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The switch
The quiet switch: why people over 50 are trading "medical" easy shoes for ones that just look like sneakers
For years, a shoe that was easy to put on had to look the part: beige, bulky, strapped like a brace. A new kind of everyday sneaker drops the look, keeps the ease, and fits swollen feet too.
Ask anyone who has shopped for easy shoes and you hear the same story. The shoes that solve the problem announce it.
A bulky sole, a rounded toe, a color you only ever see in catalogs for orthopedic supplies.
So people make a trade. Some keep pushing swollen feet into shoes that pinch. Some bend down every morning to fight with laces. Some stay in slippers, because the alternative feels like a label.
That trade is now optional.
Free US shipping · 50 days to wear them
The problem with easy shoes was never the strap
The strap works. The Michael J. Fox Foundation points out that tying laces takes "a significant amount of fine hand coordination," and a strap takes that job away. The UK's National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society says this kind of fastening "can be fastened and adjusted using only one hand."
The problem was everything around the strap. Easy shoes were designed to be easy first and shoes second. EasyWrap was designed the other way round: a clean everyday sneaker first, with the easy part hidden in plain sight.
One alternative is Velcro shoes, but this can restrict the styles of shoe available.
How the EasyWrap works
There is one moving part: a wide wrap-around strap that opens the whole top of the shoe. Putting it on takes three steps, and none of them means tying anything or bending all the way down.
Lift the strap. It folds all the way back, so the top of the shoe opens up to about twice as wide as a normal sneaker.
Step in flat. Your foot goes straight down into the shoe. No pushing your toes forward and no forcing your heel past a stiff back.
Wrap and press. The strap comes over the top and presses closed with a flat hand, as snug or as loose as your foot needs that day.
What the switch looks like
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Before:
Laces you bend down to tie every morning.Now: One wide strap you press closed with one hand. No laces at all.
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Before:
A narrow opening you squeeze your foot through.Now: A top that opens up to about twice as wide as a normal sneaker. Sit, set your foot in, wrap.
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Before:
A "good days" pair and an uglier "swollen days" pair.Now: One pair. Close the strap snug on a good day and looser on a swollen one, in widths from D all the way to 6E.
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Before:
Shoes that look like a medical supply.Now: Solid black or deep maroon, a clean upper, and a strap that reads as a design detail. Nobody looks twice.
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Before:
Slippers all day, because nothing else goes on easily.Now: A shoe for being out: a thick foam sole, a reflective detail for walks as the light goes, and good enough for lunch or a wedding.
What makes it fit when other shoes stop fitting
A strap that adjusts through the day
Close it snug in the morning and ease it a little in the afternoon, when feet tend to be at their biggest. Same shoe, same size.
An extra-wide toe box
A deep, roomy front, so your toes sit side by side instead of being pressed together, with room over the top of your foot too.
Five widths in every size
From D (Standard) up to 6E (Triple Extra Wide), so a wide foot gets a shoe built wide, not just a longer one.
Closes with one hand
The wide strap presses closed with one flat hand, like any Velcro-style shoe. No pinching, tying or threading.
A low, wide heel with a firm back
The strap fastens over the top of your foot, close to the ankle, and the heel is low, broad and firm, so the shoe is held from the top and the back.
Light on your feet
About 450g for the pair, with a thick foam sole underneath.
A breathable everyday upper
Light, breathable fabric in black or maroon that wears like any other sneaker you would pick for a day out.
Sizes that do not stop early
EasyWrap comes in US women's 5 to 14 and US men's 4 to 14, each in five widths. You order your usual size and choose your width. No sizing up, and no settling for a men's shoe because the women's range ends too soon.
Trying the switch
Try them on the good days and the swollen days. If they are not the easiest good-looking shoes you own, send them back within 50 days. Shipping in the US is free and takes 3 to 5 business days.
