For a long time, I never really thought about shoe width.

I knew I had fairly wide feet, but I normally just bought regular shoes.

If something felt too tight, the obvious solution seemed to be:

try a bigger size.

That is exactly what I did when I bought my HOKA Bondi 9.

It did not work.

The regular-width Bondi felt squeezed along the sides of my feet, especially from the midfoot forward.

So I did what seemed obvious and tried larger sizes.

Even after sizing up, the extra length did not really bother me.

But the shoe was still too tight along the sides.

That was the point where I finally tried the actual Wide version.

The difference was obvious almost immediately.

If the problem is width, buying a longer shoe may not solve it.

Sometimes you do not need a bigger shoe.

You need a wider one.

My Bondi 9 experience

My normal shoe size is roughly EU43.

I also know that my feet are fairly wide, but I had never really paid much attention to dedicated Wide sizing before.

Most normal shoes had worked well enough.

Then I tried the HOKA Bondi 9.

The regular version felt tight from around the middle of my foot forward.

It was not really a toe-length problem.

The shoe just felt squeezed from the sides.

So I tried larger sizes.

The strange part was that the extra length did not really bother me.

Even after sizing up, the shoe still felt acceptable front-to-back.

But it was still too tight across the sides of my feet.

I only walked indoors in those pairs because I knew I might return them.

There was no point taking them outside and making the return complicated when the fit already felt wrong.

Eventually I tried the Bondi 9 Wide.

That felt much better straight away.

The fit was good enough that I was comfortable taking them outside for a proper test walk.

They felt great there too.

That was the pair I kept.

Sizing up and choosing Wide are not the same thing

This sounds obvious once you think about it.

But I do not think I had ever really separated the two before.

When you go up a shoe size, you mainly get a longer shoe. Depending on the model, you may also get a little more overall room.

But that does not necessarily solve pressure across the sides of your foot.

A Wide version is designed to provide additional width.

In my case, that was exactly what I needed.

I had been trying to solve a width problem with length.

How can you tell whether the problem is width?

I am not a footwear specialist, but my own experience gave me a fairly simple distinction.

If your toes are hitting the front of the shoe, or there simply is not enough room in front of them, that sounds like a length problem.

Sizing up may make perfect sense.

But if the shoe feels fine in length and still feels squeezed along the sides, I would start thinking about width.

That is what happened to me.

The larger Bondis were not obviously too short.

They still felt wrong because the pressure was along the sides of the foot.

In hindsight, that should have been the clue much earlier.

Why I would not automatically size up anymore

If someone told me today:

“My normal size is too narrow, so I am just going to buy one size bigger.”

My advice would be:

look for the Wide version first.

That does not mean sizing up is always wrong.

Sometimes you genuinely need more length.

And different brands and models fit differently.

But I would not assume that a bigger number solves everything.

If the basic shape of the shoe is wrong for your foot, simply making the shoe longer may leave you with the same problem.

That is exactly what happened to me.

Why this matters for heavier walkers

When you are heavier, I think fit becomes even more important.

There is already more load going through your feet when you walk.

The last thing I want is a shoe that feels squeezed before I have even started properly walking.

For a long time, I focused mostly on things like cushioning and stability.

Those still matter.

But if the shoe itself does not fit the shape of your foot, the rest becomes much less relevant.

A well-cushioned shoe that feels too narrow is still the wrong shoe.

Wide does not mean every heavy man needs a wide shoe

This is worth saying clearly.

I do not think every heavy man should automatically buy Wide shoes.

That would make no sense.

I have fairly wide feet myself, and I still wore regular-width shoes for years without much trouble.

Some brands fit me perfectly well in standard width.

Others do not.

The lesson from the Bondi was not that heavy people need wide shoes.

The lesson was:

if a shoe feels too narrow, recognise that as a width problem instead of assuming you just need a larger size.

That distinction can save a lot of trial and error.

Shoe shape matters too

Width labels are useful, but they are not the whole story.

Two shoes in the same size and stated width can still feel quite different.

Some shoes have a narrower midfoot.

Some have more room in the forefoot.

Some taper more aggressively toward the toes.

That is one reason I would still try shoes on whenever possible.

For me, the regular Bondi shape simply did not work.

The Wide version did.

Another brand may fit completely differently.

What I would do now when trying a new walking shoe

My approach is much simpler now.

First, I would check whether the length feels right.

Then I would pay attention to where the pressure is.

If the shoe feels short, I would consider going up a size.

If the shoe feels squeezed along the sides while the length seems fine, I would look for a Wide version instead.

And if neither feels right, I would try another model.

I no longer see shoe size as one number that solves everything.

Length, width and shape all matter.

What worked for me

With the HOKA Bondi 9, the solution was not simply going bigger.

It was going wider.

I eventually ended up with:

HOKA Bondi 9 Wide — Men’s US 10 / EU 44⅔ / 28.5 cm

That is considerably larger than the size I would normally think of as “my size.”

But the important part was not just the number.

It was the fact that the Wide version matched the shape of my foot much better.

That was the difference I had been missing.

My advice now

If your walking shoes feel too tight, try to identify where they feel wrong before automatically changing size.

If your toes need more space in front:

try a larger size.

If the shoe feels squeezed across the sides while the length seems fine:

look for a Wide version.

That is the advice I wish I had followed earlier.

It would have saved me a fair amount of trial and error with the Bondis.

Related guides

If you already know you need more width, I have a separate guide to the best walking shoes for heavy men with wide feet.

And if you are still figuring out what matters in a walking shoe more generally, start with my guide to choosing walking shoes when you are heavy.

Final thoughts

Sizing up can solve a size problem.

It does not automatically solve a width problem.

For me, that difference was surprisingly important.

I spent time trying larger versions of the same shoe when what I actually needed was the same shoe in a different width.

Once I tried Wide, the difference was obvious.

So if your walking shoes feel tight along the sides, do not just keep going bigger.

Check whether the shoe comes in Wide.

That may be the actual solution.