How much room do you have at the end of your dress shoes?

SirGrotius · Sep 21, 2011

I lost about 35-40 pounds over the past year and have been noticing that my dress shoes don't seem to fit me well anymore. Now that I've become obsessive about it, I notice that I have quite a lot of room in between my big toe and the end of my shoes. I'd say I have about two thumb widths of room, which seems excessive, and these aren't mega-pointy shoes.

I slide around a bit too when I'm wearing particularly thin socks. Is it possible for one's feet to shrink from losing weight? Am I being OCD about it?

Cheers

chogall · Sep 21, 2011

its normal to have feet size shrink by 1/4 to 1/2 size from losing weight. use heel grip or tungue pads to temporary fix that problem.

MyOtherLife · Sep 21, 2011

How much toe room did you have before the weight loss? Feet may fluctuate in size with weight loss or gain but it is doubtful your feet shrank this much. There had to have been already some extra space before you started and perhaps you never noticed until now. I certainly share in your excitement. My congratulations to you on your weight loss. I need to drop 30lbs myself but have no willpower to do so.

Superfluous · Sep 21, 2011

I have a narrow foot, but I find I can wear a D in lace ups becasue I can tie my foot down tight enough to not move within. However, I like having a lot of room at my toes.

DWFII · Sep 21, 2011

The clearance between the end of the longest toe on the foot and the length of the shoe is actually based on the length of the last.

The traditional standard was two full sizes on a medium round toe between the longest toe and the end of shoe...inside. Each size was one barleycorn or one-third of an inch. So, two full sizes would be about five-eights of an inch--the width of a man's thumb...hence "the rule of thumb."

Narrower toed lasts required more room...up to three full sizes. And modern high end shoes often go with as much as four full sizes.

However...George Sabbage laid out a theory in Golding's Boots and Shoes called "Sabbage's Sectionizer" that states for a medium round toe shoe the distance between the longest toe on the foot and the length of the last ought to be one-eleventh of the foot length. So for a foot that is eleven inches long the last ought to be twelve inches long.

The advantage of this is that if a standard, fixed clearance is used, on short feet the relative distance between end of longest toe and end of shoe will be longer than on long feet. Using Sabbage always makes the distance a function of foot size and length.

I find it hard to believe that you have lost more than a full size in the length of your foot regardless of how many pounds you have lost.

MyOtherLife · Sep 21, 2011

sorry..glitch over here.

kellgy · Sep 21, 2011

I lost 130 pounds in the last year and went from a size 11 to 10. I also found out my right foot is most likely a 10 B/E and my left a 10 A/D. Well fitting shoes are hard to find. I may have to get a custom fit to be satisfied. So far around 20 pair of shoes and no luck.

TheDarkKnight · Sep 22, 2011

DWFII said:
The clearance between the end of the longest toe on the foot and the length of the shoe is actually based on the length of the last.

The traditional standard was two full sizes on a medium round toe between the longest toe and the end of shoe...inside. Each size was one barleycorn or one-third of an inch. So, two full sizes would be about five-eights of an inch--the width of a man's thumb...hence "the rule of thumb."

Narrower toed lasts required more room...up to three full sizes. And modern high end shoes often go with as much as four full sizes.

However...George Sabbage laid out a theory in Golding's Boots and Shoes called "Sabbage's Sectionizer" that states for a medium round toe shoe the distance between the longest toe on the foot and the length of the last ought to be one-twelfth of the foot length. So for a foot that is eleven inches long the last ought to be twelve inches long.

The advantage of this is that if a standard, fixed clearance is used, on short feet the relative distance between end of longest toe and end of shoe will be longer than on long feet. Using Sabbage always makes the distance a function of foot size and length.

I find it hard to believe that you have lost more than a full size in the length of your foot regardless of how many pounds you have lost.

This book sounds interesting and I want to learn more about shoes, is the full title - The Manufacture of Boots and Shoes: Being a Modern Treatise of All the Processes of Making and Manufacturing Footgear?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Manufacture...6387/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1316678056&sr=8-2

matt89butler · Sep 22, 2011

Wow! thanks for sharing

bengal-stripe · Sep 22, 2011

TheDarkKnight said:
This book sounds interesting and I want to learn more about shoes,......

F Y Golding was the principal of London's 'Cordwainer's College' for some 30-odd years. He published (at least) two works on shoemaking. The one you mentioned was written by him, is in two volumes and was published in 1902(?). There is another work in eight volumes which he edited (and also contributed one section), that was published 1934/5. Contributors to the eight volume work were eminent shoemakers/teachers of the time (among them the previously mentioned George Sabbage).

The 1902 work has been reprinted and is available from amazon (I believe also on-line). But, it is a two volume work and (to my knowledge) nobody ever re-published the second volume. So, if you don't mind the book rather abruptly ending with 'closing', it's well worth getting.

I don't want to steal DWF's thunder, so, let him tell you where you can download some volumes of the 1930s work.

DWFII · Sep 22, 2011

bengal-stripe said:
I don't want to steal DWF's thunder, so, let him tell you where you can download some volumes of the 1930s work.

Hey, no big deal but thank you for the courtesy.

Yes, you can download select volumes of Golding's Boots and Shoes from The Honourable Cordwainers' Company website specifically on the Guild Library page. These are not just blurry scans of the books but actual recognized text with all images carefully cleaned and clarified. All formatted as closely to the original as possible.

After Saint Crispin's day (25 October) Thornton's book, Textbook of Footwear Manufacture...which is often quoted here by both myself and my esteemed colleague Bengal-Stripe...will also be available for download. Again the same parameters apply. Thornton is a little closer to contemporary times, his focus is a little more towards manufacturing (still well worth the read), but it is not in the public domain. The guild has exclusive permission to reproduce the work and offer it for download.

PS...I made an old man's mistake in my original explanation of Sabbage's theories--I said "one-twelfth of the foot length" when I should have said "one-eleventh." I have corrected it.

Mute · Sep 22, 2011

Another wonderful post DWF. I always find your shoe postings very educational.

kellgy · Sep 22, 2011

I agree. Now if only I can find a shoe that fits.

Medwed · Sep 23, 2011

chogall said:
its normal to have feet size shrink by 1/4 to 1/2 size from losing weight. use heel grip or tungue pads to temporary fix that problem.

That is pessimistic advice.

Dakota rube · Sep 23, 2011

I prefer the reservoir tip.

How much room do you have at the end of your dress shoes?

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