Ordering online is sometimes easy, sometimes confusing.
Advertising works. I kept seeing this ad touting comfy shoes for wide feet, with the added attraction of them being machine washable. I could wear them without socks and without pedicure. They didn’t look orthopedic or only for great-grandma, so I thought I would try them.
FYI: I love shoes, booties, boots, and flip-flops. Ballet slippers and pumps just don’t work on my weird foot. I don’t like the toe cleavage most ballet slipper styles have, and they are too flat. And a problem with ballet flats, loafers, and pumps is that they slip off in the back every step because of my skinny heel. It’s the only skinny part I have, so I’m not complaining.
If I can find a good slingback pump that isn’t too pointy-toed — whose foot looks like that?— and is comfortable enough in width to wear at least through a wedding or funeral, then I might buy them. My flip flops or tennis shoes would still be waiting in the car.
Another weird foot issue is that my skinny heel is long and the arch in some shoes don’t match where my arch is.
For having a hard to fit foot, I have a large shoe/boot inventory. Because if the shoe fits, then I buy several colors. Most folks probably have a pair or two of black shoes. I have the plain leather black, black with gold tip, black suede, plain black, black western look boots with inlay, black clogs, black biker looking boots, black fleece lined booties in two heights, and several tall black boots. To me, those are ‘several colors” in different shades of black. Different shoes for different outfits. This madness goes for all the gray/light color range of shoes I have, the blues, the browns (but just a few of that color range), the red/rust range, and the two animal print (leopard and zebra).
I can also raid Grown Child’s closet because we wear the same size. She raids mine.
But I neeeeeded the little navy blue Mary Jane wide shoes I saw advertised on sale.
There came the problem of fit when ordering online with no try on opportunity I measured according to the size chart. The width at the ball of my foot came to about 4 inches, counting a bunion, which I will say is not always an age thing. The chart only went to 3.8 and that was in the line for size 12! Hmm.
My foot length came to 9 inches. According to the chart, my length would call for a size 6. If I went by width and got a 12, the shoe would be 2 inches too long.
So I looked at the Euro sizing that put me in my usual 7.5, sometimes 8 size.
Further down the sizing page was how to order by foot shape. For the wide foot, the high arch, the bunion, and the second toe longest — all configuration elements of my foot—it was recommended to order one size up. I knew a size 8.5 would be too big.
I went with 7.5 extra wide and they fit! The strap stops heel slippage and no blisters after one day of wearing!
But, navy blue is relative. These are kind of bright navy. I need to find a darker navy pair…maybe the same style in black…
