Frequently Asked Questions

Why did you make Shoes for the Dolls?

I'm a trans woman, and I found myself getting frustrated with the process of finding stylish, femme shoes that actually fit me. I'm a size 14 (US W), and generally found myself with a glut of options for both masculine shoes and towering platform heels. Each have their place, and I own a few pairs on either end of that spectrum myself! But while there are plenty of good unisex options out there, I would sometimes spend hours combing through online stores promising 'extended sizing' in desperate search of practical-but-cute shoes and boots in my size. Eventually, I got into a rhythm of checking the same handful of retailers every few months to see what new stock they had, and I figured I should try to make the process a little easier on myself.

I began putting together an inventory of every site I could find that offered unique shoes in womens sizes 12 and up, then aggregated them together into one place where I could browse everything at once. What started as as a way for me to collect all my options in one place quickly turned into something much bigger, and I realized that there were actually even more options out there than I knew about — they were just difficult to find in the churn of today's deader-than-ever internet.

Shoes for the Dolls is a personal project built with love, for a community that deserves better shopping experiences. I hope you find something cute to wear here.

How does the site work?

Shoes for the Dolls automatically checks product listings from a curated list of retailers on a regular basis. I add each retailer myself, one-by-one, based on a few critera you'll fine below. Each shoe is imported, categorized, and made searchable. When you click through to buy a shoe, you're taken directly to the retailer's site — we don't sell shoes ourselves.

The site is updated frequently (or as often as I can manage) as new styles arrive and go out of stock. Availability and pricing shown here reflect what the retailer had at the time of the last check.

Why can I only see some retailers and not others?

We only list retailers that:

Carry a decent selection of extended sizes (US 12 and above, or EU 44+)
Have a usable online storefront we can reliably check for updates
Sell styles that are difficult to find in extended sizing normally

Some large retailers are on the roadmap but require significantly more engineering work to integrate.

Why isn't a specific shoe showing up?

A few reasons a shoe might be missing:

Size filter — if you have a size filter active, only shoes with that size listed will appear.
Retailer not yet integrated — check the Retailers page to see which stores we currently pull from.
Recently added — checking sites for updates happens at regular intervals, but the latest one may not have run yet if the update was recent
Admin review — some shoes are flagged for manual review before becoming visible, especially if automated categorization produced a questionable result.
Style hidden - particularly masculine styles and shoe types (especially those easily found elsewhere) are hidden by default. I go back and forth on how to include these, but ultimately the goal of this site is to help you find something that is hard to find, and I don't want to dilute it with styles I know you can get in your size from big retailers with decent search functions.

If you see a shoe on a retailer's site that should be here but isn't, use the feedback button to let us know.

How do you make money? Do you use affiliate links?

I'm lucky enough to have a day job, so this is purely a passion project for me. My motivation here is not financial. That said, I have affiliate partnerships with some retailers, which just means that clicking through to those retailers' sites from Shoes for the Dolls will earn me a small commission if you make a purchase — at no extra cost to you. Many of these also include discount codes which will give you 5-15% off of the shoes. You can always try to find better coupon codes online — and I understand wanting to get the best deal — but if you use my code I will be very grateful. The more people use this site, and the more money I make to offset the costs of running it, the more likely I am to keep it updated and improve it.

My goal is to keep the site free, uncluttered, and genuinely useful, not to push you toward higher-commission options. The bottom line is that I will not push you towards affiliate links or higher commission shoes at all. I would be a bit silly not to try and monetize the site a little bit (hosting can get expensive quickly), but it's not my primary goal at all.

Are the shoe sizes accurate?

We import size data directly from each retailer's product listings. Sizing can vary between brands, and what one retailer calls a "12" another might call a "44 EU." We convert all sizes to a US Women's equivalent for consistency, but we recommend always checking the retailer's own size chart before buying.

Wide-width availability is shown when retailers provide it. Some retailers only offer extended sizes in standard width.

Can I save shoes to come back to later?

Yes! Create a free account and use the wishlist feature to save shoes you love. Your wishlist is private and syncs across devices.

Why would I use the alerts on this site for shoes coming back in stock instead of the retailer's alerts?

Two reason:

Not all retailers offer good alert systems for shoes and sizes. Some do (and those are going to likely be faster and more accurate than ours), but I wanted to give you that option for every shoe you have your eye on — especially since extended sizes are often made in small quantities and frequently go out of stock.
Tracking your wishlist and alerts on this site lets you keep everything in one place. As of now, I will send you 100% less spam than pretty much every single other shoe site out there. You can manage everything from one page, and delete alerts without needing to remember which version of which retailer's site you set it up on.

Something looks wrong with a shoe listing (wrong price, bad category, etc.)

The process of pulling all the shoe data from each site isn't perfect. Prices may be slightly out of date, and some categories are inferred from product names rather than confirmed by the retailer. Hit the 'Report a problem' link on a shoe's page to let me know about an issue.

This is awesome. How can I help?

Honestly, just knowing the site is useful to someone makes my day. The best thing you can do is tell your friends — especially anyone in your life who spends too much time hunting for extended-size shoes.

If you'd like to help offset the hosting, maintenance, and development costs, I also accept tips on Ko-fi. Every little bit helps keep the lights on.