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I hope someday they make women’s shoes in sizes greater than 41, so that I can recommend them to my trans friends that have 42+ feet. It’s not really very profi

I hope someday they make women’s shoes in sizes greater than 41, so that I can recommend them to my trans friends that have 42+ feet. It’s not really very profitable to market size 42 to women, and shoe retailers just don’t bother to make them at all, rather than charging more! so I always have a superbly difficult time finding good fashion recommendations in the shoe space. Disappointed to see them IPOing without considering a wider size range, but maybe the IPO will make them more inclusive. (In the meantime, Rothy’s is a classy alternative available up to 44, iirc.) ps. Yes, I know this is HN, but it’s such an absurdly difficult space that if I can help a single trans woman reading this comment, then it was worth the risk of being attacked for caring. Fashion is often high tech these days too. With custom-to-order clothing and fast fashion normality, there’s no excuses for retailers who don’t extend their size range anymore. It’s just that lots of techy hackers aren’t aware of the market bias. I’ve been studying fashion for a couple decades and there are insanely great innovations that I don’t post to HN because we’re not mature enough yet. Hooray for Allbirds’ offering an opportunity to talk about one of my tech interests safely :)

babelfish 5y ago
How does the Allbirds Men’s line differ from the Allbirds Women’s line? All of their shoes look pretty much the same to me, could your trans friends just order a 42+ shoe from the Men’s line?
- floatingatoll 5y ago
  I have no idea. I didn't think to check their Men's line. The typical variation is that "typically women's" colorways are simply not offered in men's, so if you want a shoe that has any sort of red hues (such as pink, purple, lavender, lilac, wine, maroon, etc) then you're out of luck, because most retailers only offer "typically men's" colorways in their men's sizes. You'll also see stylistic variations, heel size variations, and "these shoes are intended for use with or without socks" variations. Still. I'll go check now, though, and I feel kind of dumb for not thinking to look sooner. Thank you for the pointer.
  - floatingatoll 5y ago
    Nope. This entire shoe is not offered in Men's Allbirds at all, and it's the one I was asked to find: https://www.allbirds.com/products/womens-tree-breezers https://www.allbirds.com/products/womens-tree-breezers It's a shoe shape called "Flats" that only exists in Women's, it comes in colors that are totally unlike their Men's shoe shapes and colors in the closest (it's not very close) equivalent offered: https://www.allbirds.com/products/mens-wool-loungers-tamalpais https://www.allbirds.com/products/mens-wool-loungers-tamalpa... This is pervasive and industry-wide, but I'm still surprised that Allbirds fell prey to it. I would have expected better of them, based on their marketing and general love from buyers. Oh well.
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babelfish 5y ago

How does the Allbirds Men’s line differ from the Allbirds Women’s line? All of their shoes look pretty much the same to me, could your trans friends just order a 42+ shoe from the Men’s line?

floatingatoll 5y ago
I have no idea. I didn't think to check their Men's line. The typical variation is that "typically women's" colorways are simply not offered in men's, so if you want a shoe that has any sort of red hues (such as pink, purple, lavender, lilac, wine, maroon, etc) then you're out of luck, because most retailers only offer "typically men's" colorways in their men's sizes. You'll also see stylistic variations, heel size variations, and "these shoes are intended for use with or without socks" variations. Still. I'll go check now, though, and I feel kind of dumb for not thinking to look sooner. Thank you for the pointer.
- floatingatoll 5y ago
  Nope. This entire shoe is not offered in Men's Allbirds at all, and it's the one I was asked to find: https://www.allbirds.com/products/womens-tree-breezers https://www.allbirds.com/products/womens-tree-breezers It's a shoe shape called "Flats" that only exists in Women's, it comes in colors that are totally unlike their Men's shoe shapes and colors in the closest (it's not very close) equivalent offered: https://www.allbirds.com/products/mens-wool-loungers-tamalpais https://www.allbirds.com/products/mens-wool-loungers-tamalpa... This is pervasive and industry-wide, but I'm still surprised that Allbirds fell prey to it. I would have expected better of them, based on their marketing and general love from buyers. Oh well.

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