A long time ago, when I went into the US Navy, I was surprised that at 8.5 D my shoe size was rather small for a 5'11" man, in fact, I think I had the smallest feet in my division. This was no big deal, I mean, feet are feet, the vast majority of us have at least 2. However, over time, as I matured into middle age, my feet changed. I now wear a size 9 E. The new shoe size shouldn't be a problem, should it? Well, it is. Evidently we people with wider then average feet are a minority in the world, and as such, retailers tend give us short shrift. Let me give you an example. Two days ago I went to Dick's Sporting Goods planning to purchase a new pair of running shoes. Guess what? I spent fifteen minutes crawling around on the floor, pulling out shoe box after shoe box, looking for a pair that was not sized a D. No luck. So I went on line and looked. They don't give customers an option. They list one standard size. Now I could order a pair of those running shoes if I wanted to, but I can tell you they wouldn't even come close to fitting my feet.
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| Only average sized shoes here |
A rule of thumb when ordering running shoes, or training shoes, or any kind of shoes on line is to add to your shoe size, so if you wear a 9 you should order a 10. Excuse me, but am I not the only one who thinks this is a bit crazy? I checked out Zappo's, which offers wide shoes, and then looked at the same sized, wide shoe at Amazon and most of the comments were "not big enough, order a size larger." True, there were a few comments praising the shoe, but there were not that many. Feet are like people, they are not all the same. Unfortunately, I suspect most manufacturers and retailers prefer to focus on the average because it's more cost effective, thus leaving us wide footers out in the cold.
