The Fitting Experience
We refer to a “fit” as the process of coming into the store and receiving an assessment on your individual biomechanics, injury history, lifestyle and running goals to get matched with the most appropriate shoes for you as an individual. Having a fitting done can be invaluable for all experience levels of runners, as well as individuals looking to get into fitness or support their general wellness. This is especially important if you live and work in New York City, a place where you’re walking relatively more than many other places. You may walk anywhere between 4-6 miles a day without noticing. We tend to not give a lot of thought to our footwear from a health perspective, so it’s easy to overlook the different aspects of what makes a shoe right for you. Whether it’s running, walking or cross-training, all these activities are applicable to our fitting process. No in-person appointments are required for our fitting experience.
Conversation
A shoe fitting is always rooted in a good conversation. We’ll be asking you a number of questions to get some background information on you before the physical assessment begins. We’ll ask questions about what activities you’ll be using the shoes for, if you currently have, or have had any injuries, what kind of mileage you’ll be doing, and general questions to help us identify what kind of shoes are going to be most beneficial for you. There are a number of variables when it comes to shoe fitting, all of which help us guide you in the right direction.
Walking Assessment
A proper fitting is be a dynamic experience. To start, we’ll watch you walk in socks to look at your foot mechanics and observe how you move naturally. We do this without shoes because footwear can influence the way that you’re moving.
Single-Leg Squat
A single leg squat with a shallow bend in the knee is the next step in our process. We use this to see how the knees track in relation to the foot and to assess the mobility of the hip. This simulates the loading movement experienced during running, as running is a series of single leg squats. This will help us to identify aspects of your gait which may be improved while wearing specific shoes.
Shoe Suggestions
We’ll bring a few pairs of shoes for you to try on, based on your individual needs. You’ll be able to walk in them, compare them side by side, and run in them on our shop’s treadmill.
If someone comes in with a high degree of overpronation, adding a degree of support to their footwear can help reduce the strain on their arches, knees and back. By adjusting the level of support in your footwear, you may run more efficiently and comfortably.
E-Comm vs In-Person Shopping
Did you know the estimated return rate for footwear purchased online is 35%? It is less than 6% for footwear purchased in-person at our shops, less than the reported industry average. This massive gap speaks to the challenges of buying any shoe online, never mind specialized footwear like a running shoe. We attempt to mitigate this challenge with our e-comm customers through our site’s chat function with fit professionals as opposed to a bot.
The Importance of Getting Fitted
Our biggest strength is our professional staff. Our team comes to the table with decades of combined experience and broad areas of expertise, all with a background in running. While beginners are our stated specialty, we have people on our staff that are recreational beginners, those who took up running later in life, collegiate and post-collegiate athletes and Olympic Trials Qualifiers. You can talk to people from all levels of the sport when you come into our store and get expert advice and opinions on what’s right for you.
When it comes to buying a running shoe online, you’ll never truly know how a shoe performs without trying it on. You’ll also won't be able to try on shoes from competitors that may fit similarly or have comparable functionalities. One of the biggest advantages of shopping in-store is being able to try on shoes from different brands and comparing what you like and don’t like. You’ll be able to make an informed decision to purchase the pair of shoes that suits you best.