I love the show "What Not To Wear" (as I'm sure many of you do, too), and there is often a scene where Stacy criticizes someone for their shoes...wearing Crocs or granny shoes or whatnot.

Personally ... I think people would wear better shoes if there were a greater availability of WIDE WIDTHS so it wouldn't be painful to wear pretty shoes.

I would love a pair of low-cut boots (booties), and nice flats. I'm finding that the only place I can get them is through Zappos.com, and that's a risk because I might have to send them back. All brands vary.

I went to a DSW store in the greater Detroit area and they did not have one single boot in a wide width. I tried a Nine West pair on, and they looked awesome, but would've been too painful to wear or walk in.

I know there are others who wear WIDES, but when I walk into a shoe store, I feel like I must be a mutant.

I don't really need W shoes, but I do know that Payless Shoes here carries nice stylish W shoes. You should check em out! If you don't care they aren't a brand name..... names mean nothing to me.
P.S. Crocs kick @$$. I used to work 12 hour shifts at a hospital, and crocs made my shift a whole lot easier!

I don't really need wide widths either, but I do know that a lot of stores can order a certain shoe in a wide width if you need it. Try asking an associate.

I just bought a pair of black leather Born maryjanes - I'm sure Stacy would hate them, but my 9 month pregnant feet love them. It is simply not feasible for me to wear heels or flats without any support all the time. Mind you, I have a huge stash of heels and other cute shoes but for everyday use I am completely ok with my sensible maryjanes.

I wear mostly Tevas, have a couple pairs of J41s, and right now I'm wearing L.L. Bean's house brand winter moc. And I have a pair of Crocs that I wear mainly as house slippers. Comfortable ugly shoes RULE! Fashion shoes DROOL!

The only time any shoes drive me nuts is those that are advertised toward older women , and now it isn't so much the style that bugs me as the limited range of colors: black, brown, navy, bone and taupe. Check this page for an idea of what I mean: http://www.supportplus.com/supportpl...ps_cti-FK.html Wazza matter, you think the grannies of the world don't like a little color in their comfort shoes?

I love watching "What Not to Wear," "How Do I Look," and other makeover shows.

When it comes to shoes, I think often, the prettier the shoe, the worse it is for your feet (width or not). On these shows, even when the targeted person complains that high heels or fashionable shoes hurt their feet, the host(s) usually make fun of them and tell them that a bit of suffering for fashion's sake is a good thing.

Not all overweight people have wide feet or problems with their feet (though it's common), but hard to fit sizes and foot pain problems are common in thin folks too. I think the problem isn't just the width of shoes, but the broader fact that proper fit and that foot health and comfort isn't much of a concern in the vast majority of shoe designs. And when comfort and foot health is taken into consideration, then appearance isn't. I understand that a really good comfortable shoe is never going to be as sexy as a stilleto heel - but as ANOther pointed out - is there a reason we can't have a little color.

It's getting ALOT better. When I first started having foot problems in my late 20's (about 15 years ago), it seemed that the only comfortable shoes were extremely ugly ones. Now to some degree, my aesthetic has changed and I don't see many comfortable shoes as being as ugly as I did then (though I still hate the boxy "nurses' shoes") - but also shoe manufacturer's are making a wider range of sizes and colors and styles of good fitting shoes that aren't completely hideous. Heck, ten years ago, I felt like I hit a jackpot when I found styles in navy, brown, or bone - because a lot of the shoes that were fitting only came in black, taupe (and not a pretty shade of taupe, but a sort of puke colored taupe) and nurse's white.

My "dress shoes" right now are a pair of Echo brand Mary Jane's in a beautiful soft brown suede. I had a dressier black leather pair that had two narrow bands criss crossing for the strap, so they were a bit more sophisticated than a standard Mary Jane, but the hidden elastic in the straps cut into my instep so badly, they've been thrown into the donation bin.

I'm not sure that even after losing all the weight, I will go back to sacrificing comfort for fashion - I like having happy feet. I haven't had a flare of plantar's fasciitis or a plantar's wart or even so much as a new shoe blister (with the exception of the wedding shoes) in years, and I'd like to keep it that way.

I have very wide feet meaning some regular wides don't even fit me.

I buy a lot of my shoes online, from zappos.com and shoebuy.com. I read the reviews, I consider my own shoe size and order. If they don't fit. then I can ship them back but they don't cost me to ship them back.

Also, when I bought running shoes, I went to a running store. I found out in womens shoes, they have up to 13 wide (maybe higher).

Another good place for shoes is either payless (although I haven't shopped there in years) or nordstrom rack.

My shoes are all very comfortable on me but it takes a little patience sometimes. I also have the difficulty in finding leather free/animal free shoes. A lot of them don't come in wide but some do.

for me though, I'd never buy crocs

while i do hate crocs- i love born, teva, earth shoes- i oogle them but haven't bought any yet because well, i guess i'm waiting for my current pair of shoes to wear out. lol. i'm really low maintenance. i have a pair of dr. martens right now, just plain black shoes and i switch out the shoelaces to mix it up with them- they are my dress shoes too unfortunately. then i have a pair of dr. marten sandals for summer and a pair of new balance walking shoes. and THAT IS IT.
i could care less about fashion if i'm not comfortable i'm not buying. dr. marten has been the absolute best for me short wide hobbit feet!

Those shoes look comfortable but are super ugly no matter what color they come in. And I am a member of thr Over The Hill Gang. I like comfortable shoes but I like style, too and those are ugly.

I feel your pain! Every time I like a pair of shoes at a store they never have them in my size - elevens can be awfully hard to find!

There's ugly but oddly stylish, and then there's just plain ugly.

My thought exactly.

Tevas!

I retired my very first pair of Tevas last year that I got when I was 14 and worked at a white water rafting outfitter (I'm 26).

I have new ones, but they just aren't the same Probably because I'm not breaking them in by wading through the river every day, but one can dream...

I live in Teva flip flops during the summer and buy 3 or 4 pairs in the spring.

I know that's pretty irrelevant to the thread topic, but I heard "Teva" and came running

You don't need to spend a lot of money on shoes for them to be comfortable. I have a price limit on a lot of stuff including shoes but I've never even had to get close to my price limit. I am willing to spend more money on shoes than individual clothing items though because I've had pains from wearing improper shoes.

me too! my mental spending limit is about $100 dollars. Though if i'm in love i might be willing to pay a little bit more then that. maybe.

as for the what not to wear people- i don't care how fashionable they are i will not cram my hobbit feet into pointy toed shoes (would that make them elf feet at that point? lol) hellz no! i can't do it. i had one pair of boots like that, i wore them about twice, i spent about 70 bucks on them and garage saled them for 5 dollars.

The worse shape your feet get into, the more you may have to pay for comfortable shoes, especially if you work in an environment in which athletic shoes aren't allowed (although often you can get a waiver from your physician).

When I was working for a large company as a computer programmer, it was crazy trying to find decent shoes that looked nice. I ended up with two pairs of Birkenstock, a mary jane and a loafer, and I ended up spending over $350 for the two pairs (this was torture for a woman who never spent more than $20 on a pair of shoes - which was probably how my feet got into such poor shape in the first place).

If you need a lot of arch support, it can be hard to find inexpensive shoes with the proper support, although it is getting a lot better. My average shoe expense is coming down. I even found cork bottom sandals and a knock off brand of injection molded shoes like Crocs at Walmart. The Croc type is holding up really well. I've been buying the cork bottom sandals for three summers now, and the sandals barely hold up for the season, but at the price, that's a pretty good deal.

I do miss being able to buy cheap shoes, in that I used to be a shoe addict and had dozens of pairs of shoes, even on the smallest budget. Now I have about ten pairs of shoes and about half are those I took a gamble on because of a bargain, and lost.