I was recommended your way from my brother-in-law, John Sifferman, and hope you can share some wisdom & recommendations.
I'm looking for new footwear, both for daily living/walking and for work (I'm a teacher, so think Mary Jane style shoes), and I live in MA so I'm dealing with winter weather a good bit of the year. I'm frustrated with all the over-cushy, constricting footwear I've been told is best for my feet and am hoping to find better luck with simpler, minimalist shoes. I have a wide toe box, high instep, and narrow heel (size 10W women's). I've had plantar fasciitis issues in the past, but I haven't had a problem for the past few months (I have a 6 week old son, and my feet swelled so much during my 3rd trimester that I haven't worn much aside from flip-flops since the end of May, nor was I able to do much walking let alone anything else for the last 6 weeks or so of the pregnancy). The swelling was bad enough on one foot to cause some nerve pain, and although all the swelling went away after giving birth, I'm now discovering that anything more strenuous than a walk around the neighborhood has brought back the pain. My doctor thinks it's morton's neroma, a tissue growth around my nerves from the irritation of the swelling. Hopefully it goes away on its own, but in the meantime she advised me to find wider shoes to see if that helps. After living in little or no footwear for the summer, I'm not exactly crazy about sneakers or other overly-corrective shoes anymore. If anyone can point me in some good directions, I'd be grateful. I was already planning to go to a local store (www.evansonthecommon.com/womensfootwear.html) Saturday to see some brands in person, but I'm certainly open to other brand suggestions as well.
Thanks in advance!
The first thing I thought of when you said mary janes was Kigo footwear. http://www.kigofootwear.com I have never used them myself so I can't tell you if they are wide enough.