My new job is at a construction site, and my old steel-toed non-slip workboots had finally given up the ghost after seven years of hard use. Now, I got those old boots via my first company out of college, which simply passed around a mail-order catalogue to its new hires with the allowed makes and models circled; we just picked out our own size in our preferred color or style and voila! two weeks later–workboots. The set of workboots I owned prior to that had been issued to me by the Army…you see a trend here..? In short, I did not realize what an ordeal buying my own steel-toed, non-slip workboots was going to be.
Now, I am not an unusually small woman. I am five feet eight inches tall, with a medium build and average bone structure. My feet are a very generic women’s standard width American size 8. I rarely to never have real trouble finding shoes I want or need that fit my feet, regardless of whether we are talking athletic shoes, dress shoes, casual shoes–you name it. The picture captioning this blog? I had no trouble at all finding a pair of those kind of boots that fit, as you can see.
After having spent the afternoon shopping for a new pair of steel-toed non-slip workboots, I am being forced to come to one of the following conclusions:
1. Women do not work on construction sites.
2. Men are vetted for construction jobs based on shoe size.
3. Gender stereotyping by the retail industry is alive and well.
I found exactly one line of steel-toed non-slip footgear for women, charmingly referred to as the “Amy” line; however, they are not boots. They are what is known as “factory shoes,” which are fine for manufacturing floors but not for construction sites–essentially, they’re not boots; they look like running shoes.
So, I was finally forced to buy the absolute smallest size workboot I could find, which is a men’s size 7. Whatever my foot size is in men’s boots, it is shorter by at least an inch than a men’s size 7–but I can keep the damn things on, at least, and that’s clearly the best I am going to be able to do on short notice. I’ve put in an e-mail to a friend of mine who works in the safety department of a previous job, who will hopefully provide me with some links to online ordering companies specializing in steel-toed non-slip workboots like whatever company it was that provided the boots for my first job out of college. But since I need these boots next week, for now, I am stuck with boots that do not fit and will probably rub my feet raw and fail to contribute to my gracefulness in navigating trip hazards on the construction site.
<—-pissed OFF!
It’s like you reached into my brain and pulled out this experience. We even have the same shoe size.
I used to buy the Kane style Brahma boots at WalMart (I know, I know). Not only were they steel toed and slip resistant, but waterproof too!
Unfortunately, for some reason they stopped stocking size 6 1/2, and I can’t even find any other kind of Brahma boots on the internet. That’s including the WalMart website.
So I finally broke down and bought the women’s variant, the Kate boots. THEY. ARE. SO. UNCOMFORTABLE. AND. UGLY. If I plan on wearing them I have to put band-aids on my ankles or else they rub raw in a matter of minutes. HATE HATE HATE.
Are these any good?
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=458997
Skechers has some pretty decent work boots; at least, I think so. I buy them but I don’t wear them on construction sites so they don’t really have to work that hard.
Do you ever travel to the UK or do you have friends there? On http://www.safetybootsuk.co.uk they’ve got safety boots for women.
http://www.dmusastore.com/
Look under “Industrial” – I think everything in that category is steel toed. You can then limit the range by available size. You probably want a UK 6.
See, e.g., http://www.dmusastore.com/pc-2581-16-fx-st.aspx or http://www.dmusastore.com/pc-2066-16-new-icon-7-eye-boot.aspx
Not cheap, but should last at least 7 years.
I’m pretty sure that the official standard conversion actually is women’s size-1=men’s size.
I tend to think that having separate men’s and women’s categories is stupid, and just buy “men’s” shoes. They last longer and are more comfortable. However, I understand that this isn’t an option for the tiny-footed.
Thank you all for the links!
Karley, I am sorry that you share my pain–you will laugh to hear that the men’s size 7 that I ended up buying is indeed a Brahma.
I mean, if I gotta temporarily buy boots that don’t fit, I’m gonna buy the cheapest ones, dammit.
Valerie, I wish that was the convention because then the men’s size 7s would fit me, but unfortunately they don’t–it must be more than -1 (though I have no idea how much more). I really don’t have unnaturally tiny feet, lol. They’re quite average!
Lisa -I think you might just have to go down -2. I’m a women’s 8.5/9 and a men’s six to seven usually fits me, depending on the brand.
Size conversion table: http://www.i18nguy.com/l10n/shoes.html
Scroll down a bit.
I think Kyso is right about the sizing. I’m a women’s size 10 and my husband’s size 8 shoes usually fit me fine.
Dang. I’m a size 6. Good thing I don’t need steel toed non-slip work boots, cause it seems certain I’ll never find them. OTOH, you are at least tall enough you can buy regular pants. Most stores don’t stock a 26″ inseam, even in the petites section. (And no I can’t wear girls pants, I have hips).
I feel your pain! I work on a construction site in a very cold place, so I need to find not only steel-toed non-slip workboots in a women’s size 6, but insulated ones with soles that won’t freeze slippery-death-trap solid the minute the temperature drops below 0.
I remember going into the third or fourth store on my wild boot chase, explaining this to the woman who worked there, and her looking at me with pity and saying, “No wonder you’re having trouble!” She couldn’t help me either, but after spending a whole day searching and eventually ending up at the massive Army Surplus SURPLUS Store, I finally lucked into a pair of steel-toed Timberlands in my size that are comfy and warm and have held up well. I think they might be men’s boots after all, though.
Almost every woman I work with has had the same experience, and many have been suffering bruised and blistered or freezing cold feet all season because of it.
Here’s an actual women’s steel-toe workboot.
http://www.redwingshoes.com/productdetails.aspx?prodid=1182
Pro: Red Wing makes durable, comfortable, high-quality work shoes that last a loong time.
Con: They’re a little pricey.
I was going to say Redwings too. Those were my roofing shoes. A little pricey but well worth it. Also, try Cabella’s. Everything in the store has a life-time guarantee. I just returned my 2 year old fishing pole and they took it, no problem without a receipt. And my new fishing pole is awesome by the way…
I have found Mark’s Work Wearhouse to have a reasonable selection of steeltoes for women in the past, but I’m not sure what they carry currently or whether they have stores in the US.
Americans have gender segregated shoe sizes? How bizarre! Feet are feet!
Your post reminded me of this.
NO PRAKTIKL SHOOS FOR YOO. GURLS FEETS IS FOR PRITTY.
I would definitely recommend Cabela’s, too. I worked there for a little over two years and they are super helpful and stock a pretty good variety of women’s stuff. Plus, like Atalised said, they’ll take anything back if it doesn’t work.
No helpful links (sorry) but my (male) boss is quite short and has small feet.
Try finding safety boots for men in a UK size 6.
Not at all easy.