Have you ever had shoes stretched?

tradhead

I'm drooling over a pair of leather knee-high boots on sale but they're only available in a 5.

I'd be a 5 in heels, but closer to 6 in flats so I'm going to try them on and hope for the best, but I'm wondering if they would be worth my while to buy and have stretched at a shoemaker's, if it's only half a size or so of a difference. Anybody ever done this?

bearhugs

I've never had it done by a shoemaker but I have done it myself with a pair of woolly socks and a hairdryer. How tight are they on you? If it's just a half size too small I would go for it and have them professionally stretched. I believe you can buy some sort of spray to stretch leather as well, haven't used it but might be worth a look into.

I've tried: both by a shoemaker and by following all the youtube suggestions I could find (mostly variations of fill a bag of water in your boots and freeze so that it'll expand and stretch the leather). Neither worked at all for me - no better than the usual leather break-in streth. Nor did the suffering... Physical or €€€! Sorry...

tradhead

Thanks a million for the replies! If I end up getting them and trying it out, I'll update here

pinkypinky

Stuffing wet newspaper into the toes is another trick.

looksee

Have tried most methods (I have one foot just a tiny bit bigger than the other so only need a bit of toe space) and none of them have worked.