A new survey has come to the same conclusion as millions of heel-wearing women: shoes can be a pain.
Long Tall Sally, a retailer of women’s footwear and apparel for tall women, including footwear in sizes 10-15, has conducted a survey of more than 3,000 women across the United States, United Kingdom and Germany about the comfort of their shoes.
According to the study, 90 percent of women say they own at least one pair of shoes that is agony to wear, and one-third of women worldwide have damaged their feet by wearing a pair of ill-fitting shoes and were unable to walk properly for at least two days afterwards.
It turns out many women don’t actually know their shoe size. The study found that more than 60 percent of women around the world have not had their feet measured in at least five years, and more than 40 percent haven’t had their feet sized for ten years.
“Our research shows that 32 percent of women are wearing the wrong shoe size, which can affect both posture and gait,” said Lindsey Clark, head of shoe technology at Long Tall Sally. “A number of factors can influence and change the size of a woman’s foot, including pregnancy, aging and weight gain or loss, and we recommend that women have their feet professionally measured regularly.”
A study done in 2014 by the College of Podiatry in the United Kingdom found that the average shoe size has increased by approximately two sizes since the 1970s. Despite this, many women are buying shoes they know won’t fit just because they’re stylish.