Buying shoes. Classic or dud?

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I'm referring to the actual fitting of shoes, having just been through hell and back because I have a narrow foot or something. I'm saying dud because the shoe-buying experience is just plainly awful.

― Bill, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I haven't bought any new shoes since my freshman year in high school. Still wear the same pair of Docs.

― Melissa W, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'll have to endure the pain soon because theres a hole in mine. I was driving in here today and my right foot got stuck to the accelerator for a second, I had to take off my shoe and drive in in my sock.

― Ronan, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Breaking in a new pair of shoes is sheer purgatory. After a few days, that slight pinch you experienced on first trying them on has intensified to the sensation of having your foot savagely crushed in a vice.

As I speak, the flesh on my right heel has been virtually worn down to the bone, and I feel like a particularly malicious invisible pixie is incessantly stabbing my achilles with a fork.

Even if I buy a pair of shoes that fit like a glove when I try them on in the shop, for the first few weeks they end up chafing like buggery.

― Trevor, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

When I was kid, my mother insisted on taking me to Clarks shoe shops as she thought they were top, I'm not quite sure why although I'm pretty sure that it wasn't because Clarks Commandos had a compass in the heel. But anyway, these shops had an automated device for measuring kids' feet which involved putting your feet in a space into which advanced four metal plates from each direction to encase your foot and show you what size shoes you needed. Now it doesn't matter how much adults implore you to keep your feet flat, if you are five years old and there are metal plates advancing on your feet from all directions, you bloody well scrunch up your toes! I always had badly fitting shoes as a consequence, and my little toes are slightly deformed. I notice that these machines have mysteriously disappeared from Clarks shoeshops since.

So, dud!

― MarkH, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Surely no grown up has to have their shoes fitted properly as everyone knows what size their feet are? Unless it's like bras and 8 out of 10 people are wearing the wrong size shoes.

Buying shoes is very strange, I don't know what kind of magic flooring they have in shoe shops but it makes 5 inch stilettos seem as comfy as a pair of old slippers, then of course you get them home, take 2 steps and become crippled. This is why I have a pair of high heeled purple ankle boots that I have only worn once and which cost me about 70 quid. What a fool. I keep looking at them and thinking 'they can't be that painful' but never get round to trying them out again.

― Emma, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I have size 13 feet. I take what i get

― anthony, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I really enjoy going into shoe shops, watching women try on shoes, and rubbing my crotch whilst doing so...

― Kodanshi, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Do you do that standing in front of them?

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yes. Of course! Why wouldn't I?

― Kodanshi, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Emma, in a perfect world, shoes would be fitted and not only that, but they would come in half sizes and width fittings. My Nanna says all shoe shops used to be like that. I am sick and tired of buying shoes that either flop up and down or rip my size seven and a half, narrow plates of meat to shreds and long for my Start Rite happy feet days.

― Madchen, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

those clarks foot measurers were GRATE: i used to insist on getting my feet measured even when it wasn't needed it!!

― mark s, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

When I was a child, my feet were little squares. Nothing fit well then, and with my extra-wide feet, shoes (not sneakers) remain a problem to this day. Doc Martins are especially cruel. It sometimes takes over a month to break them in.

My least favorite shoe-buying incident: the soles of my Chuck Taylors once fell apart after one month (!), and I was forced to wear them while walking through the streets of Annapolis, IN THE SNOW, with my socks sticking out of the shoes all sloppy and wet, looking for a shoe store.

― Michael Daddino, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Madchen, after this debacle, my mum has confidently assured me I was a startrite kid instead of a clarks one, presumably meaning my shoes were fitted to buggery so they actually damn fitted properly. (I too am also probablya 7 and a half! wow!) This only applies to proper shoes though, as someone else mentioned, trainers etc and those kickers things I wore for ages seem to fit differently.
My local childhood shoe emporium never had those machines, but weren't there also machines which x-rayed your foot and were dangerously radioactive?

― Bill, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The second worst thing about being a Start Rite kid was that we didn't get to put our feet in mechanical foot measurers - they were great, weren't they? The worst thing about being a Start Rite kid was that you inevitably ended up with poo brown shoes. At least I don't have bunions though.

― Madchen, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Nah, I got black ones. Although I did have to wear brown sandals with grey socks half the year - it was like they were training to be an old man sitting on a pebble beach at the age of five. I'm telling you, there are strange powers out there...

― Bill, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

My worst shoe experience ever:

My mom thought it would be a good idea to prepare for a weekend by buying the family new clothes to wear. While in theory this was a great idea, since I was notorious for wearing clothing that was pretty shabby for someone of my socio-economic level, perhaps she could have held off on the sneakers. I had to spent the weekend, with my family, being forced to walk from the Four Seasons hotel to the Liberty Bell to the Bourse and back - twice -- in ABSOLUTE SCREAMING AGONY because my sneakers weren't broken in yet and they were reducing my feet to swollen, pus-filled slabs of beef.

Never again.

― Michael Daddino, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

classic! having no money to buy them is dud, though.

― maria, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'll buy 'm for you, babes...if you let me watch you try them on!

― Kodanshi, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i thought i was the only one obsessed with those foot measuring devices...

size 16. i don't wanna talk about shoes...::sobs::

― jess, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I LOVE big feet on women!

― Kodanshi, Tuesday, 11 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i should hope that's a completely unrelated statement.

― jess, Tuesday, 11 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Get thee to this site, Kodanshi.

― nathalie, Tuesday, 11 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I only ever remember one still-extant foot x-ray, in machynlleth (sp?) in the late 60s: the machine looked like it had actually been designed by Pierre and Marie Curie... it was cool in a why-are-we-doing-this-again way, but it was just for show, unlike those foot-measurer devices (which were for hot fetish action)

I have feet like Daddino's, as broad as they're long, which is why I go barefoot mostly. Also I am a fuckwad monkey.

― mark s, Tuesday, 11 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one month passes...

I bought really kick ass shoes at the Nine West outlet in Riverhead. They are big huge midcalf lace ups. They look like sexy combat boots with high heels. I am Lara Croft.

― Ally, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

classik i have bright orange plastic clogs today !

― anthony, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I got my Big Brown Shoes resoled last week on 9th Ave by a very nice Russian man who insisted on calling me "Alyosha". He did a custom job and they are now better than they were when I bought them 3 years ago on Spring St. he also gave em a shine and put new laces in. Sometimes mending is better than spending.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Someone please give me three good reasons why I don't need another pair of high boots.

― Ally, Friday, 26 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Because you already have red shiny lace-up ones with six inch platforms.

― Maria, Friday, 26 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I do not! Don't rub it in!

― Ally, Friday, 26 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

There are no reasons. Go buy shoes. Indulge. Be happy.

― Ronan, Friday, 26 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

two weeks pass...

Like machen in uniform, I was a start-rite kid till I was 18 years old,I loved the poo brown colour of start-rite shoes and I polished mine every day. I an going back to the early 70s and until I was 18 I never wore another shoe than lace up or bar start-rites, mostly I had to wear the classic circus oxford round toed ( were not all s.rs ) and one bar start-rites, I was fitted with 2 pairs of each per year plus occsionally a pair of brogue bars or brogue twin bars instead of one bars, bearin mind all the shoes were solid leather including the soles but after some years even the new ones fitted perfectly, without pain. Sandals, I had a new pair of start-rite sandals each summer, until I was 11 I had a classic T bar sandal called "play rider" ( now called charlotte) then another classic start-rite sandal called "sunrider" these are still available to order, I wore sunriders each summer till `i was 18 years old also the oxford lace till `i was 18 I was very proud of my classic shoes, now I have children and grand children you cannot buy these shoes for love nor money which was a great dissapointment to me, as my feet are in great shape and I have worn nothing but Russell & Bromley since `i was 18. I give my vote to classic shoes.

― start-rite kid, Sunday, 11 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Finding a pair of shoes both comfy and sexy is an extremely rare and good thing, worth the effort. Happy feet = happy body.

― Kim, Sunday, 11 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'd just like to say that I got a pair of K-RAD! mid calf flat boots (GROWED UP WELLIES!) in a beautiful burgundy colour AND AND AND they were reduced from £70 to.... £35 and and they're beautiful. I love them. I keep looking down at my legs and giggling. They were very difficult to get into at first BUT I WILL BREAK THEM! Boots boots boots yay!

Just um, SHARING THE GLEE (and that).

― Sarah, Wednesday, 14 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

three months pass...

At last, some people who share my secret fantasies. Let's swop stories of our favourite heels

― John Travers, Friday, 15 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

What I don't like about buying shoes is doing the walking around the store to check that they fit thing. I never know how much walking is enough walking.

What I do like about buying shoes is the way it is acceptable to wear them out of the shop and leave your old ones behind (or take them away in a box and realise how sorry they look).

Look RJG - there you are with your 'swop'

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 10 March 2003 03:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't even try them on half the time, which is stupid I reckon.

― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 10 March 2003 03:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Did Kodanshi move to Edinburgh?

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 10 March 2003 03:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm referring to the actual fitting of shoes, having just been through hell and back because I have a narrow foot or something.

What is so hellish about finding shoes for narrow feet? Wide feet, especially in the women's department, are truly torturous. Most women's shoes that are available in wide look appallingly orthopedic.

That said, buying shoes is classic, until you get the credit card bill. Now if I only had occasion to wear some of my prettier shoes, that would be nice.

― j.lu (j.lu), Monday, 10 March 2003 03:42 (twenty-two years ago)

ten months pass...

Having bought many pairs of shoes,each style in several colors, I can say it's classic. I love it! The trick is to actually get your money's worth out of the deal.Unless you're a celebrity, how often do you get to wear them all? I don't enjoy the blisters that try to surface once I get the shoes home and actually commence to wear them some place. Funny, it takes several weeks for me to make them comfortable enough for my feet, usually. I also have very small feet, therefore, the larger prices often apply.

― Julia Bell Snell, Sunday, 11 January 2004 20:02 (twenty-one years ago)

two years pass...

I am sitting here in Breaking In Purgatory now. My feet are screaming in pain. I want to take a hammer to these shoes and beat them remorselessly into submission.

The whole process is an unqualified dud. And why can you seemingly only buy incredibly poncey narrow-ended shoes for men these days?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 12:04 (nineteen years ago)

Seriously - how are all the women in the world not crippled?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 12:13 (nineteen years ago)

Matt, spend some time on shoes.com. Everything's there. And when you find the right shoe for you, BUY A LIFETIME SUPPLY. Seriously. Take out a loan.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 12:40 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

Sebastien-

Because you are out side of the U.S. we cannot verify your billing address to your credit card. We have the shoe in stock for you and I’ll hold it for you but I’m going to need via email or fax:

1. A copy of your credit card, front and back.
2. A copy of your signature.
3. A copy of an official document (passport, driver's license, etc) to verify name and signature, and address.
4. A copy of the top stub of your credit card bill.

Please make sure all faxed copies are legible and readable. Thank you for your understanding regarding this matter. This is for your safety as well as ours.

Every think that I receive from you will be put into a file and will be very confidential. Looking to hear back from you ASAP! So I can send your asics out!

(guy working there)

Shoe Biz

lol wut

― Sébastien, Thursday, 8 November 2007 14:15 (eighteen years ago)

I think I'll pass these guys but I wonder what you online buyers think of this, is it me or they are asking for a bit too much information , there?

― Sébastien, Thursday, 8 November 2007 15:01 (eighteen years ago)

Tell them you'll paypal it.

― Laurel, Thursday, 8 November 2007 15:03 (eighteen years ago)

seriously, he's selling shoes, not uranium... "can't verify your billing address?" yeah, paypal him :/

― Will M., Thursday, 8 November 2007 15:10 (eighteen years ago)

or get them in europe. isn't shipping crazy for a filled shoebox?

― rizzx, Thursday, 8 November 2007 16:55 (eighteen years ago)

one year passes...

why does Macys never have Rockport ProWalkers in my size anymore?

― Dr Morbius, Monday, 15 December 2008 21:52 (seventeen years ago)

Hypothetically, you could order them online.

― Abbott of the Trapezoid Monks (Abbott), Monday, 15 December 2008 22:01 (seventeen years ago)

I love buying shoes and I actively have to avoid doing it.

― Abbott of the Trapezoid Monks (Abbott), Monday, 15 December 2008 22:01 (seventeen years ago)

xp: true, but I kinda need them TOMORROW. also, I like trying on at store.

― Dr Morbius, Monday, 15 December 2008 22:02 (seventeen years ago)

Wait, Morbz, does the "never" in that first post suggest that this has happened to you before?

― nabisco, Monday, 15 December 2008 22:06 (seventeen years ago)

It seems to suggest, to me, that you have purchased Rockport ProWalkers in that size and therefore know that said size already fits your foot comfortably.

― Abbott of the Trapezoid Monks (Abbott), Monday, 15 December 2008 22:42 (seventeen years ago)

four years pass...

i ordered the red ones. i heard this brand was good for arch support.

http://www.addoway.com/viewad/Womens-Barefoot-Freedom-Julie-Stretch-Slip-on-by-Drew-New-in-the-Box-2314164

― red sobule (get bent), Friday, 6 September 2013 23:49 (twelve years ago)

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