Hispanitas, women's shoes built around comfort
A comfortable shoe is not a soft shoe: it is a shoe that spreads the load. The difference plays out on three points — the height and the base of the heel, the thickness of the insole under the forefoot, and how stiff the sole is where the foot flexes. On this page you will find ballet flats, Mary Janes, slingbacks, loafers, ankle boots and sandals, and each of these types solves those three points differently: that is what they are worth choosing on, more than the model.
A comfortable heel is not a low heel, it is a wide one. A five-centimetre block heel stands on a surface that body weight cannot unbalance, while a stiletto of the same height forces the ankle to correct at every step. It is the first figure to read on a product page, ahead of the stated centimetres: two shoes with heels of the same height can behave in opposite ways over distance.
Leather uppers adapt to the foot over the first outings, which is why it pays to try them snug rather than loose: a leather that starts wide stays wide. Printed leathers, like the reptile-effect ones on this page, are stiffer at the surface and give far less: on those the right size is the one that feels comfortable straight away, without counting on a settling that will not come. It is a distinction that weighs more than any generic fit indication.
A loafer and a Mary Jane solve the same problem with two opposite strategies. The loafer has no fastening and stays on by friction: it should be taken in the exact size, because half a size more turns into a heel that slips out at every step. The Mary Jane and the slingback have a strap that makes up the difference and tolerate half a size of margin; the ankle boot holds the ankle and actually asks for that margin when thick socks come out in the cold months. Anyone alternating the three in the same week would do well not to assume the same size.
To see where this range sits in the rest of the women's catalogue you can compare the women's loafers and the women's ankle boots.
