When it comes to leather shoes, the fit is absurdly important.
Unlike sneakers, where most of us would prefer to wear looser ones for comfort, leather shoes are designed to fit closely and will eventually mold to the shape of your feet.
However, most men chooses the wrong size of their feet. According to a research, 75% to 80% of men do not know their true shoe size.
See, If a shoe doesn’t fit correctly, it cannot mold to the shape of our feet.
The shoe will crease and wear in the wrong areas, eventually affecting the longevity of the shoe, as well as affect our walking posture, causing us pain and spine alignement issues in the long run..
Here are some ways you can tell your shoes fit you or not .
1. Creasing at the wrong part of the shoes, especially in front of the toe area.
When you wear a shoe that doesn’t fit correctly, your foot will bend where it was not designed to, creating unsightly cracks.
2. Stating the obvious here, but when you find yourself being unstable when you walk and your feet flops around in the shoe.
Again, your shoe should feel like an extension of your foot, so you shouldn’t feel unstable. Your heel should be locked inside the shoe, without room to move around too much.
3. The widest part of your foot (known as the ball of foot, the area between your arch and your toes) is not aligned with the widest part of your shoe.
This generally indicates your shoes are either too long or too short. Or it maybe because of the shape of your feet (right image) It will cause a lot of rubbing between your feet and your shoes, giving you corns and callsus.
4. The shoe’s two leather eyelet “wings”, where the shoe laces loop through, touch each other when the shoes are tied.
What you want is a V-shape on both open and closed lacing systems. If the leather touches when the shoes are tied, that means they’re too big. (information and picture courtesy of http://www.allenedmonds.com/)
Too tight and too wide
5. The shoe feels too tight right from the start.
We all heard about it from the sales person, we are usualluy told that leather shoes are supposed to feel tight and the leather will stretch when the shoes are seasoned.
Well…that is partially correct. Leather will stretch a bit, but what you really want is a fit that wraps your feet as if you wrap a blanket on yourself during a cooling weather.
The ideal fit is when you can feel the shoe hugging your foot, but at the same time, there is no pain or discomfort as you walk.
Have any feet problems or shoe issues? Contact Styles Chong, Owner of Carnation Footcare Singapore and Malaysia at styleschong@okeanostrading.com and he can help you to do a basic consultation to advice what you need to take note of in regards to your feet and shoes.