An Ode to the Sneaker

There are moments in life that make it worth living.

You read a statement like that, and certain events come to mind. Weddings. Bar Mitzvahs. Birthday Parties. Birth of children.

Except, really, those moments suck. Okay, maybe not the birth of a child, but those other ones? They’re planned. Rehearsed. You already know what’s going to happen before it happens and yeah it’s special but you knew it was going to be special and that takes the shine off it.

What I’m talking about transcends planning. The spontaneous road trip to god-knows-where. Running into that cute girl at the grocery store. A pickup basketball game with that one old guy who won’t stop taking three point hook shots, causing uproarious laughter every time he air balls.

This is probably something you don’t think about when you’re in those moments: the shoes you’re wearing. Most people don’t think about it because they know exactly what to wear: sneakers. Your go-to shoes. Comfortable, versatile, and speaking to your personality in some subtle way.

In theory, the choices people with wide feet have in footwear have never been better. Running shoes, Oxford shoes, hell, even sandals come in wide widths nowadays. But there’s a distinct gap in the sneaker category. The shoes that are up for anything apparently aren't up for odd-sized feet.

The shoes people love—the Converse All-Stars with the soles worn to nothing, the skater shoes with the hole in the pinky toe, to the Air Jordans that get cleaned with a toothbrush—these are the shoes that we have to live without. We’re like eunuchs, or the servants at Downton Abbey: that kind of love just isn't available to us.

This blog will focus on wide width shoes of all categories, and yes, that maddening company known as New Balance will get a lot of ink. But the real, major pitfall of having wide-width feet, of not being able to get that one pair of sneakers that are just right, that’ll be the main focus. I hope you'll come along for the ride.