skirtcafe.org

Nordstroms is not a place I ever shop, but its entrance is also a most convenient entrance to a mall I sometimes visit, so I passed through it the other day. They have rearranged the store so that I now have to walk through the entire women's footwear section before entering the mall.

The experience was dizzying. Now that I have some high heels of my own all I saw was an endless field of things I'd like to try on, with such great variety I was sure I could get lost in it if I thought that the shoes would fit me (which they do not as I am one size larger than women's footwear normally comes). I still stpped to touch and pick up the odd item accessible on the pathway. I am sure that the fact that none of the shoes would fit me was all that got me out of there without a shot of naloxone.

But if they did have your size you would still be there lost forever

Since the passing of Payless Shoes - Nordstroms is one of the fall back places to get shoes one size larger than life.
Especially more so in the outlet Nordstroms RACK - shoes at bargain prices.

Most department stores stop at women's size 11 an equivalent to men's size 9.5-10 and then factor the BIG "W"
wide width - the size 11 B or M just doesn't cut it - the "W" is equal to the average normal "D" width of men's.

And then there is Amazon and an off chance with eBay.

Yea be careful of the sirens call in passing through Nordstroms !

Chirp wrote:But if they did have your size you would still be there lost forever

Yes, and quite possibly broke. I've survived 65 years without acquiring any serious addictions except nicotine, but I fear that if I was in the range of normal women's sizes, having now tasted the forbidden fruit, I'd want more, more, more! Other things besides shoes too, but certainly shoes, because, come on, look at these legs...

r.m.anderson wrote:Since the passing of Payless Shoes - Nordstroms is one of the fall back places to get shoes one size larger than life.
Especially more so in the outlet Nordstroms RACK - shoes at bargain prices.

Most department stores stop at women's size 11 an equivalent to men's size 9.5-10 and then factor the BIG "W"
wide width - the size 11 B or M just doesn't cut it - the "W" is equal to the average normal "D" width of men's.

And then there is Amazon and an off chance with eBay.

Yea be careful of the sirens call in passing through Nordstroms !

I've found that most stores don't even carry all their shoes up to size 11. The majority of their selection will stop at 10, and the size 11s probably won't be Ws. I am a size 11W in the house brand shoes sold by Additionelle and Penningtons, but have found sometimes a 10WW or a 12W is best. My men's foot size is almost identical to those shoes. The buyers for those stores (both part of the Reitman's empire) are obviously into reality-sizing, because the name brand shoes they carry fit the rule you mentioned above more closely. Or maybe they've just discovered that men need a source for women's shoes, too.

I wear a size 13 wide in women's shoes, not exactly the sort of size that can be easily bought off the rack in brick and mortal stores. For years, Payless was my go to store for larger sizes, but since they went belly up, I now have to look elsewhere. Nordstroms has, at best, a modest selection of shoes in size 13, but their prices tend to be a tad offputting.

I have both a brick and mortar Nordstroms and of course an on line store . The quality is very good and for my size they have a pretty good assortment. . The only thing I would say is that it is a pretty big "tad"

As mentioned before one pof the shops where larger sizes are available:
https://www.ghigocalzature.com/en/?utm_ ... EN20150918

Also La Redoute and other French shops which carry "grandes pointures" like:https://www.sacapuce.fr/ or https://www.grandes-chaussures.com/ or http://www.lesbellespointures.com/ . In Germany a number of shops with Damenschühe in übergrosse, e.g.: https://fitters-footwear.com/ or https://www.deichmann.com/DE/de/shop/da ... oessen.cat or https://www.schuhplus.com/ or https://regina-schuhe.at/

Also Zalando has some, but seemingly they think that people with lager feet lack taste...

Thank you Gusto for that link to Fitters Footwear DE. I've just ordered myself a half-dozen pairs of Barbie pink skyscraper pumps....I jest. A pair of matt black 2" courts actually.

Tom

Gusto10 wrote: Also Zalando has some, but seemingly they think that people with lager feet lack taste...

Honestly, they probably think that they are desperate and will take what they can get, which is probably true...

It's tough to offer a wide variety to a small pool of potential buyers. I think though, that a lot of stores are slowly increasing the size ranges they carry. I used to rarely see shoes bigger than the ones I wear in men's, but now another full size up is common, but not quite universal. Occasionally I'll see even more than that.

JeffB1959 wrote:I wear a size 13 wide in women's shoes, not exactly the sort of size that can be easily bought off the rack in brick and mortal stores. For years, Payless was my go to store for larger sizes, but since they went belly up, I now have to look elsewhere. Nordstroms has, at best, a modest selection of shoes in size 13, but their prices tend to be a tad offputting.

Additionelle.com does ship internationally, I think, but I can't say how returns would work across the border. Since they tend to size realistically you might find that a 12W in one of their house brands would work. It might be worth a side excursion to a store, if you ever found yourself on this side of the border.

My problem with shoes wide enough to fit (which would be in the 12W-13W range, preferably WW) is that they are too long. I end up with half an inch to an inch of empty space at the back of the shoe.

That's because even the so-called "round toe" designs for wider feet come to a sharper point than men's shoes. I got a little relief stuffing a tennis ball into the toe of the shoe and leaving it there, occasionally softening the leather with a hair dryer, for several weeks. But even now, after wearing and stretching the shoes for months, I have at best red marks on the sides of my toes and sometimes (when my feet are swollen worse than usual) blisters.

Which is a shame because otherwise these are so much more comfortable than my men's loafers or sneakers!

You might notice that in this photo, there isn't a huge gap between my heel and the shoe heel. That's because I discovered Luoika, a brand that claims to be the only "true to size" and "true wide width" shoe on the market. It's a much better fit than any other flats I have tried, to be sure, but the "round" toe is still too pointy and it still took a great deal of effort with the tennis ball in the toe to stretch it enough to be 80% comfortable.

Ralph wrote:My problem with shoes wide enough to fit (which would be in the 12W-13W range, preferably WW) is that they are too long. I end up with half an inch to an inch of empty space at the back of the shoe.

That's because even the so-called "round toe" designs for wider feet come to a sharper point than men's shoes. I got a little relief stuffing a tennis ball into the toe of the shoe and leaving it there, occasionally softening the leather with a hair dryer, for several weeks. But even now, after wearing and stretching the shoes for months, I have at best red marks on the sides of my toes and sometimes (when my feet are swollen worse than usual) blisters.

Which is a shame because otherwise these are so much more comfortable than my men's loafers or sneakers!

You might notice that in this photo, there isn't a huge gap between my heel and the shoe heel. That's because I discovered Luoika, a brand that claims to be the only "true to size" and "true wide width" shoe on the market. It's a much better fit than any other flats I have tried, to be sure, but the "round" toe is still too pointy and it still took a great deal of effort with the tennis ball in the toe to stretch it enough to be 80% comfortable.

Some nice looking things at the Luoika-US website.

That business of trying to make feet pointy is very annoying. Maybe they will stop when more of their customers become men.

I just discovered I have a corn. My doctor suggested I stop wearing heels. (I was wearing 3.5 inch sandals at the time.) Sigh.

Daryl wrote:...Maybe they will stop when more of their customers become men.

I never realised shoes could cause a sex change.

pelmut wrote:

Daryl wrote:...Maybe they will stop when more of their customers become men.

I never realised shoes could cause a sex change.

...