– We don’t have such big sizes now, I often hear in the store, Terhi Rautio says about her size 44 foot. Hannu Loijas’ little foot has been praised as cute.
Our story by Janet Nyholm Our readers thought a lot about the 33-digit leg. Many shared their own experiences of what it’s like to go shoe shopping when the foot size is not standard.
Living in North Ostrobothnia Terhi Rautio has come across downright offensive comments about the size of his feet.
– My shoe size is 44, and trendy and more youthful shoe styles are not available in my size. When I go to the market or shoe store, I am almost invariably directed to the men’s section. Sometimes the salespeople exclaim that we don’t have such big shoes now when they hear what number I’m looking for.
Terhi’s shoe size increased to 44 with the pregnancies.
– My arch lowered and my foot widened. Now I wear bigger shoes than my husband, whose shoe size is 42.
When Terhi was working at the kindergarten, she left her rubber boots in the hallway.
– My colleague started laughing that my rubber boots were like her husband’s.
Terhi Rautio’s 44-number shoes are on the left in the picture. Terh’s man’s shoes are on the right. – I can’t even borrow shoes from my husband, they would be too small for me. Terhi Rauti’s home album
In Terhi’s opinion, the most difficult thing is to find party shoes.
– Sometimes I find some ballerinas by chance too. But I often joke with my mother that I have to go shopping for girls’ shoes. When we both know that I won’t find any.
Terhi buys her shoes in online stores and finds women’s shoes in her size at Zalando, for example. The Finnish online store Bellissima also sells women’s shoes in sizes 32–35 and 42–46, but the selection is limited.
Hannu wears shoes three sizes too big
Lives in Espoo Hannu Loijas52, has mostly received friendly comments about her shoe size, which is 37.
– My feet have been admired and praised as cute, Hannu laughs.
The fact is, however, that Hannu cannot find decent men’s shoes in his size.
– I still have size 40 shoes on my feet. When I go to the shoe store, the salespeople start serving. Until they give up when they realize that I can’t fit children’s shoes because my arch is high and my instep is wide.
Using shoes of the wrong size may also bring health problems to the feet.
– I constantly walk in shoes that are too big, and that’s probably why my heel sac is inflamed.
Hannu enjoys ice hockey and coaches girls’ volleyball.
– Fortunately, I have footwear for my hobbies, such as skates, sneakers and ski boots. If I wanted decent men’s shoes for everyday use, they would have to be ordered and would be really expensive.
Hannu Loijas’ home album
K Group’s selection manager Mari Photographer says they haven’t received feedback on small sizes for men or women. Kuvaja would like customers to post customer feedback through the K group’s message channels, if there are any wishes.
– Rather, there is a need for large sizes. There are very few size 40 available for men, almost no size 39. On the other hand, more large sizes are sold to women all the time. We have taken this into account in our selections, and size 42 is already included in most of our models. There are very few size 43 available, but we always stock them when they are available.
– In sports shoes, a few brands offer some models in which the model is so-called unisex, and then sizes 37–46 or 36–47 are available.
S-Group’s sport, footwear and bags product group leader Ville Vahla is on the same lines.
– There has been no feedback that bigger or smaller sizes are needed.
In the S group, we buy in men’s shoes so that, as a general rule, the sizes in the models start from the number 39 or 40.
– The demand is from a marginal customer base for men’s smaller sizes. In women’s shoes, we have bought in shoes in sizes 42–44, but size 44 has remained unsold, says Vahla.