Wide Fitting Shoes

Wider women's shoes built the Calla way: room across the toe box over a standard-width heel. Your wide forefoot gets the space, your heel stays held and the shoe still looks like one you chose.

You know the moment a "wide" shoe lets you down. Either it gapes at the heel and your foot slides forward with every step, or it fits across the front but looks like a shoe you settled for rather than one you chose. For a wide foot, that has been the trade for years.

At Calla we build wide fitting shoes around a different idea. We widen the toe box, where a wide forefoot and a bunion need the room, and we keep the heel a standard width, where they do not. The room is targeted to the one part of the shoe that needs it, so the back of your foot stays held and you are not sizing up in length just to gain width across the front. This is the widest fitting we make: an EEE toe box, also written WW, over that standard heel.

Where the comfort actually happens is on the inside. We draw the toe box seam-free so nothing crosses a sensitive joint, and on many styles a soft moleskin stretch panel, our Hallux panel, sits in the lining right over the bunion. The outside, meanwhile, stays a normal shoe. We are a small team of women in the UK, our founder has bunions herself and we have every pair handmade in Portugal by master shoemakers, so these are decisions made by people who wear the shoes for the same reason you will.

Built for a wide foot, not a wider shoe

Every pair in this collection comes back to the same idea, the one Jenni landed on after years of wide fits that either slipped or rubbed: put the room where a wide foot needs it, and nowhere it does not.

• A heel that stays held, not one you walk out of. Most wider fitting shoes are made wide the whole way round, so the heel ends up as loose as the toe box and lifts off with every step. We put the width only in the toe box and keep the heel a standard width, the way we build every Calla shoe. Your forefoot gets the room it needs, the back of your foot stays held and you can walk without curling your toes to keep the shoe on.
• Room where your foot is actually wide, without sizing up. This is the widest fitting we make: an EEE toe box, also written WW, over the standard-width heel. It is built for a genuinely wide forefoot, so you buy your true length and get the width across the front. No more going up a size or two to gain room, only to end up in a shoe that is too long, slides forward and tips your toes into the end.
• Soft where your bunion sits, not stiff. A stiff interior is what rubs a bunion sore. We draw the toe box seam-free so there is nothing crossing the joint, and on many styles we set a soft moleskin stretch panel, our Hallux panel, into the lining directly over the bunion, so the inside gives exactly where you need it to. The leather and suede uppers sit on a lamb leather lining that moulds to your foot over the first few wears rather than holding a hard shape, so you are not breaking in a stiff shoe over a tender joint.
• Made by women who have bunions too. Calla is not a wide-fit rail bolted onto a high-street range. We are a small team of women in the UK, led by a founder who has lived with bunions for years and tries on every pair before it goes on sale, and we have our shoes handmade in Portugal by master shoemakers. The width, the seam placement, the panel over the joint: those are decisions made by people who reach for these shoes for the same reason you do.

Discover Our Wide Fitting Range: From Smart Courts to Comfy Trainers

Most of this collection is trainers, because they are what you reach for most days, but there is a smarter court and a flat boot here too, with a fuller range of each in their own collections.

• If you are on your feet all day, start with the trainers. The Star and Aurora styles sit on a cushioned, arch-supported footbed and lace up, so you can loosen them a little as your feet swell through the afternoon. And if your podiatrist has given you a custom orthotic, the footbed lifts straight out and yours drops in, so your foot is not crammed up against the upper the way it is in a shallow high-street trainer. See the wide fit trainers.
• When you want something smarter, the Ava court shows what we do with a heel. It is a low 5cm kitten, and the vamp, the part of the upper that sits over your foot, is cut higher at the sides than a normal court, so its edge sits behind your bunion rather than pressing across it. The heel sits low and is pitched so less of your weight presses forward onto the joint as you stand. Browse the wide fit courts.
• For colder months, the Alice is a flat leather boot with a zip, so you step in without forcing your foot past a tight opening, the part that hurts most when a joint is tender. It carries the same wide toe box as the rest of the collection. There are ankle and knee-high styles too, several with a stretch panel set into the toe, across our wider fit boots range.
• If the occasion calls for more than a kitten heel, the taller styles live with our wide fit heels. Each one is balanced on a platform under the toe, which lowers the angle your foot sits at, so less of your weight presses onto the bunion than in a bare stiletto. You get the evening heel without paying for it the next morning.

Not quite what you came for? For open styles in summer, the straps on our wide fit sandals are placed to sit beside the bunion rather than across it. And if your foot is wide but not quite this wide, remember this is our widest, EEE fitting: the wide toe box shoes run a touch narrower at E to EE, so you are not in more shoe than you need.

Still working out your fit? Our measuring guide walks you through finding your true length and width at home. To understand what is going on with your bunion first, about bunions covers the basics, and podiatric surgeon Ron McCulloch sets out what genuinely helps in his expert talk on stopping bunions getting worse.

Why Choose Calla?

• Fitting: EEE toe box (also written WW) over a standard-width heel
• Toe box: Drawn seam-free, with a soft moleskin Hallux stretch panel on many styles
• Footbed: Cushioned and arch-supported; removable on the trainers for custom orthotics
• Upper: European leather and suede
• Lining: Lamb leather
• Styles: Trainers, a low kitten-heel court and a flat boot
• Made in: Portugal, handmade by master shoemakers
• Suitable for: Wide feet, including wide feet with mild to moderate bunions, up to an EEE fitting

One honest note before you buy. This collection is built for wide feet up to an EEE fitting, not for severe bunions on very wide feet beyond that.

If you are not sure whether your foot is in range, send a photo and the measurement around the widest part of each foot to hello@callashoes.co.uk, and we will tell you before you order rather than after.

We would rather get you into the right pair, or point you elsewhere, than sell you the wrong one. Wide feet have spent long enough being squeezed or sized up. These were built to fit them properly.