Mythbusting: Freezing Shoes

A recent popular trend has been to stretch shoes by putting a bag of water in them and freezing it. Correctly identifying that water does expand when frozen, and when that happens it stretches out your shoes. Leather shoes are meant to stretch a little, and it’s a service most cobblers will offer, so the idea is to save a little money and do it at home.

I will always recommend using professional shoe stretching services and equipment.
Used with persmission ©Bob McInnes

However take a pair of shoes to a good cobbler, and he sometimes says he can’t do it, that’s not because he’s rude, or lazy, I’m grateful to him for being honest. The truth is some shoes aren’t suitable for stretching, and if you try to it’s most likely going to damage the shoes. Plastic, fabric, mesh are materials that have a little give but won’t retain that shape, and will also very easily crack or split, so they’re totally unsuitable for any stretching technique.

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Mythbusting Heel Tricks

Many of you will have suffered in heels, gone back to see how others survive the night in heels. You’ll see many blog posts, or articles where top fashionistas, models, editors, designers, or idi-ahem-experts share their secrets. Some of the techniques seemingly contradict anothers, while other posts blatently promote some product, so which things are effective which aren’t? Everybody’s feet are different, so at times I’m going to be speaking for myself, but hopefully I’ll dispel the techniques that are damaging or downright dangerous.

There are some shocking suggestions out there, which are taken pretty seriously. One of the most drastic techniques is lopping off an inch from your stiletto heels. Lets have a look at what that will do, the heel of your shoe will exert more pressure than the foot of the elephant, an average person in stilettos exerts 2000psi, while an elephant only manages a humble 50psi. Hopefully you’re beginning to see the level of engineering that goes into one of these shoes.