Has anyone noticed UK shoes/heels are all too wide? What to do?

I had to go shopping for interview heels/pumps and every single pair I have been trying on slip off of me because they are too wide!

Is this just me or has anyone else had an issue with this?

I have my first day at new temporary position and I have to wear heels but I am freeaking out because none of the shoes in my size my neighbour gave me and the ones I bought do not fit because they are wide.  I even went down a size and the heels still slip off because of the width!

I put an insole in there and it didn't work!  Is there anything on the market I can buy for fitting into wide shoes?

I am not even sure if taping something to the sides will hold or not?  I was slipping out of my new shoes every couple of seconds on Oxford street and it was embarrassing, i could not walk!

I have a very hard time finding shoes here.  For some reason, I seem to come between a 6 1/2 and a 7.  Neither seems to fit quite right.  The sevens usually fall off, but the 6.5's are just tight.  Maybe the width has something to do with it.  You might want to try getting a proper measurement where they look at width too.  Clarks is good for measuring.  Then look at doing an online order where you can get the right width.  Obviously timeline might be a problem with this plan.

If you go to a decent shoe shop they should be able to fix you up with inserts that go inside the heel and down by the ball of the foot that can give you a better fit. They can by no means work miracles, but they can often help.

http://www.boots.com/en/Scholl-Hidden-Comfort-Leather-Heel-Liners-One-Pair-_5109/

If you don't mind me asking, where are you shopping for shoes? I seem to have the opposite problem when trying on shoes. Then again, I haven't been to a 'good' shop. I have been going to the ones that are on about the same level as Payless in the States, since I am still job hunting and don't have much shoe money in the budget. I have a wide foot and high instep, and seem to be struggling to find shoes wide enough over here.

I was at 'Next' trying on shoes and also H&M.  However, I also noticed this because my next door neighbour went to a charity shoppe and brought me back 4 pairs of shoes i my size and they were ALL too wide.

If you have a suggestion on a store that has more narrow footwear, let me know!

I have the same problem, too.

It doesn't have to do with the length or width of the foot, it has to do with the shape.

Shoes here in England seem to be designed for a foot that is pretty much the same width from the ball of the foot to the heel, so the sides of the shoe form almost parallel lines. (My husbands feet are kind of like this.)

My feet are sort of V-shaped. They are widest at the toes and the ball of the foot, and then taper down so that I have a very slim heel and ankle in comparison.

The shoes that I bought in the US were all narrower at the heel, so they would pinch your foot at the heel so the shoe would stay on.

Here in the UK, if I buy a shoe that is wide enough so that it doesn't pinch my toes, it is much too wide in the heel and I just walk right out of it.

An analogy would be if you bought a pair of trousers and you have a waist, if the waist of the trousers was the same width as the width of the part that went around your hips and you didn't wear a belt, your trousers would fall off.

What I have done is stick to only wearing shoes with ankle straps or laces, to hold the  shoe onto my foot. I know it limits the choices and may not allow me to wear the latest fashions, but at least it prevents me from walking out of my shoe and twisting my ankle when I'm in the street.

(I have made the mistake of thinking that I need a smaller size because the shoe wouldn't stay on when I tried on a larger size; I just ended up crushing my toes.)

ETA: What kind of job requires you to wear heels? That seems discriminatory.

ETA: What kind of job requires you to wear heels? That seems discriminatory.

Very good question. I wouldn't in that job for long since I can't wear heels for very long (I have balance issues).

Well, I am glad to see that I am not the only one that recognizes that all the shoes seem to fit wide.  I as well have a V shaped foot, slim at the ankle and wider at the toes.

Well, I went for a job interview at a recruiting agency and I wore a skirt with tights and I needed a closed toe heel which I ended up getting at Next.

Now, I was originally going for a job in retail with this recruiter, and the department stores like Harrods wants you to have this specific kind of heel and specific dress code for your entire look down to your jewellery.  Also my recruiter has a specific dress code for their candidates when sending people out to a job in a department store and needs to dress in a specific way.

So I guess I will have to go to a shoe guy like CaliGirl said and get them fixed professionally. (more ££££) I did try inserts myself but they didn't work!  I have two types of inserts and everywhere I am placing them, the pump still falls off in the heel area!

I guess a shoe guy is my only option and see what he suggests.  It just seems like my arch is higher than the shoe in the middleand it slips out in the middle and the back!

regular inserts placed in all sorts of ways won't help!!

(Luckily I found out I do not have to wear pumps for this particular temp job they are placing me on Wednesday)

At some point, when they place me in a department store which is my goal, I will have to worry about walking and hoping the shoe guy knows exactly what the problem is.

If you have a suggestion on a store that has more narrow footwear, let me know!

The places I was trying were of the Shoe Zone and Matalan variety. Maybe it is just my feet, but I never had as much trouble in the States finding shoes wide enough to fit at the toe and ball of my foot. They are less expensive, and therefore lesser quality shoes, in the overall quality scale of things.

(Luckily I found out I do not have to wear pumps for this particular temp job they are placing me on Wednesday)

I had a good giggle the other day while MIL and I were in town. She needed to pick up a few things for my nephews, for school. She mentioned needing to get pumps for one of them. I could only wonder WHY a six year old boy would be wearing pumps, since in my little mind pumps are definitely a woman's shoe. She told the girl behind the counter she needed pumps and what size. The girl came back with what was essentially a pair of black Keds with velcro.

I have narrow feet and have found it difficult to find shoes that fit right in the UK.   When I was measured in Clarks the honest clerk just admitted to me that I wouldn't be able to fit their shoes because Clarks run medium to wide.  I have trouble in the US too, but seem to have more success than here so I always buy shoes when we go back for a visit.  One of my sisters has very similar feet to mine so when she finds shoes that fit well in the US she's able to recommend them to me to order online.

We had a thread about this once years ago that I'll never forget because somehow it turned out I had "Scandinavian" feet and "wealthy" feet?!   

I have very narrow feet, I also seem to be in between sizes here.  I had a pair of black flats from New Look in size 7 and a size 6.  The size 7 fit well until they began to stretch, now they fall off, the size 6 started off squeezing my feet, but now they fit well.  I found a nice pair of black heels at H & M that aren't too wide for my feet, maybe try there?

These are the shoes:
http://www.hm.com/gb/product/92531?article=92531-A

I hardly ever wore heels before these and I don't find them to be too high or hard to walk in.

Have you found the actual heel liners for the back of the shoe? Not sure if they have them there or not:

http://prd.drscholls.com/drscholls/productSearch.do?method=doProductDetailsLookup&searchArg=44

UK pumps = US flats
US pumps = UK court shoes

UK pumps = US flats
US pumps = UK court shoes

No, unless you mean flat as in sneaker type things. My ex referred to Converse and that sort of shoe as a pump.

You must have really narrow feet, I can not find shoes here for love or money! Honestly, I wear a size 9, there are very few stores that carry a 9, let alone a 9 thats wide enough for me to get my fat feet into!