Once again tonight, I see a commercial where the mom is getting hugs and kisses because she has been out shopping for the family and surprised them with new shoes that they love. Sometimes it’s a Christmas gift…sometimes back to school.
Does anyone really do this…buy shoes for someone whose feet aren’t there to try the shoes on? I recall only doing this when my children were toddlers and has no say in their wardrobe, and one time for my husband, being fully prepared to have to return them if they didn’t fit (he was procrastinating on buying new dress shoes…he always bought the same style, so it was a bit of a slam-dunk). Even if I choose the same size I always get, sometimes shoes don’t fit me right and I may try a different size or width. Sometimes a shoe looks adorable but feels like crap in any size, so out it goes. Or it looks cute on the shelf, not so much on the feet. It’s such a personal thing, I can’t imagine just buying my daughter a pair of shoes and expecting her to like them!
So is this a common practice, or just something they show in ads in hopes you will buy shoes for other people and then never get around to returning them if they don’t fit or suit?
I think it’s a terrible idea. Shoes need to be tried on, even if it’s the same size one usually wears. In the likely event that they don’t fit, the recipient now has the annoying chore of returning them and trying to find something appropriate in the same store.
Yes, people actually do this. Then they come to the cobbler shop where I work and ask us to “fix” them. The shoes, that is, not the people, although I often suspect it’s not the shoes that are problematic…
The only time anyone I ever have known would do this is they’re buying a new pair of the exact same shoes that they know someone already wears, as the OP notes with her husband. Like, a new pair of Chucks for someone whose old pair is falling apart, or additional pairs of nursing clogs for someone who only has one pair.
I’ve always wondered the same thing about clothes; sizes vary so much between labels (hell, even within labels) that I wonder why people feel comfortable buying something that the recipient never had a chance to try on first.
I buy shoes for my husband at his request sometimes several pairs and he picks which ones he likes or fit well. And for my kids I buy them and the wear them but they are still young so it’s not an issue. But I wouldn’t like it if anyone bought me shoes.
When I worked at a dress shop, people who bought clothes for other people usually didn’t really care if the stuff fitted that well. As a general rule, they had no idea what to buy the recipient, and they wanted to get something, ANYTHING, that they could wrap up in a box. “Here, honey, I have no idea what size you are, but here’s a big box so that I have fulfilled my duty to buy you something.” Or else it was husbands or boyfriends buying fantasy lingerie. The lingerie was the worst…the guys had no clue as to what size to buy, and they didn’t know that we couldn’t resell the lingerie, so we wouldn’t exchange it. Plus, of course, that fancy bustier and garter set that looks great on the mannequin (who is bustier than average, and taller than average) won’t necessarily look so good on a real life woman, who might have droopy boobs, a thick waist, and a solid bottom line. Oh, and she’s under five feet.
My sister and I have the same size feet and always have. I will buy shoes for her because if they fit me they will fit her. If I see a pair of shoes that I think she will like that fit (we have tiny feet) I will buy them.
My husband has funny feet and he has to try shoes on. I have bought him flip-flops, but never real shoes.
The harder it got for my mom to get around and shop, the handier it became that our feet were the same size and shape. If they fit me, they would fit her.
My husband wears a size 23 shoe. He has such a hard time finding shoes that he can’t afford to care about fit. If he can strap them on the planks he calls feet, he buys them, and if I found some 23s, I would buy them.
I worked my way through college selling shoes at a family shoe store. I had people coming in buy shoes for other people quite a lot. These were the most common circumstances:
Wife coming in and buying shoes for her husband, who always wears the same shoe/boot in the same size, who doesn’t like to shop.
People buying Christmas or birthday presents for their kids who previously came in with their parents “just to try them on, this doesn’t mean you’re getting them”.
Migrant farm working buying several pairs of brand name athletic shoes in a variety of sizes for their children who were back home in Mexico. They said they could sell the ones that didn’t fit to others there at a profit.
Anyway, I once had a coworker who bought everything mail-order (this was before the internet). Due to some phobia, he hadn’t been inside a store in years. And he never returned anything. So when the shoes didn’t fit he’d modify them until they did. He once had a pair that were too short, and he needed more room for his toes. So he brought them to work and chopped off the ends with the paper cutter (the shoes, not his toes).
The gift from the bride and groom to the guests at the last wedding I attended was shoes… but a very specific kind, and offered in different sizes (white espadrilles, in a location where they’re traditional).
Some of my local stores offer a “take away” policy for known customers; these customers can take a few items for someone else to try at home and either keep or return them. It’s a special case, though - they certainly don’t do it for anybody. My sister in law once bought me an outfit for Christmas and while I was polite about it, I also made sure she got the message to never, ever do it again: it was the right size, yes, but damnit woman, if I don’t wear stuff like that it’s not because I don’t know it exists, it’s because I don’t fucking like it!
Yes, I buy shoes and sneakers for my daughter. She tries them on and I return them if they don’t fit. I hate going to stores so ordering on line and having to return unwanted items it a lot easier.
My boyfriend won’t try on shoes before buying them. It’s weird. He has wide, crazy-flat feet and thinks that a size 11 will always fit. Doesn’t work that way!