Why don’t more clothes shops do size 9 ladies shoes

[Auburngal]

I’m a size 8 but sometimes need a 9 as wide footed. Sometimes I better with a bigger shoe with an insole than being cramped with a smaller shoe.

Find it difficult to find shoes which fit me, are comfortable and not heavy as it is. Can’t be doing with heavy shoes as I have weak ankles.

Have tried size 8s and tight and they are the biggest shoe size that shop/brand do.

With some trainer lines, they stop at size 7 for women and love the colours.

Surely the average size of shoes that women has increased over time but some brands/shops have not caught up with the times.

I wear Skechers size 8 and know that they fit so able to buy them online without issues

Again I am a size 9.5/10. My dad used to take me to Chiltern Street in london to Elephant feet- mainly to tease me!! I buy lots of Gabor and Josef Seibel and DB shoes these day. And for trainers I tend to buy mens black ones- which are wider in a 9.5!! There are definitely more shoes around now in bigger sizes than there was 10 years ago. Back in the day I used tolive in evans shoes- but they are no where near as nice now!!

I'm a 9 since I was about 13.

I have some comfy boots from hotter,some size 9 slip on ( ballerina?) from New look and buy M&s trainers es in an 8 and break them in with thick ski socks.

Genuinely interested - why are 41s not size 8? I used to sell shoes and it's imprinted in my brain (from selling hundreds of them) that 5s are 38 and 6s 39. If you carry on, 8 is 41.

I used to think some of the EU sizes represented half sizes, but then we had shoes in size 39.5, 40.5 etc.

I also don't think size 9 is rare these days. It's a bit cliched but I think it is the new size 8 - an outlier on the range, but one that shops should have stocks of 2-3 pairs of, at least.

Size 41 is about a size seven. Size 40 is a 6.5 in my experience.

UK sizes go up by 1/3 inch, EU by 2/3 cm, so they won't directly match up.

Zalando fantastic for size 9.

I am 5'9 and post children have gone from an 8 to a 9.

My Ds's are size 15 and size 12.
And I tease DH about his size 9.5 Hobbit feet.
Genetics fascinating

Feet are getting bigger - the average size was a 4 in the 1950s, now it's a 6. The shoe industry hasn't caught up yet.

Because the sizing doesn't match up precisely. A UK 8 falls between 41 and 42. In my experience, in recent years, 41 has been labelled 8 for women and 42 has been labelled 8 for men.

When I was a teenager women's 8 was always a 42 too. I'm a definite 43 post pregnancy.

I'm sure there is much less 8+ choice of women's shoe now than 10 years ago.

I don't think it's rare! I wish M&S did size 9. They are pretty good with larger clothes sizes so why not shoes!

Yes, this. For all the posters saying how "massive" size 9 feet are - they are only three sizes bigger than average, for women. Three sizes smaller, i.e. a size 3, is well catered for. The largest size available in mainstream ranges has been stuck at size 8 for decades.

Thanks to the poster who recommended Otto and Ivy - beautiful looking shoes! I live in trainers but the next time I need something more grown up I will look there.

@AtomHeartMotherOfGod Unfortunately the sizes don’t work like that.
38 - 5, 39 - 6, 40 - 6.5, 41 - 7, 42 - 8, 43 - 9 would is the closest matches, however, a lot of high street brands don’t stock half sizes so to avoid confusion they just label all as whole sizes ending up with 40-7, 41-8 etc. Not at all helpful for people buying the shoes!

@Auburngal I can only imagine how frustrating it is as a customer. Can I also just add in a bit from a retailers perspective too though? I manage a footwear store and am involved in the buying process. The way that the brands sell their shoes unfortunately dictates stock levels too as they sell in size runs.
eg, Size run 35x2, 36x3, 37x5, 38x8, 39x8, 40x4, 41x2, 42x1, 43x1
This will be based on the quantities they have actually manufactured.
We are then free to order as much stock of that style as we want, but it must be in size runs. So to stock 5 pairs of 43s I’m having to commit to stocking 25 pairs of 37s and 40 pairs of 5s in the same style if that makes sense. Unfortunately, the quantity of 5s/6s etc that we’d then need to discount in the sale outweighs the profit made from stocking more 42/43s.
It’s crap, I agree. We get asked for 42/43s all the time and thankfully have a system that allows us to pull stock from other branches etc fairly easily for our customers - but it’s still not the same as them walking in and having the same selection to try on as someone wearing a 38.

I feel your pain...literally! I'm an 8 but have wide feet so definitely need a 9. Next used to do wide fit shoes. I hate my feet! Shoe shopping is a bloody nightmare. X

Given their desire for the transwoman customer you’d have thought they would go higher than a 9!

I remember taking dd1 size 8.5 (then now a 9.5) to get her last school shoes. The woman in Clarke came with 1 pair when dd1 said she didn't like them the consultant said. "Well they will have to do as its the only one we have in such a large size. With such a large size you can't be picky" I asked for her manager and made a complaint about her attitude manager tried to back her up. I asked why it was acceptable for my daughter to have to wear shoes she didn't like. They said "it's all we have" I replied. "There are other shops" It took us 17 shops but we found some lovely ones in Jones the boot maker.

She is now mid 20s and shopping for wedding shoes. That's hard too.

What angers me though is the attitude around it.

I am a 7 that used to be difficult but easier now. However these days I struggle with plantar facilitis and due to that have got even more narrow shoe possibilities. So I feel for you all.

Size 3 actually isn’t well catered for. The majority of styles still start in a 4, including running shoes. Most of the size 3s out there are cripplingly narrow that I just can’t wear them.

@Itsaloadofbollocksbut I'm not a trans man! I'm just a woman with size 8.5/9 feet who'd like to have shoes which fit from a shop I use for lots of items.

I’ve lived in the UK for 20+ years and I have never, not once, bought a pair of size 9 /43 shoes in person from a shop. I just can’t find them because most of the size 9s in shops are actually 42. Nowadays there is a fairly decent selection online though.
Growing up in the States, my choice was very cheap shoes from Payless Shoe Source ( closed now) or very expensive from Nordstrom. Nothing in between.

I don’t think size 9 is that rare. When you have smaller feet you are probably not noticing people with size 9 feet. But as someone with that size, I know quite a few other women the same because I pay attention to it.

Also, I am 5’ 10” and my feet are in proportion to my height, not massive. My dh is one inch taller with the same size feet and nobody would ever tell him his feet are massive because he too, is in proportion.

It's not rare at all, anything I sell on ebay/Facebook gets snapped up. I think there's some truth to women stuffing their feet into 8s because that's all they can find, or turning to men's shoes, it's distorting the sales figures.

The same reason that a lot of shops only cater to dress sizes 6-18. It's shit if you're outside the core sizes for footwear or clothing. I'm a dress size 18/20, so it's always a bit of a gamble deciding if I'll be able to shop in store or not!

Agree that women probably squeeze themselves into the size they can find. That's certainly true of clothing IME

They get snapped up because they are rare...

That pisses me off so much. A 42 is not a pissing 9!!!!!!

I've always had big feet. But I'm really tall, so it's expected

I mostly wear mens. DMs, converse etc

Do you not think they get snapped up precisely because they're so rare?

I agree with this. I bet they get snapped up a lot faster than size 6s.

Also sorry to say but some of them will be men buying them...

Same here. In all honesty, I've switched over to mostly wearing men's shoes and trainers.