THE SOCIETY OF SHOE FITTERS


S


hoe fitting? Does it still exist? It most certainly does. National Shoe Fitting Week an SSF initiative to promote shoe fitting and good customer service, was tremendously successful for all the shops that took part, all reporting a very busy week in the lead up to Easter. President Ellie Dickins asked that we pass on ‘A big THANK YOU to all those who donated to the event and joined us in spreading the fitting and service message from the SSF Council.’


The Society of Chiropodists & Podiatrists /


College of Podiatry were pleased to endorse this initiative and posters were distributed to their 11,100 members – which amounts to a lot of publicity. Secretary Laura tells us: Lots of 'their people’ are now working with ‘our people' so the circle is complete. When you think how many clients the average podiatrist has, this amounts to a lot of recommendations! We were also pleased that several chainstores also expressed an interest to join in – Clinkard’s, Brantano etc., all of whom we hope will join us next year to make the event grow still further.


Running a nationwide campaign is not easy without a big budget, and the S.S.F. are purely reliant on goodwill, donations and lots of pro- activity from the industry. However small the acorn sewn in 2013 was, it was a strong shoot in 2014 and hopefully will become a sturdy sapling in 2015! It is infuriating that so many trade businesses employ PR and Marketing Companies most of whom were not informed that the event was happening and were contacting the SSF only the week before the event, leaving them little time to do prep or maximise on the lead up publicity window. If you are paying big bucks to retain an advertising or PR agency then it pays to keep them informed about trade news. They don’t simply work within the shoe trade or on one account, and cannot presume to know what is happening – you need to tell them so they earn your money! If they help us to shout about you, it’s good all round.


This event has proved that networking with our


organisation all has a knock-on effect. The dust has hardly settled and many will be chopping off the tops of their posters and keeping them up in the months to come as they are still relevant, but If you have any ideas or suggestions for next year that you are prepared to share, or simply want to be involved, do get in touch - it's never too early, and better late than never.


Due to this campaign the S.S.F. are now working


far more closely with the charity Diabetes UK. It is an organisation that we have always promoted as this disease is now a fast growing problem. Eyes and feet of a diabetic are particularly vulnerable. We have always taught students about the importance of taking special care of a diabetic foot, but now we have a page devoted to this condition on our website with hyperlinks directly to the charity.


If you have not QUALIFIED to fit correctly


then this may prick your conscience to do so, or at least train your staff with the SSF. You need to sell shoes that won’t come back - to people who will! Most diabetics refer to Diabetes UK as their main information resource and naturally their recommendation of SSF member’s counts for a lot.


Julie Byron from Diabetes U.K. recently told the


Sohealthy Conference at Salford University that ‘6,000 people with diabetes have an amputation annually, 80% die within 5 years of amputation and 50% die in 2 years’. The cost of healing one ulcer is reported to be £3,500 but ‘a neuropathic patient is a patient for life’ (J.Ulbrecht) and will cost the NHS approximately £85,000 per person. These are scary statistics and even the authorities know it is the tip of the iceberg.


In fact the main topic of conversation in the


health service is obesity and diabetes – one is often associated with the other. Obesity creates numerous health problems costing the NHS a fortune and health professionals agree that one of the worst areas hit by both conditions are the feet.


Ill-fitting shoes are causing massive


problems. The S.S.F. has found its voice and informed many that there is no legal obligation only a moral obligation to know about feet and footwear to sell shoes. The authorities are amazed at the lack of legislation, control and training, but are beginning to understand why they are seeing the problems. The fact is that:


1 in 5 children in Reception Class, 1 in 3 – 11-12


year olds and a quarter of men and women are obese.


If you are putting tremendous weight on feet


they will spread and become flaccid to carry the load. Arches are stretched to capacity and become painful and nerve endings in the plantar surface of the foot (sole) become painful too.


Shoes are therefore being made in wider fittings to compensate and many cheaply made


Written by Laura West, SSF Secretary. For more information about Qualified Shoe Fitters, Independent Retailers and National Shoe Fitting Week go online: www.shoefitters-uk.org


MAY 2014 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • 17


shoes are dangerous as the construction and materials are inferior to bring the price down and cannot take the strain of supporting our weight whilst walking, so they become misshapen and sloppy.


Q. How many very overweight people do you


see wearing cheap trainers, or non-fitted items of footwear like rubber clogs, flip flops and dead flat ballerina style shoes –all made for occasional wear and not expected to last long or stay in shape.


A. Thousands, because despite availability of


appropriate footwear, it’s difficult to buy specialist brands on the high street. There are some great wide fitting shoe brands out there (see our Associate Members), but high streets consist of own brand chainstores. Therefore the public do not realise what they could be wearing - and usually with a free fitting service from many independent shops.


The irony of this is that those who have slight,


bony frames and traditionally buy AA or AAA fitting shoes are almost finding it almost impossible and it is keeping the SSF helpline very busy. If you are a brand or shop providing footwear in these width fittings please let us know, as we are desperate to recommend shops and brands who sell narrow fittings.


Our feet continually change in shape


throughout our lifetime, but still people are bogged down by what numbers it says on the gauge and think that they have always been a size XYZ - when a gauge is merely the starting point. Gauges all vary in calibration, but they are not calculators that will all say the same thing because they are only slightly relevant to the product being fitted - which is why a qualified shoe fitter is so vital. No two pairs of feet are the same in shape or proportion.


Working with these well respected charities and


organisations means that we are able to educate far more people which in turn is helping to promote everyone involved with the Society of Shoe Fitters.


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