[HN Gopher] You Do Not Have a Shoe Size
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       You Do Not Have a Shoe Size
        
       Author : feross
       Score  : 27 points
       Date   : 2023-03-25 18:47 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (writing.kemitchell.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (writing.kemitchell.com)
        
       | plg wrote:
       | I don't understand why in the year 2023 with what ... 15 years of
       | the "long tail" of the internet, we don't have mass market shoe
       | companies that will scan your feet (e.g. in an in-store kiosk, or
       | using your iphone (hello lidar!)) and then shop you shoes that
       | fit your feet exactly.
       | 
       | this from a guy with one foot size 12.8 and the other foot size
       | 13.6. My feet have hurt every day since I was a teenager
       | 
       | PS I would pay, like a lot, to get shoes to fit my feet exactly
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | Klayy wrote:
         | I've been buying shoes online from eobuwie.pl for years. I
         | scanned my feet once and that was it.
         | 
         | Maybe a store like that doesn't exist in your country, but it's
         | definitely a thing.
        
         | Connor_Creegan1 wrote:
         | Something similar exists: bondenoshoes.com
        
       | crazygringo wrote:
       | It still baffles me how different shoe sizes are for the same
       | foot.
       | 
       | I'm a 12.5 in most modern sneakers and a 12 in most modern dress
       | shoes (already annoying that they label differently) but then I'm
       | a 13 in certain New Balance and 11.5 in certain Converse.
       | 
       | And this is just length, not width or anything. It's so bizarre
       | they can't just work out a consistent measurement label for
       | length.
        
         | etrautmann wrote:
         | Part of this issue is that sizing is a moving target on both
         | sides. For many sports you size up or down for the desired
         | performance fit, so companies don't want to buck the trend even
         | if it's more accurate, since they'll end up with unhappy
         | customers.
        
       | tpmx wrote:
       | Shoe sizes should be at least 2D.
        
         | jrockway wrote:
         | You're talking about widths, right? You can definitely buy
         | varying widths, but only some brands sell wide shoes, and even
         | then, you are very limited. (I have very wide feet. Saucony is
         | pretty much the only brand that consistently has models that
         | can fit me.)
        
           | tpmx wrote:
           | Yeah. Widths are very badly defined. I also have wide feet;
           | in Europe I find that some random Ecco models fit me well,
           | but finding them is a puzzle every time. They're even worse
           | than Apple when it comes to model name consistency over the
           | years.
        
           | noman-land wrote:
           | Check out some of the "barefoot shoes" brands. They tend to
           | run wide. Lems are comfortable on day 1.
           | 
           | https://www.lemsshoes.com/
        
           | imoverclocked wrote:
           | I recently went shopping for boots that I can get work done
           | on a step clay hillside. I went through the entire store
           | (whose primary merchandise is boots) to end up with exactly
           | one pair that didn't squeeze my feet the wrong way.
           | 
           | Running shoes in the past was a similar struggle.
           | 
           | Some people hate looking at toe-shoes (aka VFFs) but they
           | consistently fit like a glove for me. Too bad they don't
           | support at all!
        
             | steanne wrote:
             | yep. wide toes, normal heels. i ended up in toe shoes too.
        
       | simonblack wrote:
       | As the man says, we need to shop for shoes just like clothing. I
       | keep telling my wife that a dress size is merely a guide, and to
       | start a size or two low then keep increasing till the dress fits.
       | Who cares what that final number happens to be.
       | 
       | I live in trainers. I have learned that my size and model is New
       | Balance model 624 in a 4E wide and a size 42 European. I use the
       | European sizing by preference because it gives a finer sizing
       | than the British or American sizing.
       | 
       | It's almost frightening that I can walk into the shoe store and
       | walk out again in less than two minutes with my shoes.
       | 
       | But if I want to buy any other shoes, I have great difficulty.
       | Invariably, the shoes on sale are not wide enough. Sometimes I
       | have bought shoes in a larger size like a 43 or even a 44 to get
       | enough width. But almost invariably again, they are just NQR. And
       | forget about elastic-sided shoes. They are just so tight that I
       | can't even get my foot into the ones with the correct length. I
       | would love a pair of espadrilles. Yeah, right. Dream on.
       | 
       | As I said above, I live in trainers. They're the only ones that
       | 'fit right'.
        
       | nevertoolate wrote:
       | I wear "barefoot style" sandals throughout the year. Winters are
       | OK here with the occasional dip below freezing. I carry woolen
       | socks as emergency measure. Picking size is easy, you only need
       | to measure the sole area. If you go a bit above in size it is
       | possible to cut down from the sole with scissors.
       | 
       | This style of footwear makes my life a lot simpler.
        
       | jrockway wrote:
       | I can definitely relate to this. I feel like my shoes fit
       | differently from day to day. Sometimes they're perfect. Sometimes
       | it feels like my feet are going to explode my shoes from the
       | inside. All very interesting.
        
         | Overtonwindow wrote:
         | Not to seem glib, but have you spoken to a podiatrist? The
         | reason I ask, is that my chess teacher would complain about his
         | shoes fitting differently every day, and his doctor found that
         | it was just his feet swelled considerably. In his case, it was
         | due to an underlining health issue
        
       | gregors wrote:
       | pro tip - use the EU sizing instead of the US. I've noticed I get
       | on the whole much better results. I also wear a "13" but I
       | noticed that the "13" that fit me generally are 47.5. I've seen
       | the following sizes for the US "13" 46, 47, 47.5, 48 ....so I
       | generally do better when I select sizes by the EU ones.
        
       | sublinear wrote:
       | Maybe I'm missing the point, but... well, why would anyone think
       | that feet grow into discrete sizes like that or that the shoe
       | sizes would be precise while still being comfortable?
        
         | 0_____0 wrote:
         | I suspect that people familiar with buying womens' wear are
         | much less prone to this mistake, seeing as how one person might
         | fit two or three size increments depending on brand.
        
           | sublinear wrote:
           | Sizes don't vary between brands as much as they vary between
           | the materials used. That's true for all clothing. The second
           | reason would be vanity sizing:
           | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_sizing
        
             | 0xcde4c3db wrote:
             | Yet another reason is that quality control tends to be
             | pretty terrible for anything but boutique/luxury brands
             | (and even they have their missteps). There are situations
             | where you can buy multiple of the same SKU and wind up with
             | stuff manufactured in three different countries with
             | obviously different fabric quality and measurements off by
             | multiple inches.
             | 
             | There's been something like a "marathon to the bottom"
             | across things like clothing, shoes, and just about anything
             | else textile-adjacent for almost a century. You can find
             | articles from 50+ years ago lamenting how clothing used to
             | last longer and have more consistent quality, and it's only
             | gotten worse since then.
        
       | russellbeattie wrote:
       | My heal isn't shaped like everyone else's I think, so many nice
       | shoes cut into my tendon so badly, I have to try every one to
       | make sure I can walk without sharp pain.
       | 
       | In college I bought a pair of Doc Martens and just about crippled
       | myself before just giving up and taking a hammer to them. (Yes,
       | literally.) After beating the crap out of the back of them I was
       | finally able to use them without blood being shed. Not something
       | you can do to most shoes though.
        
         | michelb wrote:
         | This is my problem as well. I usually have to modify the shoe
         | or wear some tape or a silicone band around my foot. I would
         | love to simply pick a shoe and have no pain.
        
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       (page generated 2023-03-25 23:02 UTC)