4 Ways To Choose Stylish Yet Supportive Shoes To Complete Your Look
Fashionistas tend to focus on aesthetics over everything else when picking their footwear, but recent studies have shown that wearing unbreathable and uncomfortable shoes can lead to major foot problems. So, instead of focusing on aesthetics, you must also look for supportive shoes. Unfortunately, finding such perfect shoes can be challenging.
Read on for some tips on how you can select a pair of shoes that achieves a balance between aesthetics and support. If your hobby is to collect stylish shoes, these bone inlay furniture designs might also help you find suitable storage.
- Check For Arch Support
Your goal is to choose a pair of stylish yet supportive shoes. If you found a pair that suits your taste, that's one criterion out of the list. Your next task is to find out if it provides optimal support to your foot. One way to do that is by checking if it consists of arch supports.
Arch supports are padding or inserts found at the bottom of the shoes. As the name suggests, these features provide support to the arch of your foot. With arch supports, the wearer will feel less pain when wearing the shoes for an extended period of time. You may also enjoy the following benefits:
- Distribute pressure across your foot
- Prevent damage to your foot during rough trips
- Lessens or eliminates pain
- Improves your posture by providing balance
Although it's advisable to look for shoes with arch support, if the one that caught your attention doesn't have these features, you can instead check if there's enough space for padding. That way, you can purchase arch supports separately and add them to your preferred shoes. Examples of shoes that support paddings and other kinds of orthotics include running shoes and footbed shoes. However, note that excessive padding may lead to higher risks of an injury, so don't get too carried away.
- Take Your Foot Proportions Into Account
One more factor you need to consider when choosing shoes, or any footwear for that matter, is the proportions of your foot. These include its width, length, and its height.
Take note that between your two feet, chances are one of them is larger, so you might want to choose your new shoes according to that larger foot so both can fit properly. Furthermore, if you're going to pick your shoes from a physical store, a great tip would be to look for shoes in the late afternoon, especially if you often sit and stand for hours, and here's why.
When you don't move much while sitting or standing, your ankles and feet cannot contract properly, so the blood flow around your foot may slow down. As a result, you'll notice that your feet will swell a little bit towards the end of the day.
If you're looking for supportive shoes, they should fit well with your foot size, and it should be a lot easier to look for fitting shoes with these tips, but don't take our word for it.
- Walk Around With The Shoes For A While
More often than not, when trying out shoes, people tend to simply focus on how the shoes will look on their feet. However, most don't take their time checking if the shoes are actually comfortable to walk around with.
If you want to find shoes that aren't only stylish but also supportive, you need to walk around with them for a while when trying them out as there's a big chance you simply feel comfortable because you're stepping in the store's soft carpet. Remember, even the worst shoes will feel comfortable when walking across smooth surfaces. Since retail shoe stores tend to have soft carpets, you should at least go outside the store and walk a few steps across a solid area like concrete or tiles.
- Pay Attention To The Material
People tend to look at the design and special features of shoes, but what they really need to pay attention to is the material since that's what mostly determines the quality of the shoes. If you're looking for a stylish and supportive shoe, the material should both be chic and breathable.
Here's a look at some of the best materials for shoes:
- Leather: Expensive but it's durable and elastic
- Propylene: Resistant to pressure and chemicals
- Nylon: Durable and cheap
- Wool: Stretchable and breathable
- Cotton: Lightweight and comfortable
As the owner, you have to remember that you're also responsible for taking care of your shoes, so you might also want to choose a material that's easy to maintain and doesn't age poorly.
Wrapping Up
Choosing stylish yet supportive shoes can be very tricky, but it should be a lot easier with these tips. However, take note that perfect shoes don't exist. Sometimes, you have to settle for the best shoes you can find, even if it's not as stylish or supportive as you might expect.
