Finish this phrase: The bigger the foot the bigger the…….SHOE of course. What were you thinking? Please take a second and pull your mind out of the gutter, just for this post anyway. Yes, the bigger the foot the bigger the shoe. So why is it such a problem for so many men, like myself, to find shoes that fit? I wish I had the answer, I really do. Even stores that once were “go to” stores for finding my size (15) have now cut back on their larger size shoes in store and have a much smaller collection online and who wants to pay additional for shipping? Why are we being punished??? Granted there are men out there who wear bigger sizes that just don’t care what they look like. But on the other hand there is a great deal of men who, like me, wear sizes bigger than 12 who definitely do care about how their shoes look in their respective outfits. Has it gotten to the point where I will be forced to wrap my child’s (if I so choose to have any) feet up like a Geisha in order to make sure his feet don’t grow beyond a size 10? I don’t want to, but I think it’s coming down to that. It’s really a sad day and discouraging.
So why is it that so many shoe companies don’t make shoes that exceed the size 12 shoe mark? I could be wrong but I believe the issue is they don’t believe men who wear sizes bigger than a 12 exist. Ok not true! They know we are out here but they choose not to make our sizes. So maybe it’s just that we don’t matter and they would like to focus on catering to the average man. But how do we make them change their view? Must we boycott? O wait that won’t do anything because they aren’t losing any money because they don’t make our sizes to begin with. Ok, I got it…. Should we walk into any store that doesn’t have our size shoeless and make them recognize our need? That probably won’t work either because we will just wind up looking crazy, we will be more than likely be asked to leave, and then we can never show our face in that particular store again without being known as the crazy guy with no shoes. So what can we do? Well aside from writing a letter to our favorite size 12 and lower shoe company’s correspondence department we must support those companies that work their hardest to provide bigger sizes to fit our needs. In order for them to keep doing what they are doing we must continue to show them that we are grateful by using these companies to fulfill our large size needs.
Here is a list of the best large size websites that I know of for those of us who have been blessed with bigger……..um, well, you know FEET!
www.oddball.com – We are what we are and in this case we are oddballs. Oddball is one of my favorite sites for finding faddy shoes. This company was established in 1997 by two brothers who wanted to bring style and choice to those of us with larger feet.
www.largefeet.com – Now Friedman’s has been catering to the large footed man for many years. Many well-known athletes have made their way to his Atlanta store to find that one of a kind shoe in a large size. Note: Some of the shoes are kind of out there but you can still find a nice pair of Cole Haan’s once in a while.
www.zappos.com – You know the name, but did you know they also carry a wide array of shoes in sizes larger than a 12? Check them out!
www.endless.com – Amazon’s online shoe and accessory store. Endless has a large variety and they also offer free 1 and 2 day shipping. If you’re in a bind this should be the one of the first places you check.
www.nordstrom.com – Nordstrom use to carry a nice selection of larger sizes in store but with the decline in the economy they began phasing their bigger sizes out. Thankfully, they have kept a decent amount of large sizes on their website and they offer free shipping.
By all means write those letters begging your favorite shoe companies to increase their sizes. But while you wait don’t allow your style or your FreshDemeanor to suffer just because you were blessed with man size feet. Peruse the above mentioned sites, you may be surprised, they may actually have your size!
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