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Check

Check the closure

How the shoe stays on, how much of that is adjustable, and whether the listing said so. Thirty-four of the sixty-six listings here state no closure at all, which makes this the most commonly withheld construction fact in the catalog.

What you need (4)

  • The listing text, read for a closure word rather than skimmed
  • The product photographs, particularly any three-quarter view
  • The shoe itself, if it has arrived
  • A note of which of the seven closure kinds this catalog recognizes you are looking at

5 steps

  1. Read the listing for a closure word first

    Laces, slip-on, slip-ins, elastic laces, buckle, strap, thong. Seven kinds, and roughly half the listings in this catalog name none of them. If no word appears, write down that no word appears rather than assuming from the picture.

  2. Separate stretch from adjustment

    Elastic laces stretch to let the foot through and return to where they were. A buckle moves and stays where it is put. Those are different mechanisms and only one of them changes the fit. Two listings here state elastic laces and neither calls them adjustable, which is accurate of both.

  3. Count the adjustment points in the photographs

    One buckle is one point. A double buckle is two, and they usually sit at different places along the foot. Laces are effectively many. The count is visible in any straight-on photograph and appears in the text of only some listings.

  4. Look at where the adjustment sits relative to your foot

    A strap across the instep and a strap across the toes do different jobs. This is visible from a top-down photograph and is described in the text of almost none of these listings.

  5. Once it arrives, work the closure ten times

    Fasten and unfasten it repeatedly. Buckles bind, elastic loses tension, and a slip-in heel either stays open or collapses. Ten repetitions will not wear anything out and will tell you which kind you have.

Elastic stretches and returns. A buckle moves and stays. Only one of those two is adjustment.

What it tells you (4)

  • Whether the fit can be changed after purchase, or whether the size chart is the whole of it.
  • How many independent adjustment points exist and where they sit.
  • Whether the listing told you any of this, or left it to the photographs.
  • Whether a slip-in heel structure holds its shape, which is the mechanism the word depends on.

What it does not tell you (4)

  • Nothing about your health or your feet, and this site draws no conclusion about either.
  • Nothing about whether a given closure suits you, which this site does not rank or advise on.
  • Nothing about durability, since ten repetitions is not a wear test.
  • Nothing about the two different reasons a listing may state no closure, which the text cannot distinguish.

Claim words this bears on (3)

  • Arch support — No standards body, trade association or regulator publishes a definition of arch support for footwear, and no listing in this catalog gives it a shape, a height or a test.
  • Memory foam and cushioning — Memory foam names a material family and nothing else: no density, no thickness, no rebound figure. Test methods for flexible cellular materials exist, and no listing in this catalog cites one.
  • Water resistant and waterproof — Published test methods for water repellency and penetration exist and are used across the textile trade. No listing in this catalog cites one, states a rating, or explains which of the two words it has chosen.

Sources (3)