Cobblers!

[TheDarkKnight]

I wondered how many of you used cobblers when buying a new pair of shoes to alter/ stretch the shape of a shoe to make it fit better?

For example I have a pair of shoes that fit perfectly on my smaller foot, but are a little snug around the little toe of the right, so I'm looking to take them to a cobblers where the shoe will be stretched for a day or two.

If you do use this, how often and how much flexibility does it give you in buying new shoes and making them fit close to exactly as they should?

 

[acecow]

I'm contemplating stretching a pair of VASS loafers I bought. They are slightly narrow for my foot, while the length is fine. Is it possible to stretch the shoes half a size or does it damage them too much? If it's impossible, I'll just resell the shoes on B&S...

 

[shonuf323]

I've generally heard that it is possible to stretch a shoe by one letter width ( D -> E).

That said I have experienced that if shoes are just slightly tight then stretching worked. If they were more noticeably tight then the stretching didn't totally alleviate the problem.

As far as damage, I haven't noticed any.

 

[TheDarkKnight]

Interesting guys. A whole width is pretty impressive, they only need a few mm width I reckon on the right shoe.

A shoe shop told me they had stretched some Trickers boots to accommodate very large orthotic inserts for a chap and you can achieve a lot through a couple of days.

My main reason for asking is it would be good to know you can settle for 90% fit off the shelf and then with a bit of tinkering have things pretty much spot on.

 

[saint]

Depends on what you need tweaked, they can't really make the shoe longer, nor can they make the toe box wider. If you need the shoes widened at the ball of the foot, they can definitely do that, and probably stretch it around the heel a bit.