Shoe Stretching

For all those people that mis-size their shoes "too tight", consider trying these out before abandoning hope.  I you do it right, you can stretch shoes .5 to 1 size in all the right places (Length and Width).  Amazon has a set of two for 16 bucks right now.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072HJBKQJ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Think they could work on approach shoes? My boulder x mids shrunk so could use a little stretch. Was going to take them to a cobbler but maybe this would last me longer 

Are you selling those shoe-stretchers?

The climbing shoe resolers are generally able to stretch the shoes, too. Though when I tried with a pair of testarossas, I was told that they didn’t have a shoe form small enough to fit into my shoes to begin with, so they couldn’t stretch them for me. 

The link you provided does not work

Michael Atlas wrote: No, just promoting them because I have stretched both approach shoes as well as various climbing shoes.  Careful with how much you stretch them.  What I do is stress the materials a little for a day or so and let them kind of conform to their new "norm", then if I still want to stretch them a bit more I keep the stretcher in and give them a few more turns the next day (As opposed to just going from 0-100% in the first go)

I bought a different type just now (the ones you linked weren't available to Canada) and will try these out on some climbing shoes I bought too small, as well as my approach shoes. Any other tips?

Anyone else try cans and lacrosse balls? That’s what I’ve been doing and it works really well 

Michael Atlas wrote: For all those people that mis-size their shoes "too tight", consider trying these out before abandoning hope.  I you do it right, you can stretch shoes .5 to 1 size in all the right places (Length and Width).  Amazon has a set of two for 16 bucks right now.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072HJBKQJ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These work good, my feet are more than 1\2 size different so I always need help breaking shoes in.

I don't think you can significantly stretch your shoes in length with any stretcher.
They usually have a thick rubber rand and over time it returns to the original shape.
I had some success by softening the rand so I drilled tiny holes in places where the shoe is tight.
For me it is on the outer side of the foot and so the foot moves forward and the shoe becomes virtualy bigger.
Good about this method is you stretch left and right shoe different and only on spots where it's tight. I don't recomend stretching the rubber for heel tension, it will change mechanics of the shoe.

I did this to my Anasazi Blanco:

Your results may vary with the shoe as well. I tried those stretchers on a pair of Scarpa Instinct VS shoes; didn’t help at all.

I've tried them on a couple pair, didn't work

Just use your shoes that need to be stretched as your warm up shoes at the gym. This way, your feet get beat up and 'broken in' while your small shoes are getting broken in. Works for me, even though it does hurt. Or just wear them at the house while youre sitting around. 

I wear mine in the hot tub.  Does the trick.

Having 2 different sized feet I can say it's easy to stretch one shoe a half size but you do have to keep the stretcher in the shoe between uses for a few weeks. You can't go too far right away or it just bulges the Rand.

Nathan.H wrote: I wear mine in the hot tub.  Does the trick.

It works.  It doesn't.

I don't care!! It's a hot tub!!

Nathan.H wrote: I wear mine in the hot tub.  Does the trick.

I might have to verify this myself

• Has anyone tried this with synthetic shoes? Any luck? 

Timothy Prime wrote:

• Has anyone tried this with synthetic shoes? Any luck? 

From what I've gathered, synthetics don't stretch at all. They may mold to your foot, but they're not going to stretch like leather shoes will. 

Ma Ja wrote:

From what I've gathered, synthetics don't stretch at all. They may mold to your foot, but they're not going to stretch like a leather shoes will. 

No but you can loosen them so the pain isn't as bad

Have used an inflatable plumbers test ball with some success depending on the issue. Various sizes and extension for inflating available. 

This thread may start taking a turn...