Tiny wide shoes?

October 17, 2008 6:01 PM

Do cute 5.5 wide shoes exist?

I have little tiny 5.5 wide feet, and currently own only shoes from SAS. They are extremely comfortable but far from fashionable. Payless also makes my size, but they are too cheap to be worth it. Otherwise, as far as I know, wide shoes start around a 7. I tried buying bigger heels and stuffing the toes with wool, like a ballerina, but found my toes slipping out. I can also occasionally squeeze into a girls 3 (born) as children's shoes run slightly wider.

Is there any place that makes CUTE 5.5 wide shoes? I daydream about colorful heels and trendy ankle boots but would gladly settle for some nice well-fitting maryjanes & loafers.

posted by debbie_ann to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (8 answers total)

Zappos lets you search by size and width. Looks like there are 148 shoes that are a women's size 5.5 with a width of E or 2E. Some of them are pretty cute, perhaps you can try one of these brands? They let you return things for up to 365 days (unworn) for free, and I've always had luck with their customer service.
posted by k8lin at 6:22 PM on October 17, 2008

TRy searching on Zappos.com. Putting in 5.5 wide seems to turn up over 1000 results. Surely there will be something there you like. Good luck!
posted by DiscourseMarker at 6:22 PM on October 17, 2008

great minds think alike :)
posted by DiscourseMarker at 6:22 PM on October 17, 2008

I am the same size! I have some very nice heels that are Stewart Weitzman from Zappos. Also look at Endless.com, though they have less than Zappos in that size. Also, 6 wide is pretty common (they even have them in stock at department stores). Nordstroms has 5.5 wide once a year at a sale in July.

And finally, many designers have trunk shows where you can order any of their shoes in a variety of sizes. Stewart Weitzman does this.
posted by miscbuff at 7:28 PM on October 17, 2008

In addition to making boots by calf width, duoboots makes shoes by foot width. They go down to European size 35 (and up to 42). I've never gotten their shoes though so I don't know how comfortable they are.
posted by nat at 8:10 PM on October 17, 2008

Best answer: I am a size 6 double wide. When my fiance discovered how unfair the shoe world is for women with wide feet and how ugly most of the wide shoes were (skewing older/matronly), he made it his mission to find me cute shoes that fit my foot well.

He uses a combination of Zappos, Endless, and Shoes.com mainly. On Nordstrom's site, you can also subscribe to a search by width via RSS.

For really small sizes, try Cinderella of Boston. You can't search by width but they specialize in smaller sizes and go down to size 2.

Right now in my closet are a combination of shoes from Trotters, Soft Spots, Soft Styles, Gola, Easy Spirit, Naturalizer, and Ros Hommerson. On occasion, Fluevog sandals are wide enough to work for me. Of course, closed-toe shoes are much harder. My boots are all from Easy Spirit or Naturalizer, and with my knee-highs from Naturalizer, you can select a wider width for the leg.
posted by kathryn at 9:22 PM on October 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: OMG, now I just have to set a budget.
posted by debbie_ann at 6:22 AM on October 18, 2008

Response by poster: After ordering & returning 15 pairs from zappos (no shipping) I've got some david tate tanias in 5w. They go down to size 4, come in double wide and made it through a day of teaching!
posted by debbie_ann at 6:25 PM on November 13, 2008