is it normal for a new pair of loafers to be painful?
My ankle bones are killing me and they blistered. Will that break in?
11 Replies
Complicated to say.
Often, new leather shoes need time to adapt to your foot. It will come with a little time.
Thereafter it is possible that the shape of the moccasins is not adapted to your foot.
I just got some loafers from Meermin, and they were comfortable right away, no break-in required.
But, in contrast, I also got a pair of oxfords, and the leather was much stiffer. I had to break them in by wearing them around the house for ~4-5 days while working from home.
Most of the time they should be comfortable right away.
Did the Oxford have leather soles?
Yes
That explains it a bit
I just broke in a pair of Meermin loafers. They were tight on the vamp, length was fine. I wore a thick pair of socks for a week while around the house and now they're great and comfortable.
A lot of people say a lot of things about breaking in leather shoes. I try buy my loafers as tight as I can stand them. They WILL loosen up, at least a little. I like to wear my loafers without socks and to prevent slippage, a tighter fit is better.
The material and quality of leather matters too. suede will stretch more than a higher grade calfskin.
In short, If you can wiggle your toes without issue and the length feels ok, Proceed in breaking them in.
My suggestion to other shoppers is to head down and physically try. If your shoes don't fit properly when you first try them on, they are not going to fit properly thereafter. We shouldn't buy shoes and expect them to stretch in length or width.
They don't fit you properly. Leather shoes are not supposed to be unconformable... Ever. Else they are crap or fit badly.
Ironically I just visited the Meermin store and the associates were saying expect to be be uncomfortable for several/wears and expect their loafers to lengthen. Lol. I didn’t buy any.
Meermin often sucks because there’s a glued canvas interlining in many of their pairs (or was, haven’t seen any newer ones gutted).
Most leather shoes shouldn’t be painful to wear initially, but one also shouldn’t expect to wear them readily - you’ve still gotta break them in before wearing out and about, but you shouldn’t be experiencing pain if you’re just taking a few steps or moving around the house
Also: don’t expect shit to ever lengthen. Widen maybe kinda, but lengthen is right out lol
they'll never lengthen, pretty much ever.