How to Stretch Shoes for Wide feet At Home: Paid and Free Techniques

If it's still tight, you can repeat this step one more time. Remember to let it cool in between blow drying!People with wide feet always have problems when buying shoes. Aside from choosing the design, they have to worry about the size, especially since most brands have limited or don’t have any sizes for people with wide feet.

There are also times when your old shoes don’t fit your feet anymore. When your weight increases, the width of your feet also changes.

Is there a way for you to stretch your shoes so it would fit your wide feet? Fortunately, there are a lot of ways on how to stretch shoes for wide feet. To help out, we have summed up some of the most tried-and-tested tips for you.

How to Stretch Shoes for Wide Feet

Stretching shoes for wide feet is not as difficult as it may seem. You can either spend money to do so or use DIY techniques. Whichever among the two you opt for, the tips we will provide are all simple and easy.

The Paid Options

If you have enough budget and don’t have enough time to do at-home shoe-stretching methods, the following tips are highly recommended: 

1. Shoe Stretchers

The market has a lot of shoe stretchers available, both online and in retail stores. What is better is that using a shoe stretcher is not too difficult. However, if it is your first time doing it, we will help you use it properly.

You have to remember that a shoe stretcher must be used carefully because they are usually made from plastic. It may also damage your shoes if you don’t know how to use it.

Here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Soften the inside material of the shoes with the help of a shoe stretch spray. Do note, though, that you have to test the liquid before you use it.
2. Rotate the stretcher’s wheel counter-clockwise and make sure that the back part is inside the shoes.
3. Carefully put the shoe stretcher inside the shoes and turn the wheel clockwise. The front part of the stretcher will start expanding while you are turning the knob at the end of the stretcher.
4. Don’t stretch the shoes too much or it will be damaged.
5. Leave the shoe stretcher inside the shoes for 12 to 16 hours before removing it.

2. Professional Help

Well, most people don’t want to do the stretching by themselves because they are afraid that the shoes might be damaged. If you don’t want to do it on your own, you can always ask a professional for help.

There are tons of professional cobblers around your neighborhood and they can help you stretch your shoes with ease. They often use machines which apply heat or pressure to your shoes to stretch it.

Free or Low-Cost Methods

If you prefer not to spend money just to stretch your shoes and fit your wide feet, there are free or low-cost ways. Low cost in the sense that you might need some household items.

1. Wearing Shoes at Home

Method 1:

This is one of the easiest and no-cost ways to stretch your shoes at home. Although it would take time for the shoes to adjust to the size of your feet, this is effective.

Apparently, you just need to wear your shoes a few hours daily either before going out of the house or upon arriving from work. As the shoes are worn, the material will adjust to the size of your feet slowly.

Method 2:

You can also put on thick socks and wear your tight shoes. Then, blow dry the tight area for about 20-30 seconds.

If it's still tight, you can repeat this step one more time. Remember to let it cool down in between blow drying!

Source: Youtube

2. Using Socks

If you don’t want to wait for a couple of days and you want to wear the shoes immediately, the sock technique is worthy to try. Here are the things that you should do:

1. You need to prepare a few pair of socks and roll them out. You can also wet the socks before rolling them into balls.
2. Start stuffing the rolled socks to your shoes. Do the same with the other shoe.
3. Wait for 12 to 24 hours and you can see the difference.

3. Inserting Newspapers

If you don’t want to use your socks to stretch your shoes, newspapers can be a good alternative. Here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Prepare some old newspapers and wet them.
2. Scrunch them all together and form a small ball.
3. Tuck them all inside the shoes, but make sure the shoes will not be deformed.
4. Repeat the process with the other shoe.
5. Wait for the newspapers to dry before you remove them from the shoes.

4. Using the Water and Freezer Method

This is one of the simplest methods you can use to stretch your shoes and it is pretty effective. You should never do this on leather shoes, though, as it might damage the material. Let’s proceed with the step-by-step method on how to do this:

Source: Youtube

1. Get a plastic bag or Ziploc. Fill at least one-third of the bag for it to fit the shoes.
2. Close the bag and stuff it on the shoes. Don’t push the plastic bag with water too far; just place it around the middle of the shoes.
3. Put the shoes inside the freezer and once the water freezes, the shoes will also expand.
4. Once the water freezes, remove the shoes from the freezer and wait for 20 to 30 minutes. Wait for the ice to melt before removing the plastic bag.
5. Do this with the other shoe.

5. Using a Potato

With this technique, just pick a potato which is not too big but make sure it will fit inside your shoes. Peel the skin and put it inside your shoes. Leave it overnight and once it is dry, you can check your shoes and wear them.

Source: Youtube

6. Spraying With Alcohol Solution

Alcohol is not only meant for cleaning and disinfection because it can also be used for stretching your shoes. One critical thing to remember is never to use pure alcohol, as it might damage the inside of your shoes. With that in mind, here’s what you have to do:

1. Get a spray bottle and put alcohol inside it. Make sure that you only fill half of the bottle.
2. Add water in the spray bottle and shake it.
3. Spray the solution inside the shoes and wear them immediately and up to at least 20 minutes.
4. If you don’t have a spray bottle, you can just mix the alcohol and water in any container and use your hands to rub it directly on the parts of the shoes you want to stretch.

Final Thoughts

Every person has different feet sizes, and not every shoe manufacturer can meet every customer’s needs. That is why experts have found ways on how to stretch shoes for wide feet.

The most effective and easiest ways to do so are buying a shoe stretcher and letting a professional do it for you. Nonetheless, there are techniques you can do at the comfort of your home. You don’t even need to spend a lot of money because almost all the materials needed can be found in your house.