I ask for so many recommendations about products that I need, I thought I would actually contribute a solution for a change. It may not be a problem for you, but it is for me.
I have a wide foot, and sometimes the toe box and shoe pinches. Other times the roof of the shoe is too low and it squeezes the top of my foot. And of course, shoes are different. One shoe size 11, which is what I normally wear (I might wear a 10 or a 10-1/2 in another shoe), may not be another company's size 11. In fact, I just picked up a pair of running shoes a month ago in a size I have purchased before from Asics. They were a good 1/2 to full size smaller than the company's own shoes for other models.
And some shoes I like to be tight, while other shoes need to have plenty of room. So there's the problem. Here's the solution.
shoe stretcher.JPG
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I have used these in the last month to stretch the length and width of the Asics shoes I mentioned, and I have now run 30 miles in them more comfortably. I have used them to lengthen a pair of Oxford dress shoes I have that were simply about a half size too small. I have used them to widen the toe box in a pair of New Balance shoes that pinched my left foot only. I am currently using them to raise the instep of an old pair of dress shoes I did not wear because it put a lot of pressure on the top of my foot.
I do not recommend intentionally purchasing shoes too small, but if you end up with some that do not fit perfectly, these things are a godsend. I would caution you to not expect it to perform miracles, nor to necessarily work overnight, or the first time. For my Asics, which were really small, I conservatively stretched it several times for several days. I wore it for brief runs in between, and the combination worked. But it wasn't a one-time deal. It is a process.
I would say that the solution is simply to go to a store and have your shoes fitted each time, but for some of us, that isn't a real solution. We don't have time to do that, we find better deals online, we have others purchase shoes for us, and in my case, I have tried shoes on in the store, and thought they fit okay, but after a day or so of wearing them, found they did not fit as well, or they pinched at a certain place.
Enter the shoe stretchers. for the price of two or three cups of Starbucks coffee you get two shoe stretchers, a long shoe horn, 12 bunion plugs, and 3 heighten pads.
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