Size discrimination in shoes?

That seems really odd. I mean, really odd. No size over 8.5 US? I think I may have read that 7.5 are most common (my size, and by how things sell out I tend to believe it lol.) But then I read that our feet are now on average even larger. http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/.....ng-bigger/ So these designers are shooting themselves in the foot. Ha!

11 years ago

Aida

Veteran

Huh that is a bit odd, I know that many shoes don't do bigger sizes but stopping that low seems strange to me. I would guess that, at the very least, the 7-9 range is an extremely common size.

EDIT: Interesting article Mo! My feet are proportionally large, but my lineage isn't really tall nor large. I'd be curious if that data holds up looking at other countries, specifically in underdeveloped areas.

11 years ago

Caro in Oz

Veteran

Next to the size guide is a "size unavailable" button. They are either out of stock in the larger sizes or Farfetch didn't order them

11 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

That is odd. I wonder if they were short delivered by the manufacturer? That can happen, Anna.

In my experience of dressing people for a living, most clients wear a US size 8 to 9.5 shoe irrespective of height.

11 years ago

rae

(website)

Veteran

http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/si.....even_%27in

But still, yeah, that is lame. Is it possible the upper sizes just sold out super fast? I mean, I'm 5'4" and I still take a 39-40.

11 years ago

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

I searched long & hard a while ago. If they sold out in larger sizes it happened VERY fast. I was searched for the Sacai Luck Tatamis before even Angie tweeted them.

11 years ago

Diana

Veteran

I wonder if they're targeting the Asian market? I wear a 38 most of the time and I remember that being near the top of the size range in Hong Kong.

11 years ago

dustt

Veteran

I get so frustrated by this - US size 11 - Euro 41 or 42 depending.... They are always out of my size. Whenever I get too frustrated I try to remember how my mother coped back in the 50's with her 12AAAA - Now that was impossible!! - No internet, no local shoe stores carried her size, she had to travel 100 miles to the nearest BIG city and go to the ONE store that had her size.

11 years ago

Jjsloane

Veteran

I think all the models scooped up our size Anna. You have saved $600!

11 years ago

K. Period.

Veteran

Could they have sold out before they were stocked with the retailers? I wear a size 9/39, which is insanely common. And technically a 39 isn't even a 9. It is a bit smaller than a 9.

ETA: WOW! Everyone was busy with this thread while I was typing. Ignore my question. Double my astonishment with my remaining three comments.

11 years ago

Kristin L

Veteran

If this is a new marketing strategy, it's a terrible one. That's odd that they don't make those above an 8.5.

11 years ago

Anonymous

That's ridiculous! I feel like size 9 and 10 and 11 feet are hardly rare, so why do that?

On the bright side, I was just complaining in another thread that it was hard to find more current-looking shoes in small enough sizes for me (shoes are the only thing I'm sometimes sized out of on the small end), so maybe I just need to go past "current" to early-adopter trendy and I'll be set?

11 years ago

ManidipaM

Veteran

I get the other end of size discrimination here. it has just gotten better at Euro 37 but I was a 36 and then 36.5 until a few years ago so much of my teens and then adult life. IMPOSSIBLE to find both school shoes and regular half the time. So stupid, given small feet are VERY common in India, especially the Eastern end of it. I know scads of people my size. All glum over the limited selection.

Then again, friends with bigger feet which is your average also didn't find shoes until recent years with more international retailers and that spurring local competition. So there is a very narrow band with actual choice. I don't understand the economics.

Diana is right, I noticed that in travelling to East and Southeast Asia, where i am suddenly near the top end of the range. though there I have a different problem... many markets only cater to dainty low-volume feet. Not all but many (gives beloved Cambodian clogs the side eye).

11 years ago

dustt

Veteran

Anna - so After you posted this I decided to keep a count of the number of shoes that caught my eye that were either not available or sold out in my size....current count 6!! Not that I would have bought them all, it's just so maddening to not even have the choice!!

11 years ago

sparks

Active Member

That is weird. I live in Asia and I can usually find shoes for my massive size 8.5/9 feet

That's if the other foreigners didn't get there first!

11 years ago

Janet

(website)

Veteran

That is odd, and a bummer. Most of my friends wear a size 9 shoe, so I always thought that was kind of the average. I take it for granted that I'm such a common size (8). That would be seriously frustrating, especially for someone who wants really cool shoes.

11 years ago

crutcher

Veteran

Shoe discrimination...I, too, have lived with this problem all of my life...I wear a 10 1/2AA...What few shoes in this size are gone, early and soon...If I go to a 10, I am like Cinderella's step-sisters and the glass slipper...If I go to an 11, sometimes, the fit is off...You have to smile with Aubergine having a time finding current styles in smaller sizes and Dustt joining me in having a time with her size in current styles...Do shoe manufacturers just address the middle?...
Yet having long narrow feet is just well...me...I am a tall woman and without my size feet, I would look just...wrong...Last week Lauinda posted a great piece on self-acceptance...She brought up the current way people use surgery to fit feet in smaller size shoes...How silly!...Even with the discrimination in shoe size availability, I wouldn't change my feet..They are just...me...
Maybe shoe manufacturers need to look at the size of American woman and plan their distribution accordingly..They just might sell more shoes...
Great topic...

11 years ago

retailgirl

Veteran

Crutcher: I wear the same size and I feel your pain! I have not bought a pair of shoes in a brick and mortar store in so long I can't remember when. If I sort the shoe selection at nordstrom by size, the only shoes that come up are frumpy. I have good luck with Arthur beren shoes, but the ones I like, ferragamo and stuart weitzman, are pricey. When ferragamos started selling for over $350, that was it for me. That's why I take very good care of my shoes. And if I find something in my size that comes in more than one color, I get them both. But it is so hard!

11 years ago

Gaylene

Veteran

Another 10.5 size here. I've always been baffled as to why half sizes stop at 9.5 and why manufacturers who offer up to a size 11 don't provide that last increment. So I buy a size 11 and stuff it full of insoles and heel pads to make it fit. I've also found that, despite what the charts say, a 42 in a European shoe is often that highly elusive 10.5. But then so many styles stop at 41! Totally frustrating--along with the pitying looks from SAs who look surprised that someone with such large feet would even be looking at a fashionable shoe or, even worse, bring out a 9.5 to see if I'd like to try it. Umm, no...

11 years ago

ironkurtin

Veteran

Birkenstock makes unisex shoes. I think they consider 40 and up to be a man's size?

11 years ago

crutcher

Veteran

Gaylene and Retailgirl...you do know what I am talking about!...My mother used to say,"Honey, you just have an expensive foot." Well, I do not by choice but by design....And something else, when I travel, I take more shoes than I could ever need because I pack for all kinds of happenings...With our size foot, if shoes are needed, there is no way you can pop into a mall store and find what you need...right?...Glad I have found fellow suffers...

11 years ago

Anonymous

A few years back I worked at Etienne Aigner and vividly remember the women who came in looking for a size 11 or larger and sizes less than 6. We stocked mostly sizes 6 to 9 and simetimes had styles in the much smaller and larger sizes. We always stocked narrows and wides. We would always ship hone free of charge if we did not have their size in stock, but many preferred to try on first before buying. Shipping home was a great gimick because we were told 9 times out of 10 people just did not like to return items.

Aigner only manufactured the sizes which were most in demand but lesser quantities of the sizes least in demand. Many Europeans would shop in our stores when they vacationed and even had one customer who shopped our store twice a year for her shoe size 11 and would stock up, especially on the clearance shoes.

Oh and yes, my closet is an Aigner warehouse. The shoes just don't wear out.

11 years ago

JAileen

Veteran

I wear a 10. My experience is that it is usually stocked, but in much lower numbers than the middle of the Bell Curve. All the other size 10s have realized this, and they buy up popular shoes right away. On the other hand, if you like something that was unpopular, you can often get it on sale.

11 years ago

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Anna I took these pictures for you at the Couple Of store near me. I am not saying they are the same as your links, but they do come in sizes 40 and 41.

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11 years ago

dustt

Veteran

so happy to come back and see so many of us with the same hard to fit issues!!

11 years ago

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