Hacked It!
Hello Beautiful Humans. I have wide feet, High arches and one of my ankles is larger than normal due to a metal rod / break that happened 7 years ago.1st off, I am normally a 7.5 - 8.5 pending on the shoe I am purchasing. I got an 8. The shoe is a little longer than I like, but not by much. The width fit the widest part of my feet, however the arches were too tight and one of the ankles was too tight on the furthest eyelet for the buckle. These area's were uncomfortable to the point that I would return the shoe. So - I hacked it. And I want to share this secret with you. You can do this with ANY of your pairs of shoes that are a tight in certain areas. (Please know, I have not tried this with sneakers or fabric shoes, as I have not needed to - So I cannot attest to those types of material. However plastic / leather / pleather - Yes.)1) Put on two pair of normal socks (or one - two pair of thick socks) that cover the area you are going to "treat". You want the socks for protection and to give your a little more size to assist in the expansion.2) Insert foot with socks into the shoe - this will be uncomfortable. (If you cannot get your foot in, you can heat up the area and slide your foot forward a little at a time.)3) Take a blow dryer out and point the dryer (with hot air) at the area that is too tight. Only heat the area as tolerated, no need to burn yourself to get the effect. Move the dryer around to other areas you want a little more wiggle room when it gets too warm and keep cycling through these areas - as tolerated. AVOID putting direct heat on any glued areas of the shoe - if these areas get too hot, you might loosen the seal and the shoe can fall apart.4) Do this as tolerated. Then remove the heat. Take off the shoes and socks and try on the shoe as you would normally wear it (Ie barefoot or with a slip sock - pending on shoe you are wearing). If it is still too tight in certain areas, repeat. If there is only one shoe, in one area that is too tight, apply and remove the heat from the area you want to treat, as tolerated.If you want to see this hack in action: go to youtube and search "Stretch shoes with hair dryer". Loads of videos to watch.I applied heat to these shoes for about 1.5 minutes. Both were too tight at the arches. I did both shoes at the same time, putting most of the heat at the arch of the shoe, zipped up, over my socks. Making sure to hit the top strap with the heat in the middle on one shoe a couple of times. And now, they fit like a glove.I have done this to many of my shoes; In-particular, my closed-toe shoes as my toes are more squared and generally my pinky toes gets smooshed, uncomfortable and/or downright painful after a couple of hours of wear. I now have a pair of 4" stiletto booties that fit like a dream and I don't even need to take them off before the night is over, with zero foot pain the night of or any day after. I have a long history of walking barefoot with my shoes in hand. With this hack, I never have to do that again.Also to note: This hack forms the shoes to your feet/body. Which is so cool. Do you want a little more wiggle room in your knee high boots?Maybe your like me and your feet/ankles aren't 100% identical. Or maybe the shoes are not 100% identical. No matter the situation, with this hack you can form your shoes to fit your feet - No More Pain due to the shoe being too tight.I hope this helps someone. And I wish you all a wonderful day!