My Monday wish
September 18, 2006
I wish that I had Hobbit feet.
Which is to say that I wish that my feet did not require shoes. Or boots. Or slippers. Or pumps or flats or sneakers.
Instead, after two pregnancies, I have peds that are ill-suited for shoes and yet still require them. My sneakers, which were never all that comfortable anyway, just died in a leaky way. My duck boots are impractical unless there is a lot of snow. The pair of loafers I just bought gives me blisters across the tops of my toes as does every other pair of flats that fit well before the boy came along but now doesn't. I discovered this this afternoon and have the bloody toes to prove it.
My toes are now freakishly long. My heel is disproportionally narrow. My arches are non-existent. I am a shoe-fitter's nightmare.
And yet I need shoes. I need to be able to teach in them and walk across two campuses in them. Given that I wear a 9.5 or 10, they need to not look like they would be better on the feet of a clown. They need to withstand real weather, like rain and non-blizzardy snows. Price is an object but I'm approaching desperate enough that I will pay a bit more if they shoe (wait for it) fits. And they need to fit well enough that I don't think about them at all, except to think "gosh my feet are so very happy."
Suggestions?
There must be a shoe out there for you.
Maybe you could start at an Easy Spirit or Naturalizer store, where they should be willing to make a recommendation. Perhaps your shoe size has changed, and you'd be more comfortable in another size; they'll be able to tell you. And I think those stores tend to be helpful in supplying shoes in different widths; if nothing else, they can order them for you.
I am personally an extremely practical shoe buyer. I buy one pair of Bass shoes at an outlet and wear them until they wear out (which includes visits to the shoe repairman). Every day, the same pair of shoes, except for sandals or pumps or sneaker occasions. Bass shoes tend to be pretty comfortable; I buy them with a solid heel. They handle local winter weather well, unless the snow is more than a couple of inches thick. I can do all-day city sightseeing, too, although by the end of the day I'm more than happy to take them off.
Posted by: Cuccu | September 18, 2006 at 04:16 PM
I have trouble with shoes too. I have flat, but not wide, feet with pesky long toes and I wear a size 11. For all-weather shoes & boots, I've had good luck with Land's End in the past. I ordered these in red a few days ago, and hope they'll be a good walking-around-the-city in the fall/early winter shoe.
I have also had good luck with Ecco and Earth shoes in the past. When I need dressy shoes, my feet usually suffer.
Posted by: karrie | September 18, 2006 at 04:35 PM
Oops. I guess it would be helpful to actually include the link. HTML does not seem to work here.
http://www.landsend.com/cd/fp/prod/0,,1_2_69659_70216_149586_127313_5:view=-1,00.html?cm_re=1*main*all&sid=0593101238186185960&CM_MERCH=PAGE_2
Posted by: karrie | September 18, 2006 at 04:37 PM
Birkenstock makes more than just sandals, maybe they have something.
Posted by: matthew | September 19, 2006 at 07:35 AM
Believe it or not, Doc Martens makes some non-boot, non-punk rocker shoes that kind of look like fun bowling shoes... lots of toe room.... I'm wearing mine now.
Posted by: Shelley | September 19, 2006 at 11:46 AM
I've had good luck with Aerosoles in terms of comfort (and by comfort I mean these are my shoes of choice when attending tradeshows and forced to stand on thinly padded concrete for 8 hours.)
Dansko also makes some dressy yet functional shoes (I have a pair of ankle-strap shoes that provide support AND are comfortable. They've got a nice rounded toe as well. I'm a 9.5/10 as well, so I hear you on the clown feet thing.
If you haven't visited Zappos.com you may want to. Let's you search for shoes based on color, heel height, brand....
Posted by: Melanie | September 19, 2006 at 04:33 PM
I know that your shoe saga is at an end, but for future reference (for me as much as you), I recently discovered a couple more sources.
The first is Shoes for Crews. I wish that the women's shoes looked a little less masculine, but I like the idea and imagine that they're quite comfortable. Perhaps in time they will offer prettier shoes.
The other source I discovered is The Walking Company. Here I wish that the shoes were more affordable, or that I had more disposable income. We have a local store; perhaps they have sales.
Posted by: Cuccu | November 06, 2006 at 09:43 AM