Heeluxe’s Shoe Fit Posts

Heel fit is often overlooked in many shoes tested at Heeluxe. Bad heel fit reduces comfort, increases the likelihood of blisters, and causes early breakdown of a shoe. Our lab data on shoe fit reveals a few simple solutions for improving heel fit. Many brands don’t put much attention to it until they get complaints…

Dress Shoes are BACK! 2022 is showing a large number of consumers returning to buying dress shoes for work, weddings, and walking around town. After 2+ years of wearing cozy shoes at home, making the “same old” dress and fashion shoes won’t feel great to your customers. Here’s how you can WOW your customers with…

Early in the COVID pandemic a post discussed how more time at home was changing your customer’s expectations of shoe comfort. Now that we are returning to social activities, working from an office, and travelling, what are your customers looking for in shoe fit? Fashion/Dress: After years of less testing of high heels, dress flats,…

Working with hundreds of footwear brands from around the world provides Heeluxe a lot of data on the sample sizes that brands are using. Between 2010 and 2020 the sample sizes were very consistent across brands: almost everyone used a M9 US for Men’s, W7 US for Women’s casual and athletic, and W6 for Women’s…

“How are other brands using SmartLast for footwear development?” is one of the most commonly asked questions from brands when they see SmartLast for the first time. This post shares the details on how you can use the fast and accurate shoe fit feedback from SmartLast to improve your own product development. During product development…

  Quality footwear requires consistency, and footwear brands make major efforts to improve consistency in their production lines, branding, and even online experience. But how consistent is your fit testing? If you gave your fit testers the same shoe every month for a year and asked for their feedback, would they always provide the exact…

Shoes did not get more comfortable during the COVID19 pandemic. Your customer’s perception of what is comfortable did change. Brands that quickly adapted to this change in customer comfort are positioned to thrive. Here’s three things that you need to know about shoe comfort post-pandemic. – Socks? We Don’t Need Socks! While the trend of…

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are intimidating terms—but they shouldn’t be! Heeluxe is using AI to change the footwear testing landscape and the benefits will soon be realized by all footwear brands. Here’s a sample of how AI is being used to predict shoe fit. Many footwear innovators had their first introduction to the concept…

“What’s the best shoe?” is one of the most common questions footwear brands ask. In this post you’ll learn what are the best fitting shoes tested at Heeluxe in 2019. It is an elite group of shoes that you’ll want to consider when setting fit goals for your product. Criteria for what makes a shoe…

“What’s the best shoe?” is one of the most common questions footwear brands ask. In this post you’ll learn what are the best fitting shoes tested at Heeluxe in 2019. It is an elite group of shoes that you’ll want to consider when setting fit goals for your product. Criteria for what makes a shoe…