Why Your Shoes Won't Fit.

I'm not sure if this is old news, but if, like me, you have issues finding shoes that fit comfortably now, this might be an interesting read:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...FEMAIL-test-nine-high-street-size-sevens.html

Happened upon it by chance whilst trying to find out information about the Bronx shoes. QVC's on screen faces spoke about everything but the actual information I needed! No wonder none of them have any solid information now about what sizes to go for if you're a half and so on.

(As an aside, if you are interested in the Bronx range, you'll be better off looking elsewhere. Amazon had better prices, a wider range and free P&P and returns on most of the models I looked at.)

i have quite wide feet that are very sensitive. i have to have a good fit and comfort. that does not come cheap. i like german made shoes (gabor) as they usually come up quite wide and are well made, comfortable and smart. but they are not cheap. birkenstocks are nice if you have wide feet

I have a very high arch so cannot wear the so called ballet pumps at all. Wide fitting shoes my feet swim in, yet the normal D width I have to use some leather stretch spray on. I was once told it depends which country shoes are made on the width they will be. US sizing is always too wide and big for UK feet(Sketchers), if made in the far east they tend to be narrower and smaller.

Sketchers I found a size 2 which is in the children's range fit me perfectly. I am a size 3 which is actually a 35.5 EU and not 36 as is quoted usually. I tried a pair of shoes recently in a sale, loved them marked as size 3 but the SA said they are a H width fitting so will actually be a size 4. I had to walk away so to speak.

I have extremely wide feet - there is nothing I have found to fit
So I wear boots in winter and toe posts in summer, i have to wear a size 7 when I should be a size 4. Can't wear shoes as they'll fall off, but boots and toe posts can't really fall off.
I also need a very good orthotic, so I find Vionic the best solution
Can't really afford to have footwear custom made for my feet

Although I am a 4.5/5 which is the most common size and therefore should be easy to get shoes I have a heck of a job getting shoes to fit.

Marks used to do good reasonably priced everyday shoes and one of the few who do half sizes but totally agree that they have gone to hell in a handcart this past few years. I did manage to get a sketchers type shoe which suited me basically because I wasn't between sizes as I am with sketchers.

When I win the lottery I will get custom made shoes and pay someone to put fresh bedlinen on the bed every day! (Stuff the flash car!)

I used to get my sort of shoe in a wide fitting from BHS. Now it's JD Williams. I'm not fussy with shoes, black with a heel or brightly coloured trainers.

Like many others my feet have changed as I've gotten older.
Young - nice slim feet, could wear high heels all day, no problem whether shoes were cheap or expensive
Now - wider feet with thicker ankles., only wear heels from car to restaurant, cant wear cheap shoes and wear Sketchers most of the day.

(my feet are turning into my grandma's feet !!!)

So glad there are other people for whom buying shoes is problematic. I wish QVC would give out the EU size when they do shoes, then I'd have a fighting chance of getting the right size (on the rare occasion they do a 43 (9). Alongside huge feet I have neuromas and pancake flat feet, but can recommend Wolky and Finnmatic. Expensive, but good quality and we'll made. For any one in the Midlands, there is a brilliant shoe shop in Stratford that specializes in difficult feet that I can recommend.

I bought a gorgeous fitflop plimsoll/trainer in a metallic on Friday last week in John Lewis, I have to go up to a 6 in these, yet my Birkenstock clogs are a four and fit me like a glove, they are the most comfortable shoes for me...

Ah, the days wearing 4 inch heels and dancing all night in them. My mother did make me wear properly fitted shoes as a child, Star right or Clarks.

I bought a pair of black boots in M&S last year, it never said extra wide on them anywhere and yes my fault for perhaps not paying attention fully. I was with a friend also trying on boots and spotted these ones like tried one after walking round all day in summer. They fitted great and took them home removed the label and put away until Autumn. All I can say is me and someone else could get their feet into them they are just so wide.

Yet January this year in their sale another pair of boots looking for the 3 and half none there, so tried on the only pair of 3 and they fit brilliant width and length.

Not sure if it also applies to shoes in M&S but clothes I was told by the cashier once. Even though it says whatever country on the label, the clothes are made in different factories in the same country. So one will cut the pattern a bit bigger, another smaller and another perfect.

There is no 'standardisation' in ready to wear clothes either. 'I'm a size 12' means absolutely nothing. You have to try everything on, and often what fits on the bust will be too long from shoulder to bust point or bust to waist etc. etc. It's why, where possible, I make my own clothes.
For the manufacturers it's all about minimising the production costs with detriment to fit and quality - as anyone who has bought clothing from QVC will understand. They use a standard block and grade up all round for larger sizes, so as you get into size 16 plus, everything becomes massive on the shoulders etc. because all round grading increases some measurements disproportionately.
The only thing one can do, whether it be shoes or clothing generally, is to try everything on - and if buying online or by mail order, preferably buy from somewhere that does free returns!

I agree, the sizing number is out of the window now. I have clothes ranging from an 18 to ...... wait for it...... a size 26/28 !!!!! the larger size from a well known catalogue and is laughingly a 'baggy' jumper ! For anyone 20 odd stone and a real 26/28 it would fit like a second skin !

I'm a 42DD bust in a bra (mainly broad back), but I always buy clothes around the 46" bust size to accommodate the rest of my body!

Its a minefield.

Sussex Shopper said:

So glad there are other people for whom buying shoes is problematic. I wish QVC would give out the EU size when they do shoes, then I'd have a fighting chance of getting the right size (on the rare occasion they do a 43 (9). Alongside huge feet I have neuromas and pancake flat feet, but can recommend Wolky and Finnmatic. Expensive, but good quality and we'll made. For any one in the Midlands, there is a brilliant shoe shop in Stratford that specializes in difficult feet that I can recommend.

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I wish they would give out the EU size too. I'm an EU 36 which is a UK 3.5 but QVC only state 3 which could either be EU 35.5 or 36 depending on the brand. Too expensive to buy from Q when you have to factor in returns.