Are Diabetic Work Shoes Made?

We had a client ask if we had a Diabetic Safety Shoe. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a diabetic safety shoe.  What we (the customer and our sales person) have to do is find the most comfortable shoe for these customers.  It’s critical to get the correct fit.

We need to know who the diabetics are, so when they come to our shoemobile we’ll know to take extra care with these customers to make sure they get a very good fitting and comfortable shoe.  (The customers’ toes have to have plenty of room!)  And we’d like to know what kind of shoe they want, like 6 inch waterproof, lightweight athletic, etc., so we can be prepared with the right inventory for these customers.

Wider toe boxes and lighter weight shoes are what is typically needed for diabetics!  We all (the diabetic customers  and the sales person) need to be careful  to get the customer in a comfortable good fitting shoe, but there really is not a certified diabetic safety shoe.

IMPORTANT:  The first day the customer wears their new shoes for work, they should wear their old shoes to work and then change into their new shoes at work!  That way if there is ANY discomfort, the new shoes can be swapped for the old ones and the customer can continue working without discomfort and without creating a problem with their feet.

The client came back and asked about composite toe shoes for the diabetic customers.

As for the suggestion of using Composite Toe Safety Shoes for Diabetics, that is certainly a good suggestion.  Composite toe safety shoes have 2 advantages:  one is they are lighter, which is always a big benefit for diabetics, and secondly, they have a larger toe box, which gives the toes more room.  Toe room is the critical thing for diabetics; and because composite safety toes have to be bigger than steel to provide the same protection, that fact makes them a natural for diabetics.  (The reason they have to be bigger (more toe room) is composite materials are not as strong as steel; thus to make the composite toe provide the same protection as steel, the composite toe has to be thicker than the steel toe and the shape of the toe has to be more bulbous.)

There are some steel toe boots that have wider toe boxes, too, like the styles that have a more “oblique style” to them, as you would see in the old earth shoes (non-safety) or in KEEN Utility Safety Shoe styles.