I had the pleasure of slicing through some historical records (old newspapers— mostly Boston Globes) pertaining to major historical events in US history, including the exciting sequence leading up to Neil Armstrong’s walk on Earth’s moon fifty years ago today. Reading about the astronauts’ ITMG boots equipped with utility pockets layered under a lunar overshoe was of course fascinating, but for us it’s all about the ads. What was on the shelves back then?

Consumers could get a better fit in ’69. Look— just look at the widths offered by popular retailers of the time. For perspective; the average off-the-shelf women’s width is a “B”. For guys it’s “D”.

“Otter Smooth Leather”, “styles in all wanted heel heights”. “fabulous assortment of evening and cruise shoes”.. the copy on these are pure gold. Solby Bayes was even advertising AAAAAAs (that had to have been a joke). In reality these products were filling a need that modern footwear has dumbed down and ignored. As you can see, it was not uncommon for women to to have a wider foot than “B”.

This one is so excellent it may be worth framing (Globe, May 16th 1963)

Popdiatry readers know that “A” is the thinnest, “E” is the widest and that multiple letters denote even thinner or wider. So AA is thinner than A, AAA is thinner than AA, EEEE is about the widest you’ll ever see. In 2019 it’s very uncommon to see “C” or multiple “A”s and many companies have done away with the antiquated letter system in favor of “M” or “W” but if you pride yourself on being super-scientific, knowing your Brannock width is the first key to the game.