American Demographics, May, 1997
by Diane Crispell
Comfort may be making a comeback, but many women are still willing to endure the pain of high heels. In 1996, half of women surveyed by Porter/Novelli of Chicago said they wear heels on a daily basis, down from 60 percent in 1986. Twenty-one percent never wear them, but another 25 percent wear them sometimes.
Anyone who’s spent a day in high heels knows they don’t feel good. Among those who don’t wear heels every day, 55 percent say it’s because the shoes hurt. Even among those who wear heels daily, 72 percent agree that they “cause more discomfort than other shoes,” yet 42 percent wear them despite the pain. Seventy-three percent of those who wear heels daily say they do so to be “in fashion.” Forty-seven percent admit they wear heels to make their legs look slimmer, 43 percent to make them taller, and 40 percent to look good for men.
Nine in ten women who buy heels make sure the shoes fit properly, but this doesn’t alleviate all of the pain. Forty-three percent of women say they’ve gotten blisters from high heels, 39 percent report pain in the balls of their feet, 23 percent each report corns and calluses, and 22 percent have experienced back pain. Even so, just 20 percent of heel wearers cushion their feet with insoles, and only 6 percent use corn, callus, or bunion pads. After getting shoes that fit, the second most common remedy for high-heel discomfort is to change shoes frequently, cited by 47 percent of heel wearers.
Porter/Novelli conducted the nationally representative telephone survey of 1,001 women aged 18 and older for two organizations with a vested interest in Americans’ feet-Dr. Scholl’s and the American Podiatric Medical Association. For more information, contact Andy Horrow at (312) 856-8826