Blogs

Top Hearted Posts

Shoes 101

by on ‎10-27-2011 06:30 PM

Remember the entry-level courses you took freshman year — English 101, Biology 101, etc.? Well, the Shoe Shopping with Jane team and the lovely Mary Beth Roe had Shoes 101 recently, and I learned so much in one hour! Led by Jack Aezen of Jack Sprat shoes, the class led us through the manufacturing process of shoes along with a glossary of terms that's so helping me on air! One of the terms that really affects the comfort of the shoe is called "coupling." It's the distance from where the foot hits the shoe to the heel. That changes the pitch of your foot, and why a 4" heel is more comfortable with a 1" platform. I also didn't realize that as the shoes go up in size, the heel gets slightly longer to accommodate the balance of the shoe. And do you know what toe spring is? Neither did I until Jack told us! It's the distance between the sole and the floor at the toe. A perfect toe spring is about the height of a pencil (or the diameter of the pencil). I wanted to go home and measure all my shoes! Didn't know until our class that shoes have a throat, which is the opening you put your foot into when trying on shoes. We also went through the description of all types of shoes, so get ready to learn a lot with me in future Shoe Shopping with Jane shows!


Jane & Jack


I want to leave you with some words to live by that I read on a plaque the other day: "When I get tired shopping, I sit down and try on shoes!"


—Jane Treacy