Heel slip in only one shoe?

[kaizo]

Its my pay day soon so I went for the old ritualistic stroll to the local shoe store. Since I now know my salesman fairly well I asked him if he could pick the best last and size for me. I did get a good idea of what size and last fits me but even when both my feets feel snug the right heel seems to slip a bit. I know its a pair of new shoes that I tried but is this normal? If not what is the cause of this? Oddly enough its my bigger feet that is slipping...

 

[AlexE]

Your (actually everybody's) feet are slightly different. Even though your right foot is bigger, the shape of the heel of the right foot might match the specific shape of the shoe less well then the left foot. Whether or not it is an issue depends on the amount of heel slippage.

If it is just a little bit of heel slippage, it might go away once you broke in the shoes and the leather adjusted to your feet. You can also ask a cobbler to glue a thin piece of suede to the heel, which will provide extra grip.

 

[kaizo]

Hi thank you for the reply. Now that you mention it the salesman did say that my feet is 'sloped'. Since I am getting semi-order made shoes I can probably ask them to make minor adjustments. What do you think is the best solution for this sloped feet? I'm planning to get a wholecut oxford in black calf. Would it be a crass idea to ask them to make the V opening on the laces a bit wider?

 

[gambit50]

If you are ordering 'semi made' then this should be take into account, no?
If not, it happens as AlexE stated. I am sure there is always some hack to make the shoe stay better but proper dress shoes should be tied on quite snugly so if you really feel your heel sliding, I would say that is a problem and to leave them at the store. If your heel is basically secure but you feel the skin shifting a bit, you can probably deal with it well enough.

 

[AlexE]

Well I am not quite sure what semi-order made means. I associate with the term "made-to-order" usually that you can choose materials and some detailing for a RTW model. Anyway, I am not sure if changing the V will fix slight slippage at the heel. Can you try different length-width combinations, e.g. go up one size in length and down in width?

 

[kaizo]

Hi thank you both for your reply. Sorry I should have explained it a bit better. What I meant by semi-order made is that I could pick the last of the shoes hence tailor it to the shape of the last closest to my feet. So right now I've picked out the best fitting last. I've tried going down and up in sizes and I've hit the narrowest width that is available by Barkers.

When you say the leather might adjust to my feet are you referring to the heel cup? That seems quite sturdy but would it mould into the shape of my heel?

Also I'm planning to get Dainite soles that's apparently stays quite stiff even after breaking in but would that be an issue?

Thanks for your help and sorry for the repeated questions.

 

[AlexE]



When you say the leather might adjust to my feet are you referring to the heel cup? That seems quite sturdy but would it mould into the shape of my heel?

With a few of my shoes, I experienced at the beginning minimal heel slippage meaning that the heel was basically secure, but I could feel the skin shifting a bit. This went away after wearing them a few times (according to a cobbler because the leather soles get less stiff and the heel leather adjusts a bit).

Will this happen in your case too? I do not know (at least you will not have the effect of the leather sole getting more flexible).

 

[kaizo]

Thanks for the reply again. Yeah in my case the heel was held down pretty well by the laces and the heel cup follows my actual heel. Its probably what you described as a skin slipping that I'm experiencing. I think I will go ahead with the shoe purchase. Thank you all for your help