Stretching my shoes - a true diary of torture

[coldsalmon]

I have started to make my own shoes

Now that deserves its own thread! I would love to hear more about you shoe-making, because I've considered the same thing myself. It seems like it would be fun and rewarding, in several ways.

This weekend I've embarked on another shoe stretching adventure, this time using a different technique.

My Next Victim

The Allen Edmonds Jefferson 2.0 on the 201 last.

I swear these fit perfectly when I bought them - I swear! They must have shrunken after the first few times I wore them out of the house. Maybe the summer heat made them shrink. That's probably it. I definitely didn't get excited and jump the gun and make an obvious mistake.

Anyhow, they are just a teeny bit small in the right foot, in the same areas that I discussed regarding the Park Avenues. I also like them a lot, so I have decided to use a more subtle method than a mechanical shoe stretcher. For this pair, I sprayed on stretching liquid and then simply wore the shoes. I did it on the weekend so that I could increase my sock thickness throughout the day (analogous to cranking up the stretcher), and so that I could take off the shoes if I started to feel any pain.

I am confident that stretching can resolve the midfoot issues because:

If a person can easily lace a shoe up such that the facings re right together (something that a well made, properly fit shoe should not do), and the root of the fifth is still aching, you can be sure that tightness in the instep is not the problem.

In this case, I cannot get full closure with the lacing, and my foot is elevated on a soft insole. So, stretching the midfoot upper should provide some actual relief.

The Results

I decide to do the stretching while using my half-sole inserts, since that is how I will likely wear these shoes. They get me almost enough room, so this means that I will only need a very slight stretch.

I first sprayed the inside and outside of the target areas with stretching liquid, getting them good and saturated. Here is the side of the shoe, showing a bit of darkening where the liquid saturated the leather; this color change was not permanent, and went away at soon as the leather dried:

I started with my medium-thin socks, which normally feel a bit tight. To my surprise, the stretching liquid seemed to yield instant results, making the leather feel more pliable in the problem areas as soon as I put on the shoes. Here is the shoe during the first round, with the left shoe for comparison.

As you can see, there is very little, if any, visible difference. After about an hour, the shoes still felt good so I decided to switch to my medium-thick socks. Here are some photos in which I tried to show a teeny tiny bulge for my right pinkie toe (left shoe shown also for reference).

Here are the right and left shoes during the second round, showing the midfoot. Again, there is little if any visible stretching, but they did feel better.

After about an hour into the second round with the thicker socks, I started to feel some discomfort so I took off the shoes immediately and stopped wearing them for the day. The goal of the whole operation is to avoid pain and foot damage, so it would be very silly to incur pain in order to do so. I already have a very mild case of peroneal tendonitis thanks to my tough-guy attitude in thinking that a little bit of midfoot discomfort was "no big deal." So, I am done with tolerating any kind of discomfort whatsoever in my shoes.

Summary

This experiment seems like a tentative success. I won't know for sure until I try them tomorrow night while wearing my thinnest socks. If they fit perfectly, I may try them for a whole day later this week. If that works out well, I would be comfortable using this method even on my favorite shoes, since it is so subtle.

As for the Park Avenues, they seem to have held their stretch. The bump for my little toe is still there, and they still feel satisfactory in the right little toe. The distended midfoot has also held its shape.

 

[Godot]

I am shameless in the pursuit of what I want. I acknowledge no boundaries, no obstacle I will attempt to crawl over, dig under or bomb a way through. Metaphorically I speak. So if someone were to bomb the right hand window of the BOTTEGA VENETTA & steal the lambskin jacket with convertible cuffs, it wasn't me.
When it comes to shoes I have 2 hard limits which I will share with you.

In general I will not stripe the shoes off a dying man, If they are my size, I will wait like a civil person & then remove them. If anyone asks, it's for the evidence locker. It's what I call my shoe closet.

Additionally in life a man must have certain standards that are beyond question, something nailed to the very backbone of your soul. These are an up with which we will not put. This is the 91 year old man attacked & hospitalized in Chinatown-I honestly think had I been there I would have attempted to put that animal down or die in the process.

My feet are important to me. I use them to stand. I use them to walk. Once a year, I use my feet to walk through the wilderness for an hour or so, not to hunt anything, just to be away from the city. On very rare occasions I have been even used them to dance. I don't take my feet for granted. They are perfect feet, bestowed on my by my father & to him from his father & so on and so on back to the revolution. Did you know that one of my clan was in every military adventure this nation was involved in save for Vietnam? It's true & as such I treat my feet as a small National Treasure. You don't tug on Superman's cape, don't spit into the wind & Hell NO you don't squeeze a National Treasure into a smaller shoe.

As Hellen Keller once said "live is a daring adventure or it's nothing and to the extent it's a daring adventure why would you venture into it poorly shod in ill fitting shoes". What can I say but, sometimes she was right.

 

[coldsalmon]

Now that deserves its own thread! I would love to hear more about you shoe-making, because I've considered the same thing myself. It seems like it would be fun and rewarding, in several ways.

This weekend I've embarked on another shoe stretching adventure, this time using a different technique.

My Next Victim

The Allen Edmonds Jefferson 2.0 on the 201 last.
View attachment 1040593
I swear these fit perfectly when I bought them - I swear! They must have shrunken after the first few times I wore them out of the house. Maybe the summer heat made them shrink. That's probably it. I definitely didn't get excited and jump the gun and make an obvious mistake.

Anyhow, they are just a teeny bit small in the right foot, in the same areas that I discussed regarding the Park Avenues. I also like them a lot, so I have decided to use a more subtle method than a mechanical shoe stretcher. For this pair, I sprayed on stretching liquid and then simply wore the shoes. I did it on the weekend so that I could increase my sock thickness throughout the day (analogous to cranking up the stretcher), and so that I could take off the shoes if I started to feel any pain.

I am confident that stretching can resolve the midfoot issues because:



In this case, I cannot get full closure with the lacing, and my foot is elevated on a soft insole. So, stretching the midfoot upper should provide some actual relief.

The Results

I decide to do the stretching while using my half-sole inserts, since that is how I will likely wear these shoes. They get me almost enough room, so this means that I will only need a very slight stretch.

I first sprayed the inside and outside of the target areas with stretching liquid, getting them good and saturated. Here is the side of the shoe, showing a bit of darkening where the liquid saturated the leather; this color change was not permanent, and went away at soon as the leather dried:
View attachment 1040594
I started with my medium-thin socks, which normally feel a bit tight. To my surprise, the stretching liquid seemed to yield instant results, making the leather feel more pliable in the problem areas as soon as I put on the shoes. Here is the shoe during the first round, with the left shoe for comparison.
View attachment 1040595 View attachment 1040596
As you can see, there is very little, if any, visible difference. After about an hour, the shoes still felt good so I decided to switch to my medium-thick socks. Here are some photos in which I tried to show a teeny tiny bulge for my right pinkie toe (left shoe shown also for reference).
View attachment 1040601 View attachment 1040600
Here are the right and left shoes during the second round, showing the midfoot. Again, there is little if any visible stretching, but they did feel better.
View attachment 1040597 View attachment 1040598
After about an hour into the second round with the thicker socks, I started to feel some discomfort so I took off the shoes immediately and stopped wearing them for the day. The goal of the whole operation is to avoid pain and foot damage, so it would be very silly to incur pain in order to do so. I already have a very mild case of peroneal tendonitis thanks to my tough-guy attitude in thinking that a little bit of midfoot discomfort was "no big deal." So, I am done with tolerating any kind of discomfort whatsoever in my shoes.

Summary

This experiment seems like a tentative success. I won't know for sure until I try them tomorrow night while wearing my thinnest socks. If they fit perfectly, I may try them for a whole day later this week. If that works out well, I would be comfortable using this method even on my favorite shoes, since it is so subtle.

As for the Park Avenues, they seem to have held their stretch. The bump for my little toe is still there, and they still feel satisfactory in the right little toe. The distended midfoot has also held its shape.
View attachment 1040618
View attachment 1040619

After some more testing, this technique seems to be a qualified success. I would still like some more room in the midfoot, but I think that will come after another stretching session or two. Everything else is perfect. I've tried this method with a couple of other shoes and it has worked very well. I have also tried foregoing shoe trees after stretching; this seemed to have a positive effect but I obviously don't have enough data to say for sure.

I want to stress again that these shoes are not extremely tight - they are just a little bit tight after I wear them for a while, in specific spots. I'm not trying to squeeze a size 10 foot into a size 9 shoe or anything. So, targeting specific areas and allowing the leather to mould to my foot seems to be working. In combination with some half-sole inserts, the fit is getting close to perfect. I do have some shoes that are definitely too narrow, and I'm not even attempting to stretch them. You might see them up on the classifieds some time soon.

 

[ducducgoose]

I have been through this experience many times before (was actually stretching new shoes when I first read your post) and am at a point where almost every boot or shoe I own meets the stretcher before seeing any serious wear. Coincidentally, I wear about the same size as you and also suffer from a wider right and a taller (instep) left.

First, I completely concur with you. The AE 5 last is EVIL to those with wide feet and I long ago promised myself I would never buy another pair on it again. I still have a pair of brown shell cordovan strands that I have yet to part with, but their days are numbered. I recommend trying the Alden “plaza” last. It retains a more sculpted look but has a slightly wider forefoot compared to others shoes in the same size. Best of all, though it widens at the ball it does not change as much in the heel. Many who have wider forefeet have normal width heels. When factories add width in the heel as well I find it makes the fit sloppy.

I went with this stretcher, very similar to yours but made to also accommodate boots:
https://www.footfitter.com/footfitter-premium-professional-boot-stretcher
It doesn’t have any backstop so I sanded up a few small rounded blocks of wood which I use to fill the space between the stretcher and the heel. This prevents the stretcher from migrating back away from the toe while in use and was quite helpful.

I always use the stretcher with a liberal amount of homemade stretching solution (50/50 water / isopropyl alcohol), but it seems there are some out there who saturate and even (water) soak shoes prior to the process. The process is also quite leather dependent as well. As I suspect many might agree, chromexcel accepts a enormous amount of stretch (to a fault - can be made too big) and shell cordovan hardly any at all.

Depending on the last, some shoes only require a single stretch overnight whereas others may live on the device for close to a week. Definitely proceed slow and steady; I crank it up at first and then return to add another half-turn to turn every 12 hours or so. I have had stitches come out and leather rip from being too aggressive.

I have experimented with the medium and large plastic attachments with much success, but echoing Mr. Frommer’s insights, I have found the insole simply cannot (comfortably) accommodate a foot that prints wider than the insole itself. The is why (I believe) the placement holes for the attachments are located higher along the curve of the last and do not extend laterally; they allow the user to create height for bunions and inflamed joints but may not be intended to add much dimensional width. I am very fortunate that a stretch of boots on the Alden plaza last leaves my little toe just enough insole on which to perch though this doesn’t always work. I own different models of boots in the same size on this last and have found a troubling level of variance in fit out of the box, even when the leather and pattern are the same. Essentially, to my wide feet every millimeter counts.

Of note — in the past I had considered modifying my stretcher to relocate the attachments and face them laterally as opposed to slightly upward. I opted to stretch the shoe using the stretcher alone (without attachments) instead. And thought I was successful, this stretching introduced a different issue. My little toe now “walks over” the welt. Depending on the leather this can sometimes become painful throughout the day, and I believe I have read that this will introduce premature wear in the upper at this location.

Ultimately, I gave up on dreams of ever buying pair of wide shoes with narrow heels that truly fit my feet and (similar to another above) opted to make some instead. I am *very* early in this process but I am happy to report that though my first fitter suffered from a litany of problems, its last was not wider than my footprint and it indeed fit better than perhaps any shoe or boot I have ever worn.

 

[Encore]

I am not sure if I am feeling this right, but a lot of times after I stretching the shoes, I feel the leather "shrink" back in a couple days. Is that normal? and How can I keep the leather shape steady after shrinking.

What I am currently doing is spray the shoes with shoe stretch spray everywhere, inside and outside, then I use a pair of slightly wider shoe trees, with a couple additional insole to give pressure to the leather. It works in some extent, but I am not sure what I can do give even have more spaces. I started having pinky toe issue this year, and I have more than 10 pairs that is too narrow for me... so really looking for a solution to fix it.

 

[Threeputt]

I am not sure if I am feeling this right, but a lot of times after I stretching the shoes, I feel the leather "shrink" back in a couple days. Is that normal? and How can I keep the leather shape steady after shrinking.

What I am currently doing is spray the shoes with shoe stretch spray everywhere, inside and outside, then I use a pair of slightly wider shoe trees, with a couple additional insole to give pressure to the leather. It works in some extent, but I am not sure what I can do give even have more spaces. I started having pinky toe issue this year, and I have more than 10 pairs that is too narrow for me... so really looking for a solution to fix it.

I'm afraid you need a stronger stretcher than shoe trees. It really does take some pressure to get the leather fibers to stretch. Try one of the stretchers outlined in this thread. I've found good success with the wooden versions - it's worth the extra money. You should be able to get a good one on Amazon for <$50. One word of caution is to ensure that your shoes aren't simply the wrong width for you. As stated many times in this thread, you simply can't hope to find comfort with a foot that is too wide for a RTW shoe's insole.

 

[Encore]

I'm afraid you need a stronger stretcher than shoe trees. It really does take some pressure to get the leather fibers to stretch. Try one of the stretchers outlined in this thread. I've found good success with the wooden versions - it's worth the extra money. You should be able to get a good one on Amazon for <$50. One word of caution is to ensure that your shoes aren't simply the wrong width for you. As stated many times in this thread, you simply can't hope to find comfort with a foot that is too wide for a RTW shoe's insole.

I do have the stretcher outlined here. My take is that it doesn't apply the pressure evenly in the shoes. and sometimes when I feel my shoes are overall too tight in the toe box, I am looking for a way of apply the pressure everywhere and evenly.
You are right - as my main concern is the pinky toe, I use the wood stretcher after trees + insoles. do see some outcomes, but my concern was more about how to keep the leather in the shape I stretched, so no "shrinking"

 

[Emixam]

I have more than 10 pairs that is too narrow for me... so really looking for a solution to fix it.

Time to buy your right size!