Are Asian Feet Different?
Is the shape of an Asian foot different from a Western foot?
The luxury shoe brand Rupert Sanderson is banking on it with its new line that tailors to an Asian foot. The shoes will debut in its Hong Kong boutique next month.
The brand, is managed in Asia by Bruton Limited, a Hong Kong-based company headed by Bertrand Mak and Teresa Wong.
“We basically developed a new last [the mold on which a shoe is built] that is tailor-made for the Asian foot,” says Mr. Mak. “We’re trying to make a four-inch [10-centimeter] heel more comfortable.”
According to Mr. Mak, Asian feet are higher-arched and narrower than Wester feet. The custom mold will provide greater support for the instep, says Mr. Mak, and make the heel “feel considerably lower.”
This statement is contradictory to scientific facts, however.
“Asian feet tend to be slightly broader in the forefoot and they have a lower arch profile,” says Hong Kong podiatrist Alexandra Duff, who has been practicing for 15 years. In fact, she says, about 80% of Asians are flat-footed — more than any other ethnic group.
The fact that Mr. Mak failed to consult a podiatrist in making the mold and rather based his research upon consultation with friends and customers, makes for a non-technical approach.
As for the Rupert Sanderson mold? “You’re just putting a little build-up in the inside of the shoe, but it’s still a four-inch heel,” she says. “It’s like wearing a pair of Jimmy Choos with an insole in it.”
If I remember correctly, I read that Asian feet are very different due to the customary binding of the feet that was popular throughout past centuries. Using the binding method in order to stop the growth of feet would produce small feet for women, and was considered to be an object of great beauty. The Geishas practiced this.
A bandage, ten feet long and two inches wide was wrapped tightly around the foot, forcing the four small toes under the sole of the foot. This made the feet narrower but at the same time it made the feet shorter because it also forced the big toe and the heel closer together by bowing the arch of the foot. The bandage was tightened each day and the girl was put into progressively smaller and smaller sized shoes. The entire process usually took about two years at the end of which the feet were essentially dead and utterly useless. Binding the feet was the easy part, being bent so out of shape the feet required lots of core.
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If I remember correctly, binding tapes are not radioactive and has no power to genetically change someone’s foot shape. So, being abandoned for half a century the practice does not make our feet slim enough to be fitted into an A-width European shoes, very unfortunately.