If the Shoe Fits: Why Footwear Sizing is Important
Do you own a particular pair of shoes that cause you blisters or maybe are just generally uncomfortable to wear? Studies show that these are very common problems with footwear with researchers estimating that 63% to 72% of people actually wear the wrong shoe size. According to experts, people tend to wear shoes that are either too long, too short, or too narrow for their feet. They also have discovered that this is prevalent across different age populations including children who may continue these bad footwear habits into their adult life.
Since it is a majority of people who are likely wearing the wrong shoe size, there is a great possibility that you fall into this category as well. Although it’s tempting to go for bargain buys, you may pay the price when ill-fitting shoes put you and your feet at risk. Keep reading for more information about why it’s important to buy shoes that look good and fit well.
The Risk of Wearing Shoes that Don’t Fit
Properly fitted shoes actually help align your feet with your lower body so that you can maintain the right gait and posture. On the other hand, ill-fitting shoes struggle to support your feet, which can result in pain and discomfort that can even escalate to bruising, nail damage, blisters, and calluses. If you ignore these red flags and continue to wear the wrong shoe size, you may end up experiencing the following conditions:
Foot Deformities
A scientific review which analyzed 18 studies revealed that wearing poorly fitted shoes on a regular basis can cause long-lasting foot conditions. It can lead to lesser toe deformity, corns, and calluses because your shoes are not properly aligned with the shape of your own feet. As a result, your shoes can place unnecessary pressure on certain areas of your feet and lead to negative health conditions.
Ingrowing Toenails
If your shoes are too narrow or short, the tip or toebox can place too much pressure on your toenails. This can cause your toenails to push into your skin, leading to extreme pain, infections, and improper growth.
Peripheral Neuropathy
Wearing the wrong shoe size can cause or even worsen neuropathy symptoms. This long-lasting health condition will cause numbness or prickly sensations in your feet.
How to Choose the Correct Shoe Size
Use an App to Calculate Your Shoe Size
Nike noticed that plenty of their customers were returning their sneakers due to them not fitting particularly well. As a result, the brand developed the Nike Fit app which can scan feet and determine the correct shoe sizes. All you need to do is to select a shoe from the Nike app then you will be presented with an option to scan your own feet using your smartphone. In just 15 seconds, the app can take note of your measurements and recommend the right size for a particular shoe style. You can also use the Xesto app as an alternative to determining your correct size.
Remember Different Brands Have Different Sizing
It is possible in the past that you may have accidentally purchased the wrong shoe size due to certain brands having their own sizing system. SoleSavy, a popular online sneakerhead community, points out that you need to do size conversions to get the perfect fit from big brands like Nike and Adidas, which use men’s sizing as a default. So if you want to know how to calculate your sneaker size, SoleSavy has published a conversion chart which shows you how to get the correct size when purchasing shoes from brands such as Nike, Reebok, New Balance, Converse and Asics.
Apply Shoe Equipment for Greater Comfort
Your shoes will definitely be more comfortable to wear if you know your actual size. However, if you want to make them more comfortable, you can use shoe equipment like gel pads, blister pads, or even band aids. This will reduce the amount of blisters and injuries that you can get from your heels, sneakers, or flats especially if they are brand new.
When it comes to shoes, go for something that provides both style and comfort. Keep your correct shoe size in mind at all times so that you can look and feel great while you walk.
How are your feet feeling these days? Do you know if you are wearing the correct shoe sizes?
Keeping it on the edge,
Shelbee
Joining these Fabulous Link Parties.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
I am a midlife woman, wife, and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.
24 Comments
Anne M Bray
You neglected to mention BUNIONS! Aaaaaargh!
Remember those foot sizing contraptions from when you shoe shopped as a kid? Lisa from The Walking Cradle Company brought hers to FierceCon in 2019. No great revelations when she measured my feet, but the contraption felt lovely. Haha.
Guilty of buying too-small shoes in my youth. Now, with the wisdom of old age, if it doesn’t fit, it either goes to Poshmark or to the shoe sculpture display atop my “accessories bookshelves”.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
I am sorry about the lack of bunion talk! OMG, the foot sizing contraptions were great! They really don’t use those anymore and it makes shoe sizing for my kids really difficult. Especially since I have to order all their shoes online now (we have NO shoe stores where I live). So I have to measure their feet with a tape measure on the floor then convert cm to shoe sizes. It’s very annoying! I have definitely been guilty of buying shoes that are too small, but the wisdom of my years stopped that nonsense long ago! Although, I am still guilty of buying the occasional pair of too big cowboy boots when I find them in thrift shops. I just wear lots of socks! I love that you have a shoe sculpture display! Fun!
xoxo
Shelbee
Jessica A Jannenga
Bras, now shoes huh? LOL, why don’t we wear the right size!
kidding.
I know my mom’s feet must be a scientific anomaly, as she gets shoes and returns them as fast as she gets them.
So right though, especially with european sizing, that can be tricky to get the right size.
These are good examples, I will sometimes put orthotics into my shoes, but then you need a larger shoe that your reg size to do so! You have a great collection!
jess xx
http://www.elegantlydressedandstylish.com
Enjoy your day!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Ha, we are a weird species, aren’t we, Jess?! I suppose since we are the only animals who wear clothes and shoes on our volition, we don’t have anybody to teach us about proper fit! We have to stumble through and figure it out on our own. LOL. Can you imagine if we tried to bra up the camels and tigers and zebras?!
xoxo
Shelbee
Wendy
“Shoe equipment!” That’s hilarious!!
My heel days are over — I have a balance issue — but I love your collection above. Just beautiful. I miss nice shoes.
Thank you for your awesome comment! 🙂
Wendy https://theinspiredeater.com/
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Wendy! Oh my gosh, the shoe equipment phrase made me chuckle, too! I do love my shoe collection and I am very grateful that I am still able to wear high heels when the mood strikes. Although it doesn’t happen very often these days!
xoxo
Shelbee
Mica
These are good tips! I always make sure to buy the right size of shoes – I prfer buying in person for this reason. Otherwise they are just too uncomfortable to wear, and no one wants uncomfortable shoes!
Hope you had a nice weekend 🙂 We had a quiet one at home enjoying the unexpected summer temps during winter!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks, Mica! I agree that nobody wants uncomfortable shoes! I used to be really bad with buying the wrong size when I was younger. If I really liked a pair of shoes and they were a size too small, I would buy them anyway, wear them until my feet hurt, and then regret buying them! I have no idea why, it is a very silly thing. Haha. We had an unseasonably cool and rainy weekend for the middle of summer so it was just kind of a lazy one here!
xoxo
Shelbee
Lovely
These are helpful tips! I need to try the Nike app.
xoxo
Lovely
http://www.mynameislovely.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks, Lovely! Do let me know how the app works out if you try it!
xoxo
Shelbee
Jennifer
I cannot believe the size differences I am with different brands. I can vary between a 6-7.5, but 6.5-7 is usually my regular sizes.
Jennifer
Curated By Jennifer
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
There really is a difference in brand sizing, Jennifer. I used to wear a 9-9.5 until I had kids and now I usually need a 10 but in some brands I have to size up to an 11 and even a 12 if they are a super narrow style. I guess the same is true of clothing sizing, but at least if something is a size too small on clothing, it doesn’t hurt! Too small shoes cause much pain!
xoxo
Shelbee
Karren Haller
Reading Wendys comment, I too had to stop wearing my beloved heels, I used to work retail and wore heels everyday, heck I even wore them everyday! Shopping, working, weekends, dancing, didnt care what my feet said, I just did it. I am short, had to do something. Oh the vanity!!
PS I love those pink shoes, O M G!!
Happy Week, Happy Feet!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Karren! I remember walking around NYC in my 20’s and 30’s always on sky high heels…it didn’t even matter if it was snowing! My vanity would not allow me to ever wear sneakers or snow boots with my work attire. We do learn a lot over the years from our ridiculous ways in youth, don’t we?!
xoxo
Shelbee
Karren Haller
It was definetly V A N I T Y!!!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Haha, I know it well!
xoxo
Shelbee
Sheila (of Ephemera)
Brands often vary widely in their sizing – Fluevog are notorious for being really erratic (I wear an 8.5, 9, 9.5 and 10 in their shoes, depending on the style). I always try shoes on and walk around in them and won’t buy them unless they’re immediately comfy.
I spent too much time wearing too-tight shoes in my late teens, walking home in them after dancing for 5+ hours – I destroyed my poor feet. I have calluses, a bunion, nerve pain, and don’t forget that as we age, the natural padding under the ball of the foot actually deteriorates so that shoes that were once comfy can cause intense pain! Oh, the joys of getting older. That is my ONE regret in life: I would go back and tell my younger self to wear more comfortable shoes!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Sheila, thanks for sharing your shoe experiences! I did not wear properly fitted or comfortable shoes for the duration of my 20’s. I would prance all around New York City on the highest of heels regardless of the weather. I remember painstakingly making my way over patches of ice and snow because I was much too vain to wear sneakers or boots with my fabulous work outfits. I mean, lots of people saw me on my two hour commute! Fortunately, I do not suffer from foot problems at this point. But I also rarely leave my house which eliminates the need for having shoes on my feet for hours on end. Perhaps these lazy days of my midlife will save my feet from disaster!
xoxo
Shelbee
Shauna
I am guilty of the ingrown toenail for sure. My gym shoes always fit weird! They seem fine at first, and then – boom – toenail problems instantly. Maybe the universe is telling me I don’t need to workout anymore! *wink wink* 🙂
Shauna
http://www.lipglossandlace.net
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Oh my gosh, Shauna, you just cracked me up! About 95% of my exercise happens on a yoga mat so I don’t even need work out shoes! Haha.
xoxo
Shelbee
mireille
I had to increase my shoe size after the last couple of kids. I can sometimes wear a 6.5 but typically just buy size 7. I have learned that it is not worth to suffer!
http://www.chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
It definitely is not worth suffering from too small shoes! Haha. I went from a 9/9.5 to a 10/11 after kids. I held onto the smaller sizes for way too long hoping they would fit again. But our feet never do go back to pre-pregnancy size!
xoxo
Shelbee
Rena
Shelbee, it’s also important to realize that one’s shoe size can change over time, especially during and because of pregnancy. I am nearly a size larger now than before I had kids and my foot got wider, too. Added width wasn’t a bad thing because I’d been a narrow and I’m now a medium. The quality of the materials can make or break the comfort of a shoe as well. A fast-fashion top or dress is one thing but I won’t skimp when it comes to footwear anymore.
Rena
http://www.finewhateverblog.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Rena, thanks for commenting and sharing your experience with shoe sizing. My feet also expanded to a full size larger after children and they do not go back! Haha. I remember holding onto all of my size 9/9.5 shoes (I now wear a 10 or 11 depending on brand and style) thinking my feet would return to that size or I would just squeeze my feet into my fave pairs anyway. So silly to have achy feet! And I agree with you that a fast fashion dress is one thing, but some of the fast fashion shoes are more like torture devices.
xoxo
Shelbee