers, clompy boots and flats, and (more than) slightly dread the time when the pendulum swings back the other way. But the fact remains it would be lovely to have some choice!

I feel all your pain. I’m an 8 (don’t throw anything) but a AA fitting so forget the High Street. Boutiques that stock European or a visit to the US for me. Sigh.

And that’s before shoes that look gorgeous in a 3 look like clogs in a large size.

God yes. I went up from a 7.5 to about an 8.25 (!) after pregnancy which effectively means anything I buy cripples me for several wears until I've stretched them slightly.