I was born with feet in the 1st percentile of the population and they stayed that way even despite getting taller. Now every shoe shopping experience is awkward af.

    • Leggomylego@lemmings.worldOP
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      2 hours ago

      Be careful what you wish for. Small feet on a man mean you’ll be sentenced to a life of small dick jokes. Which is certainly not the worst thing in the world but it isn’t great.

      • Deez@lemm.ee
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        1 hour ago

        My message was a tenuous reference to Flight of the Conchords (New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk-comedy duo). So it’s understandable that it was misunderstood, however, I did appreciate your thoughtful response.

        Here’s the song if you need a laugh: https://youtu.be/yjfSZu246zE

  • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
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    11 hours ago

    I swear to fuck there was another lemmy user that was really tall but had like size 4 feet and there was a pretty cool AMA

  • FermatsLastAccount@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    I’m just confused by why you keep getting your feet measured. I haven’t done that since my feet stopped growing, I know my size by this point

  • Cornpop@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    Can we see a pic of your feet with your legs in the shot too? This is very interesting

  • AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net
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    19 hours ago

    I had a girlfriend who had the inverse of your problem — her feet were far too large for shoes aimed at women. She ended up becoming friends with a bunch of drag queens, and finding that the specialist store they got their shoes from was the best place for her

    • anomnom@sh.itjust.works
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      3 hours ago

      Same here, and now our seven year old is already a size 3, like OP.

      I’m 6’3 with what I thought were fairly small feet at 10.5/11. OP’s on a whole ‘nother level, but hopefully saves a lot of money on sneakers at least!

    • SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net
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      15 hours ago

      I have this problem, but width only, not overall size.

      I just wear men’s shoes, and even those are wicked hard to find. There isn’t really a category of shoes for my size (not big enough overall for drag shoes to be right, but far too wide for normally sized women’s shoes - I wear 6-8 [brand dependent] 4EW in men’s) and I’m not willing to spend a fortune on shoes to have cute custom ones made, so men’s shoes and sandals are my options. Boring.

  • PrincessTardigrade@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    Have you looked into shoe inserts that essentially reduce the size of the shoe interior? My friend has extremely small feet and faces a similar problem of not finding shoes that are small enough, and I think she’s had some luck with the inserts

      • weirdboy@lemm.ee
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        12 hours ago

        In Japan everyone knows their shoe size in centimeters. Those stay the same regardless of gender or whatever other crazy unrelated topic to how big something is.

        • Manticore@lemmy.nz
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          It’s normal for men to have wider feet, with a wider and longer toebox compared to the length of the foot. Length is only one dimension of several. (Though a lot of people don’t think to re-lace* their shoes for arches.)

          It’s unclear how much of that is upbringing. The toebox length is gendered, but toe and foot width go up wen spending a lot of time barefoot, and toe width goes down in pointed shoes that can eve n make toes ‘tuck’ and cause bunions.

          A women’s 9 1/2 double-wide fits me about the same as a plain Men’s 7. Women’s dress shoes are rarely in wide, and NEVER double-wide. Though I’ve found success with Aussie brands because going barefoot is normal there and so the shoes are often wider for everyone. We’re also seeing the toebox become a more slanted natural foot shape, instead of the weird point symmetrical one.

          Bodies can be complicated, and one size/shape isn’t for everyone. The way we live and dress absolutely changes the shoes we need, too.

          • joel_feila@lemmy.world
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            5 hours ago

            My most recent shoe purchased was decided because the arc in the shoe perfectly marched my own. Also i do have rather wide feet and did go barefoot a lot as a kid. Funny thing im the only in group that still has arches.

            • Manticore@lemmy.nz
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              2 hours ago

              I recommend re-lacing. Autocorrect changed it to ‘replace’, but changing how your shoes are laced really helps. I have a very high arch, and found that I didn’t actually need much arch support in the shoe itself, I just needed the tongue not to be pushing down on it. It means the shoes now feel tight and secure around my ankle and toe, I don’t have to go up a size to fit my arch. Much more comfortable!

              Feel like giving it a try?

          • weirdboy@lemm.ee
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            10 hours ago

            Yes but the number doesn’t have to change. Just like in the US, they use letters to denote relative foot wdith vs. the average. No need for multiple numbering schemes.

            • Jtotheb@lemmy.world
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              10 hours ago

              Just like in the US

              The letters denoting widths exist, but they’re not used. Very few US shoe brands offer different widths on the same size shoe. Some offer two. A handful three, and now you’re talking about workwear, not trainers or anything else. Generally, US shoe widths are decided by whether it’s a mens or womens model.

              • weirdboy@lemm.ee
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                33 minutes ago

                My fellow lemming, I worked in a shoe store in the US for two years. I can tell you that yes, in fact, every shoe has an associated letter denoting width along with the number denoting length.

                However, unless the width is special it may or may not be printed on the box.

          • th3dogcow@lemmy.world
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            11 hours ago

            It would except for the fact that shoe sizes here, from babies to adults are only sized in centimetres. If there are international sizes printed on the shoes, they have no meaning to residents in Japan. Check the tag inside your shoes; If they have international sizes printed on them, you’ll see Japan’s is in centimetres, and may have EE (or more Es) next to it to denote width. If there is nothing, then they are standard width.

            Children’s clothing is also sized in centimetres. Makes things really simple.

      • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        Shoe sizes are Unisex here in in Europe as well as in Asia. And in Asia they are even smarter - they simply use centimeters, while we use “Paris Points” of 2/3s of a centimeter.

  • OldManBOMBIN@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    Wow dude, that’s crazy. Like, in a cool way.

    My great-uncle was very small when he was born - the family story is that he used to sleep in a shoe box instead of a crib until he was almost a year old.

    Probably not your shoe box, though.

  • Aeao@lemmy.world
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    21 hours ago

    Do your feet hurt a lot? It sounds like a lot of pressure on a small area

    • Leggomylego@lemmings.worldOP
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      21 hours ago

      Good question. You would think but my calf and foot muscles are quite strong to compensate for what I lack in foot surface area. They do get sore after a long day but nothing too crazy.

      • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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        20 hours ago

        Uh, no, that’s actually the opposite of how that works. Pressure is force per area, and torque is the cross product of force and length (at right angles). The smaller the area, the higher the pressure. The smaller the foot, in this case, the harder the muscles have to work to create the same torque (or moment). #ThanksForAttendingMyPhysics101TEDTalk

        • deranger@sh.itjust.works
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          The smaller the foot, in this case, the harder the muscles have to work to create the same torque (or moment).

          That’s backwards, a shorter lever arm requires less force. If you had a 10 foot long foot, you’d have to have insanely strong calf muscles to stand on your tip toes, because how far the load is from the fulcrum.

          torque is the cross product of force and length

          Correct. The force at the end of the lever is your body weight. A longer foot thus exerts more torque on your ankle and requires more calf muscle to move. Longer arms don’t make chest flyes easier, they make them harder.

          • LustyArgonian@lemmy.world
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            18 hours ago

            This isn’t totally true (about longer limbs=harder to exercise), because it doesnt take into account how myosin works on a longer muscle/surface area, along with how electrical differences between limbs and the torso help with electrical flow due to potential energy.

            Look at a thoroughbred (fastest over medium distance), an Arabian (best for endurance), a quarter horse (fastest in burst over short distance) versus a donkey (stronger pound for pound than a horse but not faster), vs a mule (stronger than horse, faster than donkey). Keep in mind there’s different types of muscle development, eg burst vs long distance. Look at their legs. They are walking on (1) finger, look at where their ankle is. Their feet, like many animals, are angled completely differently than humans. Elephants have a similar foot to humans in that their sole contacts the ground, but obviously their feet don’t extend like ours (and they have bigger muscles). So it is interesting but I think theres more to it

            • deranger@sh.itjust.works
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              18 hours ago

              It’s totally true from a physics standpoint. A longer lever arm between the load and fulcrum requires more force to move the same weight, all else being equal. Edit: thinking on this more, I think a type 3 lever is more applicable to my chest flye example, but the same concept applies; as you lengthen the load arm relative to the effort arm, more input force is required to move a given load.

              “Harder to exercise” is poorly defined, especially when you go on to discuss endurance, speed, and force, all of which are very different terms.

              I totally get what you’re saying, but I specifically narrowed it down to force for a reason. My shorter friends kick my ass in lifting due to the mechanical advantage their shorter limbs have, but I smoke them in a distance run because my longer limbs allow me to traverse a greater distance in a single step. This is complicated though because larger lungs are a factor here too.

        • Jerkface (any/all)@lemmy.ca
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          19 hours ago

          The foot bears more than 100% of your weight because it is cantilevered. The greater the cantilever, the greater the multiplier to the weight.

          You’re arguing that a small foot has a small contact patch. But we need to be able to shift all our weight to our toes, and that contact patch is more a function of the width of your foot, not the length.

      • deranger@sh.itjust.works
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        21 hours ago

        That would be relevant to the calf muscles, but the lower surface area of the feet means higher pressure in terms of psi or pascals.

        • Leggomylego@lemmings.worldOP
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          21 hours ago

          Yes I can confirm that there’s more pressure on my feet if my wearing out kids shoes every 6 months is anything to go by. They are not designed for a man of my height and weight!

          • LustyArgonian@lemmy.world
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            18 hours ago

            Have you ever had custom shoes made? Or checked what adult little people wear? They may have some suggestions

  • funbreaker@kbin.earth
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    16 hours ago

    OP is a Rob Liefeld character.

    In all seriousness I hope you can find a decent specialty store that will get you comfy/stylish/both shoes.