Steve63130

Good points, Puffer. I had overlooked both of those.

Steve

Good find! Interesting pics on the Vogue site. While I'm not personally willing to risk my ankles wearing such high platforms, I'm glad to see examples of guys in heels getting such publicity. That's positive exposure and good for our future, I believe!

Steve

Thanks for posting that. Great pic. He has the slim figure for stilettos and looks great. If I wore that same outfit, you'd laugh yourself to tears!

Steve

Good on yer, mate. Well done!

Steve

Like a kid in a candy store, eh?

Steve

G'day, James!

I'm jealous and I haven't even seen what you've bought yet! LOL

Steve

Great post, Syd! Thanks for sharing!

Steve

A few years ago, like JeffB, I didn't like sandals at all, either on women or men. I've come around to love them (at least some of them) and wear them as much as I can in warm weather. I typically wear them with blue or white bootcut jeans. I take good care of my feet, putting lotion on my heels every day to avoid cracked skin, and getting a professional pedicure once a month to take care of nails, calluses, etc. I always keep polish on my toes (and fingers). I am always surprised how few comments I get on that - I could count them on the toes of one foot! I like to be a good example to other men who wish they could wear sandals and bare their toes when it's warm out.

No harm in trying. But put yourself in their place. If you just ask for a review pair, the answer will almost assuredly be no. What would make them say yes? Your marketing background (everybody has sold other people on ideas, concepts and real stuff). You're a fashion forward male and you often wear heels in public (enclose a photo). Your connection with hundreds or thousands of other males who wear heels via this and other forums. And maybe a creative approach...you'll pay full price but if you can convince others who mention seeing your review, the company will give you a rebate up to X dollars. Or maybe they'll just give you a discount up front of $20-40 and you'll save a little money. Think what it would take to make you give away or sell at a discount a relatively expensive pair of heels in order to get uncertain but possible future sales, and capitalize on that. Good luck!

Steve

I agree with Robbie. I saw two fashionably dressed young women in the city park on Sunday wearing killer heels. Unfortunately neither had poise to look classy as they clomped along, struggling to remain upright.

Steve

I agree that boots/booties are your best bet, but tie shoes, clogs, and loafer pumps are also good choices and look unisex enough that on casual glance, few will notice (except us, of course!).

Steve

If you have the time to post pics and brief descriptions of the brand and condition, you might be able to find homes for them here on the forum, especially for those who don't have much money to spend on shoes but would be willing to pay postage. Just a suggestion.

Sorry for your disappointment.

Steve

You've got a great SA there, if she was being that helpful. Go back when you can and try on some of the other shoes she suggests. She ought to know what ones have the width you need. Give her another try and I'm sure you'll be less nervous about it. In fact, you'll find it fun, and you may come away with a great new pair of heels! Good luck!

Steve

13 hours ago, maninpumps said:

TBG , I was in a hurry that day . I had to get to a hospital in Louisville . Mom's health was getting worse . She passed a week later .

MIP,

Sorry to hear about your mother's passing. My condolences.

Steve

I never heard of this brand before, so I googled it and one link was to Zappos.com where they had 48 styles. You could search some of those to read reviews and form you own opinion of what reviewers say about width. You could look on other sites that might carry LFL shoes, too. That way you would have a bigger statistical sampling from the one or two people here who might have tried them.

Just a suggestion. Good luck.

Steve

Wow! That's a really good deal, and the US dollar exchange rate is very good (for us) right now. I'm tempted to hop on a plane!

Well, one of these days...please report on what you get!

Steve

.

TBG,

I guess I missed that. Well, I'm glad you had a chance to see each other again. 

I think I once ordered a pair of those Nine West pumps in black, US women's 12, and I was very disappointed that they were too short. I had to send them back. Too bad, because I really liked the look.

Heelster, I hope they fit you! Wear them well!

Steve

Heelster,

I was just kidding with that comment. Sounds like you and TBG hit it off well for a first time meeting. Hope you have a chance to get together again, and visit me too one of these days! By all means, post pics what you acquired from him!

Too bad about that outlet shop closing. I like Nine West, too, and a have a couple of pair of their shoes, but I find their sizing is small on me and their US Women's 12 usually doesn't fit me in length.

Steve

2 hours ago, Thighbootguy said:

Heelster is ... a character that fits right in with the rest of the folks on this board.

 

That's too bad. I was hoping he was better than that!

Steve

Happy Anniversary, indeed! I love those sandals!

Steve

Oh, no. They asked who I was shopping for and I answered "myself". So there is no doubt in my case that the shoes are for me.

As most of you know, I'm a big fan of Naturalizer brand shoes, made by Brown Shoe Company. There are several reasons:

Great selection

Good fit

Good quality

Great customer service (except they don't pay return postage)

My cousin works for the company (even though she no longer can get employee discounts for me <sigh>)

The company seems to care about its male customers.

This last reason is evident by the gender question they ask on product reviews. They know they get men buying their shoes and they seem interested in knowing more about that; they have never, of course, not posted a review of mine, even though I usually state that I'm a fashion forward male.

I signed up for and get emails from them daily, with discount offers or free shipping, so I stay current and check out their web site every few days. Today I clicked on and as I was scanning their selection, trying desperately without success to find something I couldn't live without so I could save 25%, a pop-up window came up and asked if I would participate in a customer satisfaction survey, particularly with regard to using a mobile device (I have an iPad mini). So I said yes, and an email came to me that read:

Thank you for helping improve the Naturalizer mobile experience.

Please take a minute to complete your customer satisfaction survey here: https://i.4see.mobi/e/09437r4h

So I clicked on the web site and took the survey, and sure enough, near the end, they asked the gender question again.

I share this with all of you, because if you have any interest in a women's shoe company that seems interested in its male customers, you might want to click on the link and take the survey. I trust that web site URL, but if you have any doubts, play it safe and use an old PC that you don't care about. Be sure and click on Male when it asks your gender. And even if you've never bought anything from this company (naturalizer.com), you might check out their styles and take the survey

Steve

PS. After I posted this, I clicked on the link to make sure it works, but it told me that I have already completed the survey, so obviously the email link was specific to me. Sorry, but I don't know how to find the general survey link; maybe it can't be done. Or maybe, if you go to www.naturalizer.com and look around, the pop-up window asking if you want to take the survey will come up and you can answer yes. Or maybe someone here can figure it out. Good luck.

Well, today was a milestone of sorts! One of the other residents in our retirement community noticed that I had heeled sandals on, and mentioned it to me, not in a bad way, of course, but just in passing. That's not happened before, ever. There are my gal pals in the Marketing Department who wear heels and I've developed rapport with them and we often talk heels when I visit their office, but I have never had conversations with residents. Here's the story:

I noticed when I got in the breakfast buffet line that Dan, who came in behind me, was looking down at my feet, and I wondered if he was looking to see if I had heels on under my longish bootcut jeans. I did (photos below) - Born sandals a couple of years old, got them on Ebay so I don't know the model name, with 3/4 platform and 4" cone heels that taper to a 1" x 1" bottom, very easy to walk in and quite stable, so I was quite confident wearing these heels. So we sat at the breakfast table this morning, and as we were dining, one of the other residents tripped and fell. Not a good idea for older people, but gravity doesn't discriminate. Fortunately he was ok. So Dan and  I were talking and he said he was glad the fellow wasn't hurt, and I said to him "You be careful, too. You're tall and would fall farther!" "He said, "Well, you be careful, too. You wear high heels!" I just replied, "Yes, but that's a risk I'll take." That was it and he changed the subject. But this is a small milestone. It's the first time in 1 1/2 years here at Kendal that any resident noted my wearing heels. Up until then, I thought they were all blind or just being polite or just wanted to avoid an awkward situation. It's not awkward for me; I'm glad to talk about, but it might be for them. Anyway, I'm glad finally to know that I'm noticed (and of course I have been accepted for a long time, heels and all!). It changes my thinking (and makes my head swell a bit! lol). And it means I feel even better about expanding my heel choices in the future!

Steve

Unless you took the time to measure the range of sizes, how would you even know if other sizes have different heel heights? Although they probably do, most companies simply describe the heel height on a women's size 8 or so, and you can assume (yeah, I know, bad word) that it will be higher in a bigger size, i.e., your mileage (or kilometrage) may vary. When I describe my heels, I don't care what a size 8 is in that model. I only care what height a 12 is, because that's all I have to measure.

Steve