Shopping For Shoes (The Shoe Tailor)

Member Name: Glasgow Girl

Product:	The Shoe Tailor
Date:	23/08/01 (3091 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A Unique Service to Mail-Order Customers

Disadvantages: Not Exactly What it apears to be

The Shoe Tailor

I first came across this catalogue ‘with a difference’ during a commercial break in that wonderful new series,
“Cleopatra” ... ;-)

Initially, it was their
‘Foot Measuring Chart’
and their ‘Width Measuring Tape’
that caught my attention, as I believe there are many people who will suffer great pain at some future date because they are presently wearing the wrong size of shoe – and that proper fitting is the key to any worthwhile shoe supply service, be it that offered in a high street store or delivered from an Internet site. In fact, a fitting service that works should be a vital element for any Internet site offering shoes as their primary goods.

Another factor which influenced my interest in this company was that the television advertisement shows the innovative little ‘tools’ being used while the foot is placed on the floor.

However, whether the advertisement clearly shows that weight should be exerted
(i.e. - one should be standing fully upright) is not at all clear.
Placing weight on the foot or better yet, feet, is most definitely recommended.
How do I know?
I have years of ‘on-the-job training’ to fall back on, that’s how. Although not in one of the ‘better quality’ shoe emporiums, it included a most intensive period of raining, including a visit to the factory and to the head office in Altrincham, Manchester.

Come to think of it, some of the happiest times of my early life were spent in a shoe shop.

Yet another reason for my present day ‘passion for shoes ?

After a fall - some years ago now - I have kept to wearing flat shoes. Not a normally a 'recuperation based' recommendation after a fall, this has in fact been a self-imposed situation, as I am well aware that the best of all options, as far as feet are con
cerned, is to regularly change the style of shoe that is worn.

Please Note.
This is also true for any gentlemen reading this opinion.

All that time in ‘trainers’ is not the best option for painless feet in later life.

I believe that mine are not empty words, as many of you will have experienced difficulty and discomfort when returning to ‘smart shoes’ after any prolonged period wearing ‘trainers’.

It’s a sad fact that most of us will have discovered this fundamental truth ‘the hard way’.

Again, in my opinion, trainers are possibly the best form of ‘fashionable’ footwear for many decades. A good fitting pair, bought from a reputable retailer, with a well trained, caring staff, can be a positive influence on the ‘health’ of your feet. However, ‘good’ shoe retailers “with a well trained caring staff “ are few and far between these days.

This is another reason the television advertisement for “The Shoe Tailor” appealed to me.

To be more precise, the thought of being able to measure my own feet and discover what my true size is these days, appealed to me.
That is because the few shoe shops I have been in recently have been of the ‘serve yourself’ variety and, although it would appear that is the style of shoe retailing the public wants, it is a style of shopping that does not properly support (pun) the health of our nation’s feet.

Knowing just a little about ‘the shoe trade’, I also know a little of the
‘insider information’ related to that trade.

Owing to this, I am aware that, even as far back as the 1960’s, the number of people thought to be wearing ill-fitting shoes was astronomical.

Some of the ways that one can tell that a shoe does not fit properly are:

if the shoe slips at t
he back,
if you can feel the top of the shoe
pressing on any of your toes,
if the section of the shoe across the
bottom of your toes is stretched,
even the littlest bit,
if you cannot wriggle you toes in your
trainers

- if you are aware of any of the above –
do not even think of wearing those shoes!

To be subtle about it, -
you will almost certainly be making a most uncomfortable bed for you feet in future years.
I cannot stress this point hard enough.

When you are ‘young’ you may feel at the height of fashion wearing the latest styles, but, unless they fit you properly - Don’t Do It! (Nike - eat your heart out )

The thoughts of GG =

- if the shoe slips at the back it is the wrong heel fitting and that shoe will not make you comfortable - However, if you are too skint to pay out for a shoe that fits perfectly, then I would suggest that you invest in a pair of ‘sports’ insoles for your shoes - first making sure that there is enough room for them - I believe this is possibly the best thing you can do to help things a little.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Back to the Shoe Tailor Catalogue:

My interest had been aroused, so I thought I would see what was afoot ;-)
I ordered the catalogue – using their Internet site.

While I was waiting for my catalogue to be delivered I looked closely at the Internet site, and the following are the conclusions I reached along the way.

· they say they are a shoe catalogue for “women” and yet their *on-line* range includes trainers that are in all the high Street shops as being ‘for men’.

(my observation is ‘supported’ by the fact that the styles I am referring to are only available from a size 5 upwards, whereas ladies shoes would be available from a size three)

If I wanted to
, I could go to my local shoe shop and purchase a pair of ‘gents’ shoes. I do not want to do this as, among other reasons, my feet are what I believe to be a ‘standard width’, as I have stated in an earlier opinion, and a ‘mans’ shoe would *not* be at all suitable.
What then did this suggest about the style of selling employed by an apparently reputable company?

Since receiving their catalogue, I have had a few days to cogitate and consider exactly what it is that the Shoe Tailor is offering. The conclusions I have come to run something like this;

· The company behind the Shoe Tailor is a very reputable and ‘time-served’ mail order company by the name of Oxendales; so well regarded in fact, that my own Grandmother was able to order goods from them, when I was a mere stripling. That should give you a clear notion of just how old and reliable the credentials of this company are.

· The catalogue is a very clever way of putting to good use the experience and expertise this company must have been able to gather over the decades.

· The basis of their idea would appear to be that, as I said earlier, there are thousands of women out there wearing shoes that don’t fit. In addition, there are only a relatively limited number of companies manufacturing footwear for women.

· Furthermore, those companies all have their own individual ‘standard’ sizes; sizes which they have found to be the ones which have sufficient demand to warrant ‘lasts’ being made up.

These 'lasts' can be extremely expensive to make up but, on the other hand,
lasts are also an essential part of shoe manufacturing.
They come in pre-set sizes and these sizes (width-wise) predict the ‘fitting’ of the shoe which is to be the final product.

What Oxendales, or rather ‘the Shoe Tailor’ would appear to have done is
to gather together a range of footwear from different manufacturers, acknowledging the differences in fitting of each manufacturer and – using this knowledge – the Shoe Tailor have made up what they believe to be ‘templates’ that reflect which range of shoes will fit which range of sizes and width fittings.

The end result being the clever and workable ‘size and fitting guides’ they supply to their would-be customers.

I hope I didn’t make that last bit too awkward to follow. It’s probably easy for me to think about it – owing to my training – but writing it down proved to be more difficult than I had thought it would be.

What I did find unsettling was the Shoe Tailors insistence that, after measuring your feet to ascertain which size was correct for you – they recommend that the following:

“If your measurements are different …”

(GG = they definitely will be – more about this later. )

“… don’t worry. If the length of your feet are different, please use the narrower fitting.”

(GG help – what happens to you “WIDER” foot? Does it get squashed into a shoe that is too narrow ? I cannot see how this would work in practice.)

“… If the length of your feet are the same, please use the wider fitting.”

(GG In all my years in the shoe trade, I never once found a single soul (sole)=(pun) that had two feet *exactly* the same size.)

It would appear that the Shoe Tailor is relying on hardly anybody thinking their feet are the same length… as will most definitely be the case, and as such is most probably the case, they will have a better idea which sizes of which styles to pre-order for each season.
(again, - I hope this is not too confusing)

The main problem with the Shoe Tailor’s method, as I see it, is that what i
s the ‘right fit’ for one person, is totally unsuitable for another. Just check round within your own circle of friends and you’ll see what I mean. Some people prefer their shoes to be “a neat fit” as they
say in these parts, while others will put up with shoes that practically fall from their feet at the slightest incidence of resistance.

All up, the Shoe Tailor is a fine catalogue, with a great range of shoes. But, whatever you call the different width fittings, the fact still remains – it would appear to be impossible to get shoes for ladies – in a size 9 ‘standard’ fitting.

Even in this excellent catalogue, where they have re-labelled the fittings as being:

Standard fitting = ‘D’
Wide = ‘E’
Extra Wide = ‘EE’
Ultra Wide = ‘EEE’

Although many of the simply gorgeous styles in this catalogue come in sizes *up to* a size 10 EEE - all bar one style that I could see (and that was a single strip of a silver sandal) had no “Standard” fitting shoes – D in this case –in a size 9.

What this means is, for Glasgow Girl at least, - it’s back to the high street and the hard-slog that is what some women get to enjoy and call, “Shopping for Shoes”.

GG

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