Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 13, 1994 TAG: 9410130058
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Boston Globe
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Bunions. Blisters. Aching arches. Cramped toes. The list is as long as a day spent in too-tight shoes.
It's mostly women who suffer these scourges. For relief, they traded in their high heels for sensible sneakers. And shoemakers met the new demand with footwear tailored to every activity, from cheerleading to washing the car.
But pain continues to dog women's footsteps.
Most women's athletic shoes, it turns out, aren't even designed for women's feet. They're just scaled-down versions of men's shoes, which don't narrow as much from forefoot to heel as women's do. On a woman, that shape leaves lots of space for slippage around the heels.
And because the heels are too roomy, many women - more than 70 percent, a new study says - buy their shoes too small.
``Female feet aren't just smaller versions of male feet. They're shaped differently, just like our bodies are shaped differently,'' said Dr. Carol C. Frey, a California orthopedic surgeon who Wednesday released a study showing 73 percent of women's shoes are too snug.
``I was getting constant complaints that women couldn't find shoes that fit properly even when they were marketed as a female shoe,'' said Frey, a runner who wears male athletic shoes because she finds it difficult to find women's shoes for her size 11 feet.
Deirdre McDonnell agrees. Women buy almost half the athletic shoes purchased, ``but they don't get the attention,'' said McDonnell, a specialist in women's shoes for the Brighton-based shoe manufacturer New Balance. ``But that's starting to change. In the last couple of years women have come into their own as a market.''
Some shoe makers, McDonnell says, finally are designing women's shoes based on the shape of women's feet. Shoe ads that emphasize the importance of female foot shape soon will be common, industry watchers predict.
But shoe makers aren't always to blame for the blisters. Some women think properly sized shoes make their feet look too big. ``Vanity is a big factor in women's shoes,'' said McDonnell. ``People say they look like snowshoes.''
And women also may be buying their sneakers too small because they're so used to dress shoes that pinch they don't even know a good fit when they step into one.
``A shoe that fits correctly may feel loose,'' McDonnell said, adding that the shoe should be wide around the toes but snug at the heel. One example noted in Walking magazine's annual shoe buying guide was the Saucony Instep, ``with a wide forefoot and narrow heel that appeal to many women's comfort and fit needs.''
``The heel really is the crucial area,'' said McDonnell, ``If it slips in the heel, your foot slips forward and your toes poke the front.''
by CNB