Completing The Circle Of Care: Tips For Collaborating With Footwear Retailers

Over the last 25 years, I’ve worked with hundreds of footwear accounts to train them on best practices in proper shoe fit and collaborated with medical professionals. It is really satisfying to see accounts and medical professionals working together to complete the circle of care for patients. What is the key ingredient to a successful collaboration? Communication.

Tip #1: Collaborate And Communicate

Find a specialty footwear store(s) in your area that specializes in training their sales associates in proper fit and offers free Rx pads to you. If you have time, visit the store(s) to get first-hand experience of their fitting philosophies and let them know what works best for you and your clinic. Let them know how often you’d like Rx pads sent to your clinic. If you don’t have time, see if they can send you a video of their store and fitting principles. You can inquire if you can leave your clinic’s business cards for referrals. Some stores may even list medical professionals on their store’s website.

You may want to find a casual comfort store for your patients that want casual shoes and a running store for your more active patients.

If you go to www.newbalance.com, you’ll see a store finder with our premier specialty accounts listed on it who will have fit experts to help both you and your patients get into the right size, width and type of shoe. New Balance stores as well as many other specialty stores now have high-tech digital foot scanners that can show customers a 3D image of their foot which will tell them which foot is longer, wider and differences in arch height.

Tip #2: Annual Footwear Measurements And Shoe Fit Tips

When podiatrists educate their patients about specialty footwear retailers and the importance of getting their foot measured every year, (since foot size and width can change with age and health conditions), it greatly helps the retailer who often gets push back from patients not wanting to get their foot measured. Since getting the patient in the correct type, size and width of shoe can greatly improve recovery, please share the below fit tips with your patients:

• Try shoes on later in the day – since feet always swell during the day and especially during activity, remind patients to try shoes on later in the day or right after exercise when feet are at their largest;

• Try shoes on both feet. For most people, one foot is larger than the other and may differ in length or width by as much as a full size. Always buy shoes to fit your larger foot; and

• Your toes should never hit the end of the shoe and your foot should bend where the shoe bends.

If you would like to measure your patient’s feet in your office, New Balance has created a printable, gender-specific sizing tool for both adults and kids that you can use at https://www.newbalance.com/size-guide.html .

Tip #3: Utilize The Store For The Latest Product Updates

Many podiatrists I’ve worked with have leaned on the footwear retailer to send them updated shoe lists and shoe fit info from each of the brands that they carry. This will help curb any confusion over referring outdated models. For instance, since New Balance has over 30 different lasts in our product lineup, having a shoe list which you can quickly circle will make it much easier on your patients.

Understanding The Three Most Important New Balance Lasts

• The SL-2 last is our roomiest last featuring a deeper, wider toe box, higher instep and narrower heel and can be found in both our motion control shoes (1540v3, 928v3, 847v4) and neutral shoes (running 840v4, walking 840v2).

• The SL-1 last has a relaxed fit throughout the shoe and can be found in the 990v5 and a similar fit can be found in our 857v2 and 624/608 crosstrainers.

• The PL lasts have a glove-like, contoured fit, with the number at the end referring to heel to toe drop and can be found in our Fresh Foam and FuelCell models.

New Balance Fun Fact

Have you ever wondered why New Balance started using numbers instead of names for their shoes? You’d be really surprised to know that New Balance actually started with a name first, when in 1960 they launched the first running shoe in widths called the Trackster which is now the name of their tech rep team members. In the 1970s, New Balance switched to using unique model numbers rather than names so that customers see each model as being equal, but designed for different purposes.

If you would like help finding or collaborating with a specialty retailer in your area, please feel free to contact jennifer.wong@newbalance.com . Jenny can also send you the most up-to-date New Balance shoe list (with shoe last and heel-to-toe drop listed), lacing techniques or the PDF of the men’s, women’s and kids sizing tools.

Jenny Wong is a Certified Pedorthist, Certified Therapeutic Shoe Fitter, Certified Good Form Instructor and Certified Corporate Wellness Specialist with 24 years of experience in the footwear industry and working with medical professionals. She has given over 500 seminars and clinics and works at New Balance doing corporate wellness partnerships, tradeshows, retail footwear and insoles sales training, and technical product videos. She is also a competitive cyclist, trail runner, rock climber, and aspiring burro pack racer and campervan builder.

This blog post is sponsored by New Balance.