As much as most women love pretty shoes, many feel distinctly uncomfortable when they walk into a department store looking for a pair of shoes for a special occasion. It is not an uncommon occurrence for many women to admire a pretty pair of special occasion shoes only to discover that they are unable to squeeze their feet into them. This is most commonly a problem when the woman has wide feet or large feet. This problem can not only be frustrating but embarrassing as well.

Most department stores today simply do not carry shoes that are wide enough to accommodate many people. It is no problem if a woman wears a regular shoe size 6 to 10; but if the woman needs a wide or extra wide fit shoe, there is commonly a problem. Interestingly enough, the average shoe size has increased significantly in the last century; however, wide sizes in fashionable styles are still difficult to find at best, at least in department stores and retail shoe shops.

As a result, many women do the best they can and that is to try to cram their feet into shoes that are really too small. The length of the shoe may be just fine; however, when it comes to the width of the shoe that is another story entirely. There is definitely a price to be paid for this issue and that price often manifests as hammer toes, bunions and joint inflammation. Nerve damage can even result from shoes that do not fit properly.

Doctors specializing in feet problems are seeing an alarming trend. Poor feet health is becoming a serious problem. In the past, this was often not as much of a problem as it is today because shoes were custom fitted for the person who would be wearing them. That is no longer the case today; however, and mainstream stores simply do not carry a selection of shoes to fit wider or larger sizes.

Take a trip through any department store and you will likely find that the largest size shoe for women is around size 10 or eleven. To make matters even worse, the selection of wide sizes is minimal at best. In some cases, there may be a few wide sizes for certain brands of shoes but not for all brands. Finding double wide size shoes in a department store is next to near impossible.

The fact of the matter is that most shoe manufacturers have been slow to respond to the change in the size and shape of most of today's consumer's feet. Each generation is typically larger than the next and that includes the size of their feet. In addition, there is a distinct pattern of feet becoming wider as people age. Given the fact that the Baby Boomer generation is heading into their retirement years, it is anticipated that more and more people will need wider fit shoes as time goes on. Yet, shoe manufacturers have not responded to this obvious need.

One of the reasons for this is that most shoe companies have a keen interest in being able to mass produce for higher profit levels. As a result, they try to produce shoes that are appropriate for the median market. They do not account for consumers, especially women, who have wider or larger feet.

Until a few select few companies began to offer stylish, wide fit shoes consumers were forced to take what they could find in department stores and in most cases that meant ill fitting shoes or shoes that were hardly stylish. It is little wonder that there is a rise in feet health problems.


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