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Friday, June 24, 2016

The Feminine Differential - Foot Sizes

At the beginning of the 20 century the average woman wore a size 3.5 or size 4 shoe. This increased to a 5.5 in the forties and remained this way till the 60s. By the 1970s, the average female foot was a 7.5 and now, forty years later, the most common foot size for the American female is somewhere between an 8 ½ and a 9.” (Howard, Pollak) 

 Well....I didn't know that!  You'll find this and other interesting facts in Rhonda's, The Feminine Differential - Foot Sizes.

Oh....and I'm a size 12....

3 comments:

  1. ColineJune 25, 2016 at 4:25 AM

    Tell that to the shoe industry! Count yourself lucky if you can find a fairly decent elegant shoe in size 9. My favourite German company seems to have been taken over by a younger generation who want to be seen manufacturing stylish shoes and have dropped most of the size 10s especially for anything attractive!!

    Someone in the industry once told me that a stylist will still make their new design in early 20th century sizes to show off how cute they are. Anyone with large feet needs styles which make the feet look as small and neat as possible yet we are often left with huge clompy choices or nothing.

    Realising that I would never find affordable shoes was a strong reason for not changing sooner. We do not all want fettish designs which are easily available in large sizes, some of us just want a sensible Mary Jane for everyday wear.

    Shoes are a serious issue and I am sure that there is serious profit for anyone who ever taps into this market.

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    Replies
    1. ColineJune 26, 2016 at 1:53 AM

      I should have made it clear that I was writing in the UK where a 9 is a US 11/12. Look at an international chart and you can see why the footwear industry is in such chaos...

      What I find really interesting is that a US company has such a small maximum size for women's footwear and therefore a maximum size with interesting style and colours.

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  2. joanna SantosJune 25, 2016 at 4:28 AM

    Size 12 here as well Calie!

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