Jul 19, 2012

Stretching shoes with ice WORKS


A while ago, I bought a pair of Tory Burch Reva flats. I tried them on a few times in the store and thought the leather was soft and should be comfortable. A lot of people said the back elastic could hurt the ankles overtime. So I sized up half a size, thinking I am all set and ready to go.

Wow, was I ever wrong. I tried wearing them around the house and they are the first pair of shoes that hurt my feet so bad. I don't have particularly wide feet and I believe these Reva are made for people with narrow feet. 

I wore these flats with thick winter socks in the house and I got blisters!! I was heart-broken as they were bought in Toronto on my last trip home a month ago and could not be returned. I love the style of the flats and I'm determined to make them work.

While I was looking for ways to stretch the shoes, came across Michelle Phan(the youtube beauty guru)'s youtube video seen here.


All you need is 2 sandwich-sized ziplog bags and water


and your shoes which are too small/narrow


fill the bags with 1/4 water and position the bags in the shoes where you want to stretch


put shoes in freezer for a few hours until ice is formed

Wait 10 mins after you take the shoes out from the freezer and try them on. 

I find my Reva flats are much more tolerable to wear. They are stretched but yet leather is not damaged at all. I'm happy to report that these flats are ready to hit the streets. Don't expect a miracle and I expect some pain involved but not as severe as before. If you have shoes which are half a size or a size smaller, I highly recommend to try this method. Good luck!

21 comments:

  1. Thanks so much...this is great info! I had a pair of TB espadrilles that I finally had to get rid of because of the elastic back rubbing my heel. :o( and I can usually suck it up for fashion, but these were just too painful.

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    1. you're very welcome. I read that some people find the TB elastics are a bit tight and they use a pair of scissors to cut part of the elastic and that helps(think they cut from the inside of the shoe and sew it back afterwards). I know, looking pretty is one thing but suck up for pain is a totally different story.

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  2. Sorry to hear that these shoes have been hurting your feet. Have you tried taking them to a reputable cobbler to get them stretched out? They may also be able to remove the elastic at the back or at least replace it with a looser elastic. If you are in Toronto, try Kaner's in Yorkville - they can work magic!

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    1. thanks for recommending! But my problem with these shoes are not the elastic part(not yet, at least....). It's the width of the shoes near the front. With the ice stretching the leather, it really helps enormously and I was able to wear these out the first time out.

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  3. ive tried the ice trick before and it has stretched it in terms of width... on another pair, it sort of damaged my heels but it wasn't made of leather so my fault!
    i find that a lot of the shoes with the elastic are always too tight in the back!

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    1. I'm glad the ice trick did wonders for my narrow-width Tory Burch. It stretched the width without damaging anything. Yes, those shoes with the elastic are tricky.

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  4. wow this is an AWESOME trick!!!! i need to try this!

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    1. I was amazed when I first heard of the trick too. I have always been using the regular shoe-stretcher but doesn't help much.

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  5. The ice trick is hit and miss, but I hear that it works better with leather than other materials. I should try it with my Tory Burch shoes, they tend to be uncomfortable after a few hours.

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    1. yes, I think the ice trick works best on leather. With non-leather material, will probably need to go through a few times and see if the material will stretch. Definitely give it a try with your TB.

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  6. Hi lovely, thanks for visiting my blog :)
    This could save one or two pairs of shoes of mine from the bin, so cool that this actually works! Definitely intrigued enough to give it a try.
    Mel x

    http://melswallofmirrors.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. definitely give it a try with your shoes. No harm done to the leather. It won't damage it, that's the best part.

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  7. your blog is amazing! found you on bloggers unite and followed...would love if you would support and follow my blog back :)

    www.allthatisprettyx.blgospot.co.uk

    xxxx

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  8. you're very welcome! I'm so glad I'm finally able to wear these out without blisters!

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  9. wow! thank you so much for the post!!! this is extremely helpful! and the fact that it doesn't damage the shoe is also a big big plus!
    gah, breaking into shoes is very annoying...and painful T_T converses are the absolute worst!

    celebrate with us! join our 1 yr anniversary giveaway!

    alex @ carouselstreet.com

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    1. thank you for stopping by! You guys have an awesome blog, definitely following you guys :)

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  10. thanks for sharing this!
    i just got a pair of flats that i need to break in. will try this. ;)

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    1. yes, definitely give this ice trick a try. I'm happy to report no more blisters!

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  11. Ahhh I almost have this pairs of shoe ^^
    But I decided to take the others one :)
    And yeah stretching with Ice cubes really work...
    Nice post dear ^^

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    1. the fact that I have wanted these gorgeous flats for a couple of months and finally got them and so disappointed to find such flats sooooooooo uncomfortable. Glad I tried the ice trick and IT WORKS. So happy!

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