Thursday, January 16, 2014

Excuse Me Brain, Who Are You Buying Shoes For?


A few months ago I had an opportunity to stop at a Famous Footwear store for some new guy shoes.  The nearest place to buy shoes that I like is about an hour away from my house and I happened to be in that area for business so I took advantage of the situation and thought I would kill to birds with one stone.  I went in, tried on some shoes, thought they fit okay, purchased them, and then went home.

I was all happy with myself, until I looked at the side of the box, and realized I bought the wrong size.  In male shoes I should be wearing an 8 to an 8.5 wide or extra wide.  I have two different sized feet if you must know.  One is a half size smaller than the other.  But even an 8.5 feels too snug, so I buy a 9 wide.  But on this particular occasion I bought two pairs of male tennis shoes in a 9.5 wide.  

Why a 9.5?  Well that happens to be the size I wear in female shoes.  Wacky.  When I first started to buy my own female shoes I thought it was about a 2 size difference between male and female, so I started by trying on 11s.  Way too big.  I went down from there and settled on 10s.  Much better.  But after a bit most of my heels would stretch out and my heel would lift out of the shoes, especially while in stockings.  So eventually I switched to 9.5s.  

Thus even though I was dressed as a guy, when I went to the shoe store on that particular day I bought 9.5s instead of 9s.  Silly me.  I had already worn one pair outside and thus could not return them.  I did return one pair and got the right size.

Okay, no biggie mistakes happen.  But...


The last time I went shopping for any clothes I happened to be dressed in female attire and I found a New Balance store, my fave place for tennis shoes.  I went in with the express purpose of buying the correct size male tennis shoes to replace my 9.5s.  I went in, tried on many pairs, found one I like, and bought it.  

Jules and I were about 3 hours from home and on a mini vacay at the time.  We visited a few places and then eventually went back home.  After I had unloaded everything from the car it occurred to me that maybe I had done something wrong.  I found the shoe box, and holy crap!  I bought the wrong size shoe again!  I again bought 9.5s!  

I think I am loosing my mind.

Life would be so much easier if we had human sized clothes and shoes and not different ones for males and females.  Hello manufacturers, are you listening?  Could you please simplify my life for me?

No?  Oh well, it was worth a little shout out attempt.

Love ya!

2 comments:

  1. It's so funny that you bring this up, because I find that I have the same problems as well, either when shopping for guy clothes/shoes or girls clothes/shoes. When ever I'm out shopping I have to take a moment and think about what size I need for whichever gender I'm shopping for. I guess it's just another layer of complexity, and another thing to remember as individuals living in the middle.

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    1. Oh good, I'm not the only one. I used to be so much better at remembering than lately. :)

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