One of these...
I was lucky to be a guest at Hotter's Glasgow store for a special blogger evening of shoes and snacks - two of my favorite things.
Do you want super comfy, beautiful shoes or just the chance to get out and meet people? ...Errr, yes to both.
Not only was it fun and foot-friendly, but I learned some interesting things too.
Americans have thinner feet than British people. Who knew? Because Hotter has followed One Direction in conquering America only in their case they do it by selling shoes from their factory in Skelmersdale they now know all about feet in the US of A. It also means staff in the call center have to work long into the night.
A secret gusset does exist. And if you know where to look you'll find it in the way clever shoes are created, sneakily allowing your feet some space. A bit like trousers with an invisible elastic waist. (Come to think of it, does anyone do them?) (Joke, obviously, I'm way too young and cool to even be in the same room as a pair of trousers with an elasticated waist.)
It's possible to look forward to rain. Just a little bit. Or at least I am since Hotter gave me the most beautiful brolly.
Comfort is more than a concept. Hotter has, what it calls, a Comfort Concept. This is where clever features designed to make your shoes feel heavenly are sneaked in all over your feet. These include flex grooves in the sole so they bend, pyramid technology of squashiness at the ball of your foot, no seams inside the shoe and extra padding everywhere. It all leads up to what's been coined a "Hotter moment". Obviously this raises titters from women of a certain age for whom hot moments are far from comfortable. But heck, if you're going to have a personal heatwave, you might as well have happy feet at the time.
A passion for shoes in men isn't always creepy. Hotter began in 1959 when Thomas and Harriet Houlgrave started making slippers. In the 1990s their son Stewart joined the business and takes the credit as the author of this remarkable British success story. He's crazy about shoes and has been known to buy the shoes off someone's feet if he takes a fancy to a style or design features. I'm not the only one with unfashionable feet. I have entirely reliable and very efficient feet - they've never let me down. The only problem is that they're wide. For years I thought I was the only one who couldn't find fashionable shoes that fit properly. Everyone else had funky footwear except for me. Only now I find that I'm not alone - there's a whole army of us, marching towards Hotter for shoes that are comfortable AND good looking. Plus I need shoes I can stride about in. I've tried mincing but it's just not me.
Here are my new shoes.. and how they look in the catalog...
Thanks very much to Hotter for a fabulous evening and very happy feet.
