Pictures of random beautiful shoes that have nothing to do with the post
It’s been a little over a month since I have kept up with my rant on what bothers me within the shoe industry and I thought that I would add another post to check off one more bullet point on my list. To read the previous 5, CLICK HERE.
Funny enough a lot of these rants come from helping customers, mainly at Nordstrom but even still to this day. And this is not to send offense to anyone but such is nature. You help people daily and you meet all types and hear all kinds of stuff and encounter all kinds of crazy. It’s the nature of ‘serving people.’
I am going to go right out and say it and that is that many men are so insecure that they often feel the need to overcompensate by claiming a larger shoe size, buying monster trucks, expensive cars, wearing “designer” stuff like Hermes or LV belts because they feel the need to be something that they are not. It’s a shame really. A huge part of this is men hating to have a ‘smaller’ foot. It’s always been funny when trolls/blog readers try to make jokes at me for having ‘small’ feet (like when I am selling off my shoes and they make silly remarks like ‘too bad you have small/baby feet’. But they aren’t small for me. They are average for my size. I am only 5’9. And I prefer them small anyway because wearing slim trousers with big ‘ol clonkers on your feet just isn’t a good look. And the guys that make these comments are probably the same type of guy that I am writing about in this post. And funny enough when I was young and dumb, I tried to wear shoes that were bigger to not ‘have smaller feet.’ I look back thinking how stupid that was. Sure glad that I got over that childish phase.
That being, it drives me crazy when a guy says I am always a 10. And then you bring them a 10 and it is huge! And they can’t fathom it. And then they get angry like it’s your fault and won’t buy the shoes. A funny story is that this actually happened to me with my own shoe brand, and serving a very famous actor. And what was even funnier is that he was trying my loafers which are actually a half size down from what they say they are. And he was a UK10 (so he claimed). I ended up bring 9.5 and 9 as I knew he wasn’t a 10, both of which were big (imagine that!). And the 9 was really a UK8.5 so just goes to show you how far off he really was. And he was so bewildered that the UK9 was big that he just got frustrated and tried to blame the shoes and didn’t want to actually go for anything after that. Time waster. But true story. Very famous actor in England.
Like I mentioned in the last post about size guides, you can’t simply be a universal size unless you are buying the same shoe year after year. Because not only does each brand differ but each last within each brand also differs. It’s just not possible to ALWAYS be a size 10. Get that through your head. And it’s okay to be a 9.5. It doesn’t make you less of a man. And it’s okay to have small feet if you are a shorter guy. It looks absolutely stupid when short guys try to have large feet and they are flailing around in their shoes. It’s a terrible look. So, don’t be afraid to take what actually fits and not just go for a number!
-Justin, ‘The Shoe Snob’
I think the issue is that people are so used to wearing sneakers (trainers) that they don’t know what their brannock size is (not that it applies to all makers/lasts). In my Asics and New Balance I’m at least a full size larger than on the Brannock and Alden’s Hampton last if not 1.5. In Alfred Sargent and Crockett & Jones I’m either 1/2 or a full size lower depending on last. It’s important to try shoes on. They’re all a little different. That said, I have bought lightly used shoes from Leffot in lasts I had never worn before. Because of this, I have shoes ranging from size 7.5UK to size 9.5 US.
I was referring to men trying on dress shoes and already having other dress shoes being like this, not that they are only wearing sneakers and then try dress shoes for their first time, this I understand because sneakers tend to fit differently.
Good post. My fear is that I like to buy shoes online, and I sometimes go a half size large, since sizes can vary, and returning can be a pain especially if it’s overseas… not entirely rational, but this post is kinda relatable since I have a pair or two that fits fine really, but could maybe be a little snugger.
Can i ask what shoe the half brogue is? As in what name/colour?
please be more specific, which one?
The shoes for Welted Sole look amazing… are they available?
yes at weltedsole.com
Those adelaides for Welted Sole are incredible, are they available anywhere?