If you don’t need wide shoes, you can stop reading this, but if you have wide or extra wide feet, you best pay attention. Extra-large sizes are not adequate to keep you comfortable if you have wide feet that need 4E wide shoes as well, and here’s why.

Shoe size is important, and while it is hard to find shoes in extra-large sizes, it is not the only thing that matters. Width, for example, makes just as much of an impact on comfort as size does, yet width does not get the same attention as size by any stretch.

However, width is important both to comfort and function. Consider a situation in which you needed to wear work boots. If your shoes or boots were too narrow, you would be working against yourself. Your shoes or boots would be painfully pinched your feet and toes and maybe even your ankles, depending on how tight they really were.

This doesn’t even say anything about a need for steel toe or safety toe boots. Wearing safety toe boots that are not wide enough is circumscribed by the 8th amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. That is to say, it is both a cruel punishment and an unusual one.

Safety toes that are not wide enough will grate your toes raw; they’re designed to protect you, but if they are not wide enough, they will actually predispose you to injury instead of helping to protect you against it. Beyond that, there is the general discomfort you will suffer if you squeeze into shoes or boots that are too small.

Let’s say you need a pair of snow boots or hiking shoes or boots for hunting in the winter. Guess what, just because they don’t have a steel toe does not free you from the need to get a pair in the proper width. Guess what they do have to do - they have to keep you warm, at least in the winter. They also might be waterproof, so we’ll look at both of these conditions.

First off, if you squeeze into a pair of boots, it won’t just be uncomfortable for you. It will be uncomfortable for the boot. Your feet will be exerting pressure on the boot that will stress the seams and membranes. That means that waterproofing will wear out much faster in a pair of inadequately sizes shoes or boots than in those of the proper size.

At the same time, if the boots need to keep you warm but they are too tight, forget about insulation. Boots aren’t heated; your blood vessels are heated, and if you constrict your toes, then your toes will get cold.

Are you convinced that you need to invest in some 4E wide shoes but just don’t know where to get them? If so, the simple answer is to take your shopping to XLfeet.com, where you’ll find not only boots and shoes in extended sizes but also extra wide widths. In fact, it’s their specialty. Visit their website today and you may never have to experience any of the unfortunate situations detailed in this article.