Transparency
How we evaluate walking shoes
If you can't see the reasoning, you can't trust the recommendation. Here is exactly how this site works — and where its limits are.
The four-way separation
Most shoe content blends four very different things into one blur of adjectives. We keep them apart:
1 · Objective specifications
Weight, drop, stack height, widths offered, price. Measurable. This is the backbone of the database.
2 · Manufacturer claims
"Cloud-like comfort", "energy return". Reported as claims, attributed to the brand, never restated as fact.
3 · Independent observations
What is visible and checkable: construction, materials, fit tendencies. Clearly our own view.
4 · Suitability recommendations
"Good for wide feet / standing all day". Always conditional — a shoe that works for one walker fails another.
Spec verification workflow
Every numeric spec carries a status:
- SEED Initial entry from retailer listings or manufacturer pages. Treated as unverified until re-checked.
- REPORTED Cross-checked against at least one authoritative listing, with the source and date recorded.
- VERIFIED Confirmed against the brand's current product page (or measured directly), with a "last checked" date.
Specs drift between model years and colorways, so "verified" is a point in time, not a permanent state. If a number looks wrong, tell us — corrections are published within days.
How the finder scores
The shoe finder is deterministic and auditable. Your seven answers are matched against each shoe's attributes with a fixed points budget per question. Crucially, every point awarded produces a human-readable reason, so a recommendation can always explain itself — and you can see exactly where the model might be wrong for you.
Scores are guidance, not a verdict. Feet are weird and wonderful; the final test is always trying a shoe on.
What we will not do
- ✓ Claim a shoe is "best for everyone" — there is no such shoe.
- ✓ Claim footwear treats or cures medical conditions. Shoes are not medical devices.
- ✓ Repeat marketing copy as independent fact.
- ✓ Hide affiliate relationships. Every money page discloses them.
Medical note: if you have persistent foot, ankle, knee or hip pain, see a podiatrist or physiotherapist. We describe features; we do not diagnose or prescribe.
Limitations
We are an independent research site, not a lab. We do not yet cut shoes in half or run instrumented tests — we rely on documented specifications, visible construction, and careful attribution. Over time we aim to add our own measurements; until then, we will say exactly what is measured, what is reported, and what is our judgment.