#FASHION: Putting your best foot forward

SHOE shopping is serious business. Most women know this. We search, look, try and try again.

A shoe that looks right in the mirror can still be wrong on the foot, either too narrow through the forefoot, too rigid at the strap or built in a shape for a foot that isn't quite the one wearing it.

For years, the industry's answer to discomfort has simply been: break them in. As if the foot should adapt to the shoe, rather than the other way round. It's a gap that hasn't gone unnoticed by those in the industry.

A lot of discomfort gets blamed on the customer, says founder of Sunday Staples Cherriann Wong, a Singapore-born footwear label.

"It's rarely the size that is wrong. It's because the shoe was never shaped for your foot to begin with."

This mismatch becomes harder to ignore once you factor in how much time Malaysians actually spend commuting and standing on their feet.

Add to this the hours spent walking through malls, standing through a full day at a wedding, moving between meetings - all in tropical heat and humidity, and you suddenly realise just how serious this mismatch can be.

[[nid:1561130]]

WEARING IT RIGHT

It's safe to say that Asians need an Asian fit, but what does this mean?

Wong says a 2018 analysis of more than one million 3D foot scans across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, found that Asian customers have significantly shorter feet on average than their counterparts in the other three regions - and relatively wider feet in proportion to that length, a pattern that held for both men and women.

On its own, a wider foot isn't a design problem, explains Wong. The complication is that most global shoe lasts (the form used to define the shape of a footwear) were developed around Western foot-length-to-width ratios.

This means a foot that is shorter but proportionally wider can still be "sized right" by length while sitting too narrow through the forefoot.

This mismatch matters more in styles with little room to absorb it such as ballet flats or strappy sandals, which is likely the real explanation behind why the straps start rubbing and the toes feel compressed within a few hours of wear, rather than any fault of the wearer.

This structural gap is visible in how a small but growing number of Southeast Asian footwear labels are now approaching design.

Details like added heel padding in ballet flats, a broader range of low and block heels, and fabrics such as waterproof linen, treated suede and quick-drying microfibre - suitable for humidity and sudden rain - are now important elements of footwear for Asian use.

Wong says ultimately, the goal is to give consumers shoes that hold up through a full day rather than needing to be endured.

"It's about designing footwear around the proportions of the region it is meant to be worn in, rather than expecting the region to adapt to footwear."