What to do if your sneakers are too tight and too small: how to stretch them in length and width at home, how to wear sneakers with rubber toes, how to make them a size larger

It is very important that the shoes fit. This is especially true when choosing sports sneakers, which should not be felt on your feet at all. Sometimes it happens that when you try them on in a store, a pair of brand new sneakers fits like a glove and fits your foot perfectly, but the first time you wear them for a long time, you begin to feel significant discomfort. The shoes turn out to be too small. If you have a question: your sneakers are too tight - what to do, use our tips and videos.

Important: do not endure pain under any circumstances by continuing to wear obviously uncomfortable cross-country shoes. If the fingers are squeezed too hard, it can cause serious injury to the nail beds. Remember that there are several methods to stretch your sneakers and get rid of the problem.

Of course, you can return the product to the store. But this is only possible if the statutory deadlines have not yet expired and the purchase receipt has been preserved. Otherwise, you will have to independently study all sorts of ways to stretch narrow sneakers, choose the best one and put it into practice.

How to stretch your sneakers

Studying this point in detail will allow you to know how to make sneakers that are small, wearable and comfortable for you. Fortunately, there are enough methods. Choose the one that suits you. Perhaps it contains a real salvation for the feet.

Boiling water

This method is quite common and effective. It is suitable for those for whom the purchased shoes press on the sides, and, accordingly, who are looking for an answer to the question of how to stretch leather sneakers in width. It consists of the following:

Pour boiling water over the top and inside of the shoes.
Let cool slightly.
Put on your shoes and walk around in your sneakers until they dry out.

Important: only leather products can be stretched in this way. If sports shoes are made of artificial materials, such as leatherette, this method cannot be used.

Newspapers

The method using waste paper does not allow the sneakers to stretch significantly in length. It is suitable only for those situations where the shoes do not press too hard.

Hold the product over a steaming pan for about a minute.
Stuff your shoes tightly with newspapers soaked in water. At the same time, make sure that the natural original shape does not change.
Wait for the newspapers inside to dry. Remove the paper.

Important: the sneakers must dry on their own at room temperature. Drying them with a hairdryer or under the influence of direct sunlight is unacceptable. There is a high risk that with additional exposure, the materials from which the shoes are made will be significantly deformed.

Freezer

This method is quite popular among people and is effective when you need to lengthen sports shoes a little. And if none of the above methods helped solve the problem, and the question of how to break in sneakers with rubber toes remains relevant, follow the instructions:

Fill small bags with water one third or half (depending on the size of the shoes being stretched). Tie them tightly.
Place two bags in each product: one in the heel area, and the second in the toe area.
Place the shoes in the freezer and leave them there for 12 hours.
After this time, take out your sneakers or sneakers. Wait for the ice to melt until the bags can be removed and do so.

An important point that needs to be controlled is the equal amount of water in the bags that you will put in the right and left products. An imbalance can cause the shoe to stretch unevenly. And this in itself will lead to new inconveniences when using shoes.

Wear wet bulky socks

To use another effective method that allows you to spread your boots a little wider, you will need ordinary terry socks. How to break in tight new sneakers this way? This is done like this:

Wet your socks with warm water. Pull it over your legs.
Walk in shoes that need to be increased in size for 2-3 hours.
Take off your socks and put your sneakers back on. It should become much more convenient.

Advice: if you want to achieve greater success, you need to not only walk around the apartment in socks and sneakers, but also do physical exercises to train your feet. For example, squatting with your heels off the floor. This will lead to additional stretching of the product materials.

Alcohol or vodka

This method will definitely be suggested to those who seek advice: what to do if your sneakers are too tight. Ordinary vodka will allow you to soften the material and stretch it slightly wider:

Moisten a small piece of clean cloth generously with alcohol. Rub the inside of your shoes with it.
Put on your sneakers and then spray the outside with vodka.
Walk like this for 2 hours.
Dry naturally.

Please note that the effect will be more pronounced if you wear the sneakers not on a thin, but on a thick woolen sock.

Hairdryer

Are you still stuck with the problem and don’t know what to do if your sneakers are too small? Try exposing them to a stream of hot air.

Important: this method is good for stretching leather shoes or leatherette sneakers. For fabric sneakers it is better to use other methods.

Hold the product under a stream of hot air directed into the shoe for 60 seconds.
Immediately lubricate the inside of the sneakers with vegetable oil.
Put on thick socks and shoes. Walk like this for 40 minutes.
If there is any remaining fat that has not been absorbed, remove it by blotting it with a paper towel.

Special sprays

Representatives of the footwear industry try to take a comprehensive approach to customer service. They develop tools and make their own recommendations describing what to do if small sneakers cannot be quickly stretched at home.

There is a wide range of stretching sprays on the market. Most often they are universal and suitable for different types of shoes. These products can slightly lengthen and widen your sneakers if used correctly:

Shake the can and spray the spray inside the shoes on problem areas (especially hard heels).
Wait until the product is absorbed a little, put on a warm sock and put on your shoes.
Walk like this for as long as time allows.

After the procedure, when you try on a pair again, you will see that the sneakers or sneakers have become more comfortable. If the effect seems insufficient, the procedure can be repeated several more times.

Wooden blocks with screw mechanism

This method is quite radical. It is advisable to use it when you are faced with the difficult question of how to make sneakers a size larger.

To successfully resolve the problem, you need to purchase a last with a screw mechanism in a specialized store, which allows you to stretch the shoe in length using a significant force.

Advice: when purchasing, be guided by the material used to make the pad. Plastic stretchers are short-lived, so it is better to give preference to those made of wood.

Spray the inside of the sneakers with a special spray or moisten the walls with alcohol.
Insert the pads inside. Using a screw, stretch the shoe as far as possible.
After 24 hours, remove the tools from the shoes.

The procedure is repeated several times if necessary. By the way, these lasts can be used as shoe holders during the period when you are not wearing them. This approach will allow you to maintain the appearance of the sneakers as presentable even after several seasons of their use.

Vinegar

A regular solution of table acid helps soften the shoes and expand them a little. The method for using it is very simple:

Soak a cotton pad in vinegar and rub it on the inner surface of the shoes that are pinching.
Put on your sneakers and walk around in them for about an hour.

The next time you use it, you will not experience the same discomfort.

Castor oil

The advantage of this method is that it not only helps to stretch the sneakers or sneakers in width, but also protects them from moisture.

Treat the inside of your shoes with castor oil. Pay special attention to seams, heels and toes.
Wear your sneakers for a while (40-60 minutes).
Take off your shoes and lightly blot the inside of your shoes with a napkin.

Kerosene

This chemical product comes to the rescue when the question of how to quickly break in sneakers so that they do not pinch on the sides is tormented. Kerosene can stretch shoes wider. The step-by-step instructions in this case are extremely simple and completely similar to the option of using castor oil.

Glass cleaning liquid

A rather unexpected method, but it is also successfully used to expand sports shoes when necessary.

Spray glass surface cleaner inside your sneakers.
Spray the outside of your shoes with the chemical compound.
Put on thick socks and shoes.
Walk like this for 1-2 hours, more if possible.

The use of this product for breaking in shoes is quite effective. Repeat the above procedure 1-2 times and forever forget about the inconvenience that wearing small sneakers or sneakers caused you.

Paraffin from a candle

You can soften the shoe material and expand it a little by having an ordinary candle:

Wipe your sneakers dry, or better yet, dry them a little with a hairdryer.
Heat the paraffin, lubricate the problem areas inside the shoes with the softened substance - the heels and seams.
Wait until the product hardens. Wear thick socks and sneakers.
Walk around the apartment in break-in shoes as much as time allows. Better - a few days.
Clean off the paraffin.
Squeeze a few drops of Vaseline onto a cotton pad. Lubricate the inside of the sneakers with it.

Grain or cereal

Going to the store to buy a special product for stretching shoes is often expensive. Fortunately, you can make do with improvised materials. Cereals are almost always available. It is with their help that it is easy to answer the question of how to stretch sneakers at home in length and width.

Place rice, buckwheat or other grains into your shoes.
Pour boiling water inside. Leave the sneakers in this condition for 10-12 hours (overnight is possible).
Remove all grains. Wear a thick sock and shoes on top.
Wear your sneakers until they are completely dry.

This method always turns out to be very effective. Due to the swelling of the grains, sufficient pressure is created inside the shoes so that the soft leather material stretches a little.

Important: this method can only be used to expand shoes made of genuine leather. Other materials often do not tolerate exposure to high temperatures and may lose their original appearance due to such manipulations.

Laundry soap

This solution to the problem of tight shoes is quite budget-friendly and economical. However, often thanks to the use of this method it is possible to achieve the desired result.

Treat the inner surface of the sneakers with alcohol.
Wipe the problem areas of the shoes with softened laundry soap. Pay special attention to the front and back.
Put warm socks on your sneakers and walk like this for about an hour.
Remove any remaining used substances.

Important: soap with high fat content (over 72%) is suitable for the procedure. Otherwise, the effect will not be achieved.

Store products

Some of the effective products from the store are pads, sprays and foams that will help stretch your shoes. It is worth following the instructions, namely:

Before use, shake the can and spray it inside and outside the sneakers.
Put on socks and then sneakers
Walk in shoes until the product is completely dry
Do this up to 5-6 times

Before using the product for its intended function, it is worth testing it on an area of the sneaker that is not visible to assess how the material reacts. Spacers will help - these are the so-called holders; they are suitable for any size.

The spacers include a mechanism that can stretch any shoe quite well. Follow these steps to ensure everything works correctly:

Apply the product or soak your shoes in water
Place the pads on the spacer and place them in the sneakers
Use the device to give the shoes the desired tension.
Leave to dry
Repeat steps

Now you know how you can stretch sneakers to size at home; both folk methods and purchased products were discussed here. It is up to you to decide which method you will apply and use on your sports shoes.

How to stretch leather sneakers

Genuine leather is a very durable material. It is usually not difficult to expand and lengthen a pair of shoes made from it, because the products are not afraid of exposure to high temperatures, they are plastic. Leather sneakers can be stretched using thermal, chemical and mechanical methods. The main ones include the following:

stretching under the influence of steam, boiling water and hair dryer;
stuffing with newspapers;
expansion under the influence of frozen water;
breaking in using warm socks;
treatment with alcohol or vinegar;
falling asleep inside the cereal and swelling under the influence of boiling water;
use of special industrial sprays;
use of blocks with a screw mechanism.

Other stretching agents

Vinegar

Rub the inside of the sneakers with 3% table vinegar. An excellent option for softening the material . Be sure to dry and ventilate after the procedure to remove the specific odor.

Castor oil/ Drying oil

Using a cloth or cotton swab, apply the product to the underside of the sole. It softens the skin well and creates a wonderful barrier against street moisture.

Cologne

If they cause discomfort, moisturize the heel and toe areas from the inside out. And then rub these places well with 72% laundry soap.

Kerosene

Carefully process the inside of the product. Stuff it tightly with rags or put it on your feet and walk for 30 minutes. After the procedure, be sure to place the sneakers on the balcony for air.

Glass cleaning liquid

The technique is the same as when using kerosene. The thicker the socks you wear, the more the shoes wear out.

What to do if your sneakers are too tight

When answering the question of what to do if your sneakers are too tight, you need to focus primarily on the material they are made of. For example, it is unlikely that it will be possible to stretch solid rubber ones, but if a pair of shoes is made of leather, all the methods described above for sneakers will do.

The most common material used in the production of sneakers is textiles. The most effective methods of stretching it include:

special sprays for stretching fabric shoes;
wear with thick, wet socks;
force stretching with a special block;
dense filling with newspapers;
freezing

It doesn’t matter whether you break in sneakers or sneakers yourself or you turn to specialists in a workshop for this purpose. The process of stretching shoes that are small must be treated wisely. Choose the methods that suit your running shoes. Contact only those people you trust. Remember that what is suitable for expanding leather shoes can be destructive for leatherette and textile products.

Be careful, choose the right insoles for your shoes and always take the best possible care of your feet. Remember that one uncomfortable pair of shoes can cause not only a lack of good mood, but also serious injuries to the nail plates and surfaces of the feet.

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General recommendations

In order to break in shoes or even stretch them a little, there are many ways, and if you suddenly fail to achieve the desired effect with your own efforts, you can contact a workshop where they can handle stretching shoes of any complexity.

But before increasing the length of the pair for more comfortable wear, you need to take into account the following nuances for a uniquely successful result:

First, you need to pay attention to the material used inside the shoe.
Secondly, understand the quality of gluing of the pair with the sole, as well as whether the seams are well stitched.
Thirdly, it is important to know exactly what material was used to make the pair.

It is also important to take into account the basic rule for successfully purchasing shoes; you need to purchase any pair in the evening. In the morning, your foot size may seem a little smaller due to swelling that has subsided overnight, which returns at the end of the working day. When trying on sneakers, it is best to wear regular cotton socks, not nylon ones.

If at home you find that the pair is a little too small and should be broken in, it is important to understand which part of the sneakers causes discomfort; this will directly determine the length or width of the shoes you will need to stretch.

Reasons for discomfort and return conditions

Before trying to eliminate an unpleasant and painful sensation, it is worth finding out the cause of its occurrence. In some cases, the problem is due to a defect in the structure of the pad or the use of low-quality material. Under such circumstances, one cannot count on the fact that walking comfort will return during the breaking-in process. The best solution would be to return the model to the store.

But not everything is so simple, since the seller has some requirements that must be met in order to get the money spent back:

Shoes should not be used outdoors. The surface and sole must be perfectly clean, without traces of asphalt, earth, or sand. It is extremely rare to fulfill this condition, because you can only feel discomfort when walking for a long time. Knowing this requirement when purchasing, it makes sense to spend some time updating the apartment. Moving on a perfectly flat surface will not be able to recreate real conditions, but it will allow you to identify the first alarming signs.
The outer material, lining, and sole must be in marketable condition. Any scratches, cracks, or creases will be grounds for refusal of a refund. That is why it is very important to carefully inspect the left and right shoes (sneakers, boots, etc.) during fitting, since defects are possible due to the fault of the seller.
Shoes must be returned in the original box that was purchased in the store. It is important to ensure the integrity of the packaging, so you should carefully unpack a new pair.
Presentation of a check. The information that it is necessary to request and keep a receipt for products set teeth on edge, but without confirmation of payment, a return is impossible. In addition, it is important that the information on the receipt is clearly visible.
Compliance with the warranty period. In most cases, sellers provide from 14 to 30 days. The defective wardrobe item must be returned within the specified time period.

All the conditions seem quite logical and understandable, but it is very difficult to comply with all the points. To reduce the risk of unpleasant situations to a minimum, you should buy shoes in trusted stores. The degree of brand recognition is also important. Of course, models from popular manufacturers are more expensive, but the likelihood of encountering a low-quality product is extremely low.

Features of shoe stretching

Do not wet insulated items with fur inside too much from the inside. By the way, in order to break in and stretch winter boots or boots, sometimes it is enough just to remove the insole. Do not stretch your shoes by hammering them! Any procedures can only be carried out with clean and dried products.

PVC rubber boots can be stretched by completely filling each product with boiling water. After five minutes, when the rubber has softened, pour out the water and wipe dry. Put your boots on a thick terry or woolen sock, walk for a few minutes and place them in a bathtub or basin with cold water. Leave for an hour and then dry.

Shoes made of natural, patent or artificial leather can be worn by a person with large feet. But this method is not suitable for suede products, otherwise overstretching will occur and the suede pair will become too big.

Vinegar is considered a universal stretching method that is suitable for different materials. Mix the product with water and thoroughly saturate the inside of the products. Then wear the boots or shoes with thick, thick socks for one to two hours. The unpleasant smell of vinegar can be removed with a soap solution. However, this method must be used carefully for suede shoes, since suede does not like moisture.

After processing products made from any materials, thoroughly dry the shoes in natural conditions and treat them with shoe polish, polish or spray. In addition, you can use folk remedies. For example, Vaseline is suitable for natural leather, vegetable oil is suitable for artificial leather, and glycerin is suitable for rubber boots.

Why does the heel rub?

There are several reasons:

Wrong size selected. Tight shoes or boots squeeze the foot, and too loose ones rub the skin. Because of this, irritation is noted and calluses appear.
Rough material. A hard heel will inevitably rub your heel.
The model is not chosen for the leg. Everyone's feet are different - narrow or wide, and not every option may be suitable.
Swelling of the legs. Changes in foot size throughout the day due to swelling cause calluses to appear on the feet.
Sewing defects, for example, rough seams on the back.
Individual characteristics. Often the problem occurs after a heel fracture or other injury.