I could debate this till the cows come home. This post might interest you, JR - the comments too:

http://youlookfab.com/2011/05/.....etiquette/

I actually put my shoes on for my WIW photos...typically I don't wear them at home, but wear slippers instead.

But growing up (in Ontario) we didn't have a strict rule about it - it was weather dependent....and my parents wore ordinary shoes in the house. My mother still does.

And my husband grew up in Massachusetts and never removed shoes (unless they were wet/ dirty). But now he usually does, and wears a sort of house shoe at home.

In summer sometimes we just keep our sandals on, and there are occasions when we wear our shoes indoors...if entertaining, etc.

In my post where I referred to removing boots I was really thinking about party season, when here you see so many of us carrying our prettty shoes to be worn indoors in a little sack and taking off the boots (of necessity).

Great question, JR, and such interesting reflections and cultural differences here.

Wow, there are some very judgmental posts in that old thread. I never realized how big a thing shoe removal was in Canada. Even though it makes sense because the weather is so much more extreme than here. When I was in Svalbard (Norway) recently, all guests in our hotel were requested to remove shoes/boots upon entering -- there was even a big room with benches for that very purpose. Almost like a ski lodge.

The first time I ever encountered a shoe-free home was with some of our Asian neighbors when I was in my early teens, but around here shoe removal at someone else's home is the exception, not the rule. I relate perfectly to Queen Mum's response in that old thread.

I wanted to add....except for wet/ muddy boots we do not insist that guests take off their shoes in our home...and as I implied, we might even be wearing our own shoes when guests come over. If the occasion is a dressy one, I don't really enjoy having to take my shoes off in someone else's home (although of course I do so if that is their expectation!) It ruins the proportion of an outfit and floors are often cold. OTOH, I absolutely don't mind taking my shoes off to curl up for a movie with a close friend at their place. Depends on the situation....

Just had another thought: I always pack my shoes in plastic bags when I put them in my suitcase because I think shoes are dirty and shouldn't touch my nice clean clothes. But I know lots of other people who just chuck the shoes in the suitcase. I wonder if this difference is correlated with whether or not people wear shoes in the house? (I definitely think shoes = dirty so should not come in contact with clean things, like my floor or my clothes.)

Diana - I sometimes do that! - but only if I think the soles of the shoes are dirty, And I do wear shoes in the house, so not a correlation there

It really is fascinating that in some cultures, removing your shoes is seen as rude, and in others, keeping them on is rude. Climate seems to be a big part of it, as well as the kind of flooring. I think there are almost certainly family differences too. My family was pretty laid back when I was growing up.

Except about boots. Boots were never indoor wear, ever.

JR, I think one difference is that the distinction between boots and shoes has changed. It used to be that boots were BOOTS, you know? Not a fashion statement, but galoshes! Now, we have fashion boots and booties, which are worn as IF they were shoes. So this is where things get muddy (so to speak).

Diana, I ALWAYS put my shoes in a separate baggie or compartment when I pack. I would never allow them to touch my clothing, unless perhaps they were brand new and had never been worn, although even then I would worry a bit.

I'm Canadian too, of British heritage, but we never take our shoes off in the house unless they are wet or muddy. Neither did my parents or grandparents. I hate going to someone's house and having to pad around in my sock feet, so when we have guests I always say please leave your shoes on! We used to have two big dogs, so the floors were generally somewhat dirty, and I didn't want anyone walking around barefoot. The other comments are very interesting to me, because of all our friends, I can think of only one couple who frown on shoes in the house, and they are a bit OCD in other ways ( don't like fresh flowers because the petals drop and make a mess ).

Fascinating read! I grew up in the south-east of Europe and for me any shoes worn outside are just for that - outside. Same like coat.

When you go inside, you take them off. If at home, we have slippers. If visiting, unless the hosts offers or insists to keep them on, my family always take them off.

All this is for the hygienic reasons alone, then comfort and warmth, I cannot imagine wearing outdoor shoes indoors unless, as mentioned, the hosts insist.

Funnily, I never thought of bare feet as rude, nor had that perception ever come up in my surrounding and consequently made me think of the shoe etiquette.

I also never thought about slippers too much before my son started kindergarten back in England a few years ago. I was horrified when I realized the children spend the whole day in the same shoes, going out, staying indoors - and worse of all the parents also walked in the same shoes through the very same space where the children (babies!) are walking, crawling or generally laying on the floor. I know a healthy dose of exposure to bacteria is good for immunity, but that was too much. But I had to live with that. the reasons were, however, not cultural, but purely practical, the space was so tiny they struggled with decent wardrobe space and catering for shoes changes would be too much.

Now, in Germany, it is the complete opposite. The children change into slippers and when parents drop kids off or pick them up they go to the kids' areas, but they either change to guest slippers or put protective covers over their shoes and then walk in.

In Japan, where I lived for almost 6 years, houses are built with a genkan (entrance) where you take off your shoes. There are storage places and always guest slippers lined up. So if a house is built like this, I take off my shoes. In the US, houses are not equipped this way and I sometimes resent going to someone's house who makes me take off my shoes. First, they rarely offer slippers. Second, the state of their floors and cleaning habits seem to be more important to them than my comfort. So if you ask your guests to remove their shoes, you MUST offer them clean, not raggedy, guest slippers. Sorry, I guess I have strong opinions about this.

Although my body now runs hot, my feet get very cold as do my hands. Like DonnaF, I have Reynaud's syndrome and I have removed my shoes in spotless homes and had frozen feet. Once I had to bring my feet under me and sit Japanese style on a chair in order to bring warmth back to my extremities.

ETA -- muddy or snowy boots are a whole different game. They do need to come off because they can leave a visible trail of mud and cow/horse droppings. I see this in our restaurant all the time when they cowboys come in for lunch. But I don't imagine this is a common problem in most environments.

No shoes allowed in my apartment. I am on the US East coast. My family is a no shoes in the house family, and they are from Florida and Mexico, respectively. I have gone to homes where it is obviously a place where you're supposed to wear shoes. I always feel so uncomfortable, and like I'm going to track things everywhere.

I have read far more heated discussions on this topic in other places, and sometimes the strength of the opinions is shocking to me. A few examples, though not on YLF, had me wondering whether the person ever had any guests come back to visit after the judgemental and inflexible views they expressed!

Mander, I hear you. I never knew such a topic could get people so adamant. I personally don't care a whit if someone wants to wear shoes or not in my home -- I cannot imagine imposing someone to either wear or remove shoes if they want to do otherwise. We are an all-footwear-options-friendly place!

I live in England, and always take my shoes off in the house - we all do. However, sometimes people who are visiting us don't - I don't make them or ask them to remove their shoes/boots but I would quite like them to ask me if I minded!

We're no-shoes here, but it makes sense because hubby's from Japan. I've known expats who spent time there, no Japanese spouses involved (for example, a British couple) who came back to their homeland and continued the custom. It makes sense from cleanliness POV. I never considered people's feet being cold--no one has ever complained to me. Now I'm worried We used to keep slippers on a rack at the entranceway, but haven't been bothering with that since moving to our smaller place in the city.

For some reason I always give a pass to workmen coming in (in good weather, obviously). It's like they need their shoes on to fix my sink correctly. In Japan no one goes inside a home with shoes on and guys like movers just get adept at slipping them on and off while moving huge pieces of furniture.

Re Diana's question about throwing shoes directly into a suitcase: "I wonder if this difference is correlated with whether or not people wear shoes in the house?"

Actually I think it's the reverse. If your perception of shoes makes them vehicles for dirt, you're going to be more stringent about separating them IMO. I don't know about other parts of Asia, but Japan is really fanatical (no judgment; I'm just saying they seem more hardcore). For example, in public schools, kids and teachers both have a separate pair of shoes they wear for inside the school to keep the interior more clean than if they'd worn their "street" shoes.

I always wondered why this Japanese hygiene thing didn't extend into not smoking or spitting everywhere in public. But people and societies are not that logical, I suppose.

This is an interesting discussion, isn't it? Just for the record, I would never ask anyone to take off their shoes...just that I used to take off *my* shoes when at someone else's house if I'd been traipsing around in mucky weather. I wouldn't do this if wearing lightweight summer sandals or ballet flats in warm weather. Just when the weather's bad, I feel nervous about getting mud/water/snow etc. on someone's floor or carpet. We used to keep fancy slippers that didn't look like slippers in our purse/handbag (eg. I bought my Grandma a pair of fancy velvet slippers that look more like ballet flats than slippers.). This is strictly a winter and 'inclement weather' habit/quirk of mine.

I agree that there is nothing worse than "pad around", as missvee brilliantly puts it, in socks in someone else's house. If the place is tiny, like in Japan, it's not that bad, but when you start dealing with larger places it's uncomfortable. It's like your heels are too low, not to mention that the outfit is destroyed. Who looks good in heavy socks? That's why I always dedicate one pair of comfortable shoes (light, not too heeled, can be worn with heavier socks) to inside wear in the winter. Loafers or ballerinas. They become my "slippers". When I visit someone, I don't take any chances and bring them in my purse or in a separate string fabric bag. That way my feet stay warm, and the host doesn't need to worry about cleanliness.

If you grew up with the custom of removing them, it can actually feel quite odd to wear your shoes into someone's house even if they insist... It always takes me a few minutes to get used to it, unless it's summer or a big loud house party with standing room only and more of a bar vibe, really.
It's a cultural convention... I was going to explain that tracking snow is not just "dirty", it melts and gets people's socks all wet. But that's only an issue if some people remove and others don't - everyone must agree one way or the other
I'm Canadian, of course. I have yet to see offices asking people to remove boots and offering sock covers... I wish they would provide those! I'll ignore the request otherwise provided it's dry day, looking to see if people are actually in their socks, etc.
It's interesting we have less and less actual snow in Toronto but I would say once the fall shoes & socks come out (vs sandals) we generally keep the convention of removing at the door in our homes. Most guests will automatically remove too.

>>>I have read far more heated discussions on this topic in other places, and sometimes the strength of the opinions is shocking to me. A few examples, though not on YLF, had me wondering whether the person ever had any guests come back to visit after the judgemental and inflexible views they expressed!

I think Mander and I have read the same forums.

Shoes-on household. The cultural norm for me and my US friends/relatives based on NE, mid-Atlantic, SE, and PNW locales. [Though snow boots generally come off.]

Shoes/boots off in the house...yes I'm Canadian!
Shoes/boots on in the house for fashion shoots (WIW
Interesting aside - I used to do a fair amount of travelling to various hospitals throughout Canada. I always remember being asked to remove my boots as I walked through the entrance of a small hospital in Northern BC - that was a first for me.

It's kind of interesting how this morphed into a conversation about shoes in the house. Which I don't mind. But what boggles my mind is the idea that people would routinely wear boots in the house. In their own house, not because they were out and had nothing else to wear.

FWIW, I can live with the different "rules" on this. They all make sense, one way or another. I do think that if you insist on people removing shoes in your house, that you should be offering decent slippers, at least in the winter when people's feet can get chilled. And for those of you with Renaud's syndrome (I hadn't heard of it before), you would be quite justified in explaining why you need to keep your shoes on, although it might be a good idea to bring along a pair of clean shoes to swap into for the hostess's sake. That way everybody is respectful of everybody else's concerns.

I live in Ontario, Canada. I was brought up to never wear outside shoes at home. Even in the summer, there's an unspoken expectation at taking shoes off when visiting especially because the host is more often than not, shoeless. I remember in elementary school my teacher made me remove my boots at the door becuase I forgot to bring indoor shoes, haha. I walked around barefoot for the rest of the day. Now, even in yucky uni dorms we wear "indoor" flip flops in rooms and when making the highly biohazardous visit to the showers.

It has been really interesting to read all the replies！This is actually so fascinating.

For me (living in Germany) it's just like Ornella said. When you go inside (your own home or with family) you take your shoes off. I had the same experience as a small child with kindergarten, every child had their own place with a hanger to leave their jacket and shoes and change into slippers every morning. When I take my outfit pictures I wear the boots or shoes I wore or am going to wear outside, but I'm not wearing them around the flat. When I have guests they are free to do whatever they want, but I always have slippers or warm socks ready in case they want to take their shoes off. At home it did depend a bit, when we had a bigger family gathering people normally left their shoes on and we were also wearing shoes. It just looks nicer for a celebration and it was easier to just go outside to fetch some more drinks when your were already wearing shoes. Or part of the party was outside in any case. When we children had friends over for a visit they would remove their shoes and wear slippers or socks just like we did. We also had floor heating in some rooms at home, so you never got cold feet.

When I am visiting someone I always ask if I should remove my shoes, I was brought up that way.