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Buying shoes online from a maker one haven’t tried before is a challenge, and internet is full of size guides and questions and answers on sizing. Grayle is a new website that wants to be the one stop solution for all shoe sizing questions, by building the world’s largest database on shoe fit.
The fact that leather shoes stretch is something that most people learn when they are children. In what way and how much they stretch, however, is another matter, and not something for which there is a fixed formula. There are lots of different aspects that affect how much or how little a shoe stretches, here I go through some of them.
Most people know about removable insoles, heel grips, tongue pads etc. to fix various fit issues, what some might not think about though is that if you go to a good cobbler you can have fix the same issues in an even nicer looking and better way. Here I highlight a number of fit modifications that cobblers can do. It’s very common that RTW shoes does not fit perfectly, but in many cases the modifications below can make it really good.
Many misconseptions about what space you “should” have in front of your toes in shoes are spread and believed in. Here I go through the actual facts on the topic.
One of the most common unusual fit problems, to use a complicated expression, is that the shoes pinch on top of the big toes when walking in them. A not always permanent problem, thankfully, about why this is the case and about why and how to avoid the problem if it stays, is what today’s article is about.
Articles continued:
Just as the way people look varies around the world, people’s feet also are different depending on where you come from. Here a large review of feet shapes around the world.
Loafers are, as most know, always more difficult to get a good fit on, since you have no opportunity to easily adjust the way they fit with laces or buckles. Most common is that they slip at the heel, for this a simple self-adhesive tongue pad is an excellent solution.
There is much talk about different tips on how to break in new shoes. Unfortunately, there are a lot of inaccuracies, here I will sort out some of them.
You often talk about the possibilities of getting a better fit with bespoke shoes, versus RTW shoes made on generic lasts. Another interesting part is the great possibilities of adjusting the fit of a bespoke shoe later on, since they basically always have both toe and heel stiffeners in real leather, and then the personal lasts that can easily be modified. The shoes above are my first bespoke pair from Gaziano & Girling, which I just got back after having this done.
After once again receiving questions from readers about this subject this week, I felt it might be time to write a more in-depth post about how shoes are creasing – and how they should crease, at least in theory.
