Greats Royale + Superfeet | A holy grail white leather sneaker for wide feet
For about as long as I can remember, I’ve had a challenging time trying to find shoes that fit. For most of my life I’ve been quite overweight, and that’s definitely clear in the way my feet grew when I was younger. Constantly being overweight puts a lot of stress on your feet and causes them to flatten out and widen.
Shoe shopping has always been a sore spot for me. Since high school, I had routinely been wearing shoes that were too large for me. At a size 8.5–9 US in Mens, with a width close to E on a Brannock Device, finding shoes that were wide enough and didn’t look like the chunky, white new balance sneakers (you know, the ones your dad probably mows grass in?)was challenging. As I’ve delved deeper into men’s fashion, this has only been more problematic for me.
I’ve always admired the classic minimalist white leather sneaker (i.e Common Projects), but after trying on multiple, more affordable options (Adidas Stan Smith, Target brand, Converse, etc) I resigned that these probably weren’t going to be the shoes for me. Dejected, I settled for basic trainers for the next couple of years.
Around 2022, I started to get that itch again — the itch for white sneakers. I wanted something that I could both dress up and down, and being leather, something that I could take care and, in turn, last a long time. So, down the rabbit hole I went. Countless hours spent scrolling through r/MaleFashionAdvice on Reddit and videos from fashion YouTubers led me nowhere. Until, one day, while scrolling through Instagram, I got advertised The Greats Royale.
Scrolling through Greats’ website, I noticed that the Royale had a slightly wider toe-box, and I immediately fell in love with the design. From the beautiful white leather, to the subtle stitching work on that side that really set it apart from other white sneakers for me. At $180, I was a little hesitant, but decided that I could always return them if they didn’t fit.
I ordered them in a size 9, slightly bigger than I should wear, but nowhere near as bad as the 10.5s I had been wearing my entire adult life. Upon breaking them in, they were comfortable, but after a couple hours, the widest part of my foot started to hurt, and then it would spread to the rest of my feet. I was always willing to deal with it, but I kept them for special occasions where I wouldn’t be on my feet all day.
As I attempted to wear them for longer periods of time, frustration, yet again, came to fruition. While cleaning them one day, I did notice something that would give me a little bit of hope. While inspecting the insole, I noticed that the leather insole rose up on the side of the shoes, ever so slightly. Curious, I pulled them out of the shoe and tried them on. Immediately, I felt a massive difference in comfort for the widest part of my feet. But, wearing your shoes without insoles can be damaging to both your feet and your shoes long term — enter the Superfeet Carbon series of insoles.
These insoles were an absolute game changer for me. I picked up the Superfeet Carbon Insoles designed for tight athletic shoes and after a bit of an adjustment to the higher arch (I have flat feet), I was astonished by how comfortable these were. I wear tested them at home while at my standing desk to see if the comfort would hold up. Sure enough, they did. Swapping out the insoles was extra mile needed to make these sneakers my go to for doing almost anything outside the house.
If you, like me, suffer with smaller, wide feet then I hope this gave you some inspiration to not give up on something, just because you haven’t found the right one yet. With more and more companies today marketing their products towards different demographics, it is possible to find clothes or shoes that fit what you’re looking for — you just might have to be patient and do some work to find it.
Thanks so much for reading — I’ll catch you in the next one!
