In those days the letters RRP really meant whey said. RRP stands for Recommended Retail Price which a lot of people today regard as some sort of marketing tool, like the never ending Sale that sellers of electrical stuff and sofas seem to go in for. It must work, or they would not do it, but back then the manufacturers told their customers how much to charge and what mark up they could expect and woe betide anyone who stepped out of line and cut the price, for they would be cut off without a pair to sell.

Indeed it was so deeply ingrained in the system that I recall one of their salesmen who hadn't the faintest idea what his shoes actually cost, something this retailer, on a tight budget, desperately wanted to know.

It was something called a sellers' market, a state of affairs most of us are too young to even imagine. As I say, in today's enlightened world the price the brand puts on the box often comes straight out of wonderland and provided the retailer does not sell at a silly price nothing is said.

But, to get to the point, in those days since there was not much competition on price, retailers had to persuade their customers that they were better than the guys down the road by offering better service, which to be fair most still do, but in particular by attention to correct fitting. Indeed the first thing I bought when the lease of my first shop was finalised was a size stick. 

All of which seems to have gone by the board. I dare say there are retailers who do not know how to use one, or what one is, even do not have one on the premises. The size stick is the very basic tool, as there are more sophisticated versions, which give all at once the width, heel to ball measurement, instep ratio, etc. All of which are not much use if you don't know how to use them, especially as shoe fitting is as much an art as a science.

It used to be very much a science in the good old days when customers put their feet into an X-ray machine until someone noticed the customers' feet were starting to glow and the sales staff were gradually mutating.

It is quite simply (which usually and certainly in this case means the opposite ) a matter of marrying what comes out of a factory whose products should be as identical as peas in a pod with the human foot which is heir to all manner of bumps and deformities. It also changes as the day goes on, but that is something no amount of measurement can cope with.

Which is why foot fitting is an art. Perfection is almost impossible to achieve, but at least the expert shoe fitter does his best to get there which is more than the customer who picks a shoe off the self-selection shelf and shoves it on his or her foot does. The D.I.Y. route often results in the customer buying shoes which are too big, since a shoe that is too big will always feel more comfortable than one that is too small.

I forbear to mention the effect of differing co-efficiencies of expansion of skin off the back and sides of different animals, which has to come into the equation. 

Nor do I want to get involved in the matter of fashion and the customers, sometimes female, who cram their feet into shoes that are demonstrably too small because they look more attractive. They are free agents and their money is as good as anyone else's, which is about the only way you can look at such customers.

This whole business of foot fitting is a matter of balance. 100% is rarely possible, but on the other hand 0%, not bothering at all, is not acceptable. In recent years, with increased prosperity, style and price have overtaken comfort. Now that there is less loose money in the economy I have a feeling people will expect their shoes to fit better and look after them more, and with margins becoming tighter, retailers will be less agreeable to accepting the dictates of their suppliers. The question might be asked whether the pre-pack, largely for the latter's convenience, is such a good idea. Similarly whether half sizes, which are now only found on quite dear shoes but used to be common on many cheap shoes, might start coming back again.. 

After all, we have got to the point where some slippers are offered in three sizes, small, medium and large. I wonder how many broken bones or even fatalities have been caused by their wearers' tripping and falling downstairs in these.

Which brings me back to the Society of Shoe Fitters who have been valiantly rowing against the current for many years. There was a time when it was taken for granted that children got their feet fitted and wore what their parents told them to, but with the advent of trainers the question of widths and anatomical correctness seem to have gone out of the window, as has the adult influence  It is easy to wag the finger and talk of future bunions, hammer toes, back pain and so on, but if every other kid is sporting a pair of trainers with flashing lights it is next to impossible to refuse yours the same, and if they have retractable wheels... whatever next?

In a world where it seems we are subjected to constant change and innovation, not all of it for the best, it is comforting to have the SSF standing for enduring values.

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