Why Is The Shoe Industry IGNORING Tall Women? | Literally No One Talks About This…

I want to provide some context for the tall girlies before I get into this episode. A few weeks ago, I went shoes shopping with a friend because I had a couple outings coming out, so I wanted to get some new shoes. But little did I know that that was going to be a bit difficult, but we'll get into that in a sec. We went into North schum Raq walked past the women's shoe section, size five, size six, size seven, rows and rows and rows of varieties of shoes, sneakers, boots, heels, sandals, flats, all of them, and you know, I was excited. I was like, oh my gosh, like I can't wait to find these in my size. So I get to my size section A nine and a half. Why is it like only half of a row? Literally, So like a normal person, I'm like, okay, where's the rest of it? So I go around the corner, like in the store, around the corner from where the half of a row was, and I found another half row of nine size nine and a half shoes and there were only two pairs of non sneaker shoes there. I was like, huh. So I turn around and I see a wall of size ten shoes just sneakers and boots, same with size eleven. And you know, I don't even think that location went past the size eleven, And if they did, I didn't even see it because it wasn't visible in that area. Many tall women I've interviewed on this podcast have a size eleven, twelve, even size thirteen shoe. So if I'm struggling with a size nine and a half, are y'all good? Today we're going to be talking about the shoe struggle that many tall women face and why this isn't spoken about enough, So let's get into it. Good morning, everybody. You are currently listening to a Tall Girl's podcast hosted by a tall girl named India. I help everyone who's tuning in today's doing super fantastic. Before I get into this episode, that I do want to say, make sure you following me on my socials at a Tall Girls Podcast, on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest so that you can stay up today on all of the latest podcast episodes and catch a glimpse of my everyday life. Also, feel free toly me interview and let me know how tall you are. I'm genuinely curious. I also have a monthly newsletter. Make sure you subscribe to that. Everything is going to be linked in the description. When we talk about tall girl fashion struggles, it's the usual stuff like pants, jeans, dresses, shorts. But there's one thing that we don't talk about enough, shoes, specifically finding nice shoes, finding cute shoes, and extended sizing. So let's talk about it now. We all know that there's some type of correlation with heightened shoe size. If you're taller, it's more likely that you have larger feet and in turn a larger shoe size. So according to Google, tall women like five ten and up typically have a range of size nine to fifteen in US shoe sizes. And I'm about five ten, a little taller than that, and I have a shoe size of nine and a half, sometimes a size ten depending on the brand or the retailer or whatever, some kind of at the beginning of that range that I previously gave. On the other hand, online it says that the average shoe size of a woman in the U. S U WES is about an eight and a half. So yet another example of how tall women are falling outside of the industry norm, especially when it comes to the whole fashion thing. And I'm sure you know how the tall girlies feel about this. Let's hear from one of them. Here's a privilege that doesn't get talked about enough. Small foot privilege. Never have I ever walked into a shoe store and felt confident that I was going to walk out with a pair of shoes that fit me. And we're all so cute, especially in like a clearance section. If you were a seven, you could get a shoe at a home depot, But when you're walking in with clonkin clown feet like me and you're looking for an eleven, it's slim pickens baby. And then you go up to an employee and you're like, hey, do you happen to have these in your big giant sizes for big giant people, And they're like, oh, no, we don't, but we can order them for you online. Oh great, because getting shoes without trying them on first, perfect plan, because these water ski feet just slide into everything I try. Perfect. Yeah, order them up anyway. Small foot privilege is a thing, So stop taking for granted or teenye little tuttis, because I'm out here with NBA basketball player feet and I'm not finding anything to dress them in. Stay large. I did ask you guys in a poll on Instagram, and I'm just gonna do a quick little plug here. Make sure you follow me at a Tall Girls podcast on Instagram so you can participate in these polls and have your opinions heard on these episodes. But I did ask you guys in a poll Tall Girlies, what shoe size do you wear? Twenty five percent of you guys said a size range of eight to ten, seventy five percent said a size range of ten to thirteen, and zero percent said a size range of thirteen and up. By the way, this is in US sizes. I probably should have specified in the poll, but I don't know. Most of the people who follow me are from the US, so I think they get it. But anyways, yeah, I think I kind of expected the results to be like this, most of you guys being in a size range of ten to thirteen, especially with interviewing a lot of you guys on the podcast or you guys even just hitting me up, there's a lot of size eleven, size twelves, and maybe even size thirteens. I think I got like one or two size fourteens, but I guess they just never participate in this poll. But it's all good, It's all good, but yeah, very interesting results. So why isn't the footwear industry more size inclusive? Why don't brands carry more extended size shoes in store? Well, there's a few reasons for this, like perceived market demand, manufacturing costs, and a big, big, big one lack of awareness and the stigma around women having larger feet. This creator and extended size shoe brand owner explains it really, really well. My name's Natalie and I wear size twelve in shoes. I know the struggle firsthand of what it's like to not find anything stylish that fits you. So that's why I found in my own footwear company, Augie. We cater to sizes eleven to fifteen boots and heels, and I want to talk about why companies don't take the risk to extend their shoe size range. But I truly want to discuss this article that I actually wrote and posted today on our website. It talks about why footwear size inclusivity is not talked about in the fashion industry. Why isn't this in the mainstream and what are the barriers. I go into more detail, but the main barriers are market demand, limited awareness, additional costs, and stigma. Stigma, I think being one of the core issues of it all. It is very difficult for the fashion industry to come face to face with an issue that correlates to something that doesn't align with the beauty standard. It's truly a vicious cycle because the stigma leads to the lack of awareness, the lack of awareness leads to the lack of the market demand, and then the additional costs that the companies are faced when they take initiative scare them off. So it really takes guts to start a size extended footwear company in this modern day and age. However, it really should be seen as something it's more of a standard that's more accepted and normalized because the demographic is very much out there. And you know, in her commentary, she brought up a really good point about how women with larger feed don't really align with the beauty standard. Women are supposed to be smaller and daintier, just like how women aren't supposed to be tall, they aren't supposed to have larger feed either. Wasn't it like a thing several several years ago, where they tried to squeeze women's feet into smaller shoes in an effort to make their feet smaller so that they can appear more feminine and find a husband. I'm sure that was a thing. I'm gonna look into that. Here's the saddest tradition in history, footbinding to prevent their growth. For over a thousand years in China, these tiny feet were the ultimate symbol of femininity. As soon as little girls were four or five years old, their feet were soaked in hot water before being tightly bound with bandages, their toes curled underneath. They would then wear these tiny, pointed shoes increasingly smaller for at least two years until they reached the ideal size of three inches. Not only was this practice painful, but it was also extremely dangerous. It's estimated that ten percent of women who underwent this procedure died from infections. The toes were deprived of blood and could fall off, which was actually good news because it resulted in an even smaller foot. But where did this tradition come from? Actually we don't really know. Some say an empress who was born with malformed feet imposed the practice so she wouldn't be the only one. Others simply say that a dancer at the emperor's court bound her feet to dance, and it started the trend. It then became a sign of wealth, for with such feet working was impossible. Only women from wealthy families could afford it. The practice then became widespread across the population. It was banned several times throughout history, but it wasn't until the fifties that it truly disappeared. And I'm sure y'all heard that part where people have died from it, right, died just so they can appear more feminine and find a husband. Be so for real, And while this practice has been banned, that mindset is still kind of there. Not necessarily the thing of, oh, women are supposed to have a smaller feet to I don't know, like find a husband or whatever. But more so, women are supposed to have smaller features in general, and that includes their shoe size. And so they're like, okay, because this is technically supposed to be the case, and they're trying to appeal to the masses. It's kind of like, why should we sell extended sized shoes, especially in store? And costs are going to be high and so forth, and so they tend to cater towards the masses rather than the perceived outliers because they think that the outliers are not necessarily important enough to cater to or it would be too expensive to cater to them. And another point that I actually want to bring up that really isn't spoken about enough is the fact that your feet change as you age. So apparently the older you get, the bigger your feet get. So if you're a toll girly with a ten or eleven shoe size, now I fear it gets worse from here. But is that actually a thing though? Like do your feet actually get bigger as you age? Now, let's discuss the issues, yes, plural issues here, because the point here is to bring awareness to this since this is a legit issue that a lot of tall women go through. A lot of tall women face. The first one being probably the most obvious, and that is not really carrying extended sized shoes in store, or carrying sizes beyond an eleven or twelve in store, well, not even just in store, also in general, like even in online shops, but we like to try things on, so those not being in store also kind of creates an issue for us. Let's hear from a couple tall girls about this. There's literally nothing more humbling than like brands being like, oh, I want to send you shoes, like what shoe size are you? And then you tell them and they're like, oh, we don't make that size shoe. Like justice for my big fee girly is like, this isn't fair. I can never find good affordable shoes that are like super trendy, Like I either have to buy men's shoes or I have to like go to Nords, Drum, Nordrum, Rag, TJ Maxx and like hope that they have something somewhat cute in my shoes. Eys, can I just go on a ram for a second. Can we start stocking shoes like nice heels in size eleven maybe even ten and a half. Oh my god, I just went to the shops and I was ready to drop some money and buy myself a nice new pair of heels. Do you think I could find a bed that fit me? No? Oh my goodness, who no one? I mean, yes, people probably probably have size six feet, but most girls these days have big feet. I'm one of those girls. I have size ten and a half eleven all squeeze into ten and a half. Just give me something more. Than a ten. This has really got me. I just wanted a nicety pair of heels. Now, let's say that they do sell a size twelve or thirteen shoe or have a size twelve or thirteen section in a store. Great, awesome, amazing, But where are the heels? Where are the sparkly cowboy boots that I see the size six, size seven girlies wearing? Why are you selling size twelve tymes in the middle of summer. It's ninety degrees outside, like it's literally hot outside, and that's all you can give us. Basically, what I'm saying here is, yes, a brand may sell a size twelve shoe or a size thirteen or size fourteen even, but the variety isn't there. It could predominantly just be sneakers and maybe some boots, but there's like no flats or heels or sandals or other things that the smaller sized girl is, the smaller shoe sized girlies wear, or even like the trend. Let's take the listen to this, please. Please, This is a message for anyone who is in charge of designing shoes. Girls who have what tool have big feet. We want the pretty shoes with the guitar. Please do size tim size him please. Some of us are stuck wearing men that we don't want to wear men's shoes. It's not nice. You don't feel cute. You want to be a girty girl, but I can't be a girty girl. Thank you. I'm convinced that the shoe industry doesn't want to tell women to have nice shoes, because why are the crusty hiking boots available in a size twelve and up but not like a cute heel or sandle. I guess the message here is your feet are big, so you don't deserve que shoes. It's literally a saying the shoe makes the outfit, and if you don't want our fit to look fire, just say so. I mean they practically are saying so by not having extended sized shoes or having more shoe size and inclusivity. And then there isn't something that really isn't widely spoken about, and that is men's shoes. So oftentimes, as tall women, we find ourselves in the men's section to try to find clothes that are long enough for us or even clothes that are a better quality too, because I think that men's clothing has better quality than women's clothing. But whatever, we're not here to talk about that. Just like some tall women venture into the men's section for clothing like tops and pants and whatever, the same thing happens for tall women with shoes. Sometimes they venture into the men's shoe section. And I'm not gonna lie to you, sometimes I do too, because why do men's shoes kind of have like cooler, better styles at times, especially with sneakers. However, that's not just an easy one two three solution. It's not that simple. There actually have been complaints about that because, just like how with men's clothing, the proportions can be weird on our bodies, on women's bodies, the same kind of applies with men's shoes because some tall women have found them to be extreme uncomfortable. Let's listen to this tall girly really quickly. All right, here's a thing about being tall. Do y'all want to hear the thing? It's that they don't make shoes in your size, like they just they don't want you to walk like. A woman's shoe typically depends on the brand stop set at eleven, like that's the generic. We can cut it there. Some will go to a twelve, like my friends from Nike, what are we doing? Why are we starving at a twelve little athletic store? But like you stop at twelve. I don't wear a twelve. I wear bigger than at twelve, so I have to wear min shoes. I have worn man shoes since I could walk. That's all I know. That's all I remember. But like I'm just sitting here debating because I bought new shoes. They're cute. These they're kind of like they're size eleven, and Men's is like it's not there's not enough length. But then I put on eleven and a half and I could fit six of my feet in here. I just someone do something about this. Someone makes shoes bigger in women's. I beg you, and honestly, the talk girlies on Reddy summarize everything I just said. It's rare to find shoes in their size, or find a variety of shoes in their size, or shoes just being ugly or uncomfortable. I did ask you guys in a poll, what is the biggest problem you've had with finding your shoe size. Twenty five percent of you guys said can't find my size in store, twenty five percent said there isn't much of a variety in my size, seventeen percent said the shoes I find are uncomfortable, and thirty three percent said all of the above. Wow, a lot of shoe a lot of shoe struggles here. To be honest, I'm not gonna lie to y'all, I don't really go shoe shopping like that. I'm more of a sneaker girly and that's literally it. But I don't know. Recently, I've been trying to change things up or whatever, and now I'm kind of I kind of lean towards that there isn't much of a variety in my size, Like, yeah, there's a variety in the nine and a half, but that's what the variety starts decreasing, I assume. And you know, coming from the previous results being most of you have like a size or in the size range of ten to thirteen in shoe size, I can definitely see how all of these can be a problem. Is there a solution to this disaster? Oh my gosh, I'm getting throwbacks to you guys, know, The Sweet Life of Zac and Cody that TV show, and Esteban with like seventeen middle names has that tagline these these disaster disaster that's kind of like how I'm feeling about this shoe or honestly just the whole fashion struggle, clothing struggle, shoe struggle whatever that tall woman face. Anyways, is there a solution to this disaster? Yes, because where there's a will, there is a way. But before I get into that, I want to open up the floor. Where are the tall girlies getting their shoes from, like size eleven and up and not just sneakers? Okay, I'm talking about some cue stuff that you want to work to the summer cookouts, you know. But there are brands out there who see and hear us and have even experienced a lot of the things that we've gone through. We have Tall Size, which is basically a bunch of brands, a bunch of tall brands under one roof. So Tall Size is basically a marketplace that's home to several tall girl brands out there. Okay, And it's not just like you know, the dresses, the pants and so forth and so on. They also have a lot of shoe brands out there that have extended sizes. I also interviewed the founder of Trey Sols, Judy, on this podcast, So Trey Soles is another cool place to check out. We also have Goa Shoes. I've also interviewed them on this podcast. They're basically similar to tall size, just located in the UK, I believe, and it's shoes only, not other types of clothing. And of course, if you know any other ideas or any other brands out there, please let us know, please educate us. I know I have practically little to right to complain about this, because I mean, I'm a size nine and a half and I do feel like there are a lot more options, and there's a lot more brands and retailers that offer size nine shoes, like there's a lot more variety in my sizing as well. But I'm like a representative of the tall girl community. That sounds so weird to say, but I will complain on y'all's behalf. I ride for y'all. I ride for the tall girl lease. Tall women deserve to feel confident in what they wear from head to toe, to feel feminine, to feel beautiful, just like we deserve pants and dresses that fit our laying we also deserve shoes. Yeah, so I think I'm going to end the episode here. Thank you so much for tuning in. I really appreciate it, and I appreciate you of course. As always, feel free to hit me up on my socials and let me know what you thought about this episode. Have you also struggled with finding shoes in your size? If you're like a size ten to eleven and up, like, what are some of the struggles there? What are the brands that you've discovered over time that kate to your size and also have a good variety of shoes. How do you feel about the whole footwear industry not necessarily being size inclusive, because yes, while we're getting better, we're also not quite there yet. I want to have a whole discussion about this. Okay, feel free to comment if you're listening on YouTube, or if you're not able to comment where you're watching or listening, feel free to DM me and let's just chat about this and until then I'll catch y'all in the next one. Good night and goodbye.