Shinya Kanematsu × Sachiko Takashima

Enchanted?! High-quality durable semi-custom shoes that you will not want to take off.

Takashima

You also make semi-custom shoes?

Kanematsu

Yes. We offer them only at our Ginza 6-chome Main Store. They are very popular among customers who have a difficult time finding the right shoes. We measure our customers’ feet precisely and based on advice from the shoe fitter, we have them try on different sample shoes in order to find the right size. This way, they should be able to choose shoes that better fit them. We offer two separate brands to accommodate different types of feet – “MISS SLENDER” for people with low insteps and “WOMAN & MYSELF” for those with wide feet. I would advise anyone having trouble finding the right shoes to try them.

Takashima

What is the typical Japanese woman’s foot shaped like?

Kanematsu

Women these days tend to have small heels and low insteps. I would imagine that changes in lifestyles and diets are causing skeletal change.

Takashima

When I was in elementary school, my feet would grow bigger and bigger, and my mother said that girls with large feet could never be married. She would not let me wear shoes larger than 23.5cm, and my feet ceased to get larger than 23.5cm (laughs). Do you find that the size of women’s feet has changed compared to the past?

Kanematsu

Women are becoming taller, so they do have bigger feet. I would say that 23.5cm is the average size.

Takashima

You also have a brand called “POOLSIDE.” Is it a diffusion brand?

Kanematsu

Since “elegance” is our concept for Ginza Kanematsu, we decided to produce a line of casual shoes. This is how “POOLSIDE” came into being. “POOLSIDE” shoes run from 10,000 yen to 15,000 yen. It has been 35 years since we first introduced this brand.