Shoes (& sandals?) for very wide feet

[Sporky]

I've been wearing Merrell Moab (then Moab 2, same sole shape) Ventilator shoes (wide) for 5-6 years now. I've gone through multiple pairs and I always have a spare brand new one in my closet for later...
That's how much better they are than anything else I've tried. I wear them using Superfeet Green insoles, which are still going strong today. I found VERY early on that I require a lot of arch support,
and most shoes just fall flat (in both senses) without that thick, hard wonder that is the Superfeet insole. I could not go without it at all.

When I was preparing for my first long hike,
I tried to walk many miles each day, and literally after 2 days (sometimes even one day of 5-10 miles), I would start getting pain and insane tightness in the interior muscle of my lower leg,
the one you use to point your sole inward (right sole left). That's when I got serious about finding a proper sole and got said Superfeet Green and the Merrells.

However!! I will say this... I'm still holding out (sometimes painfully) for the right shoe for my foot. I should probably be wearing EEE ideally, and at least EE, but Merrell stops at E (that is their wide one).
This has always meant that I wore only New Balance most of my life, and to this day cannot find decent sandals to my foot (funnily enough, I shopped all of the high-end official Crocs, and none of their specifically wide ones came close to fitting my feet, so I now use 3$ Dollar store ones which actually fit and which I plan to take on my next hike, lol!), or high quality trail shoes to my width. The New Balance shoes and 'trail footwear' were fine,
until I tried walking long distance on any surface. They just have no arch support whatsoever.

So, I loved New Balance as a teen, but now I'm looking for much greater quality, and I've barely found anything. Keens are made wide and sell wide options, but the ones I have tried were nowhere near the quality of the Merrells (and rarely truly wide in the first place).
Hit me up if you have a suggestion... Like I said, I've really loved my Moab 2's, but my small toe gets very numb, very fast on a long hike, and while some of that might be normal... for me it's clearly beyond normal. I also cannot wear thick socks or even liner socks because their 'wide' shoe becomes too tight. That's a really, really bit bummer for me. Perhaps I will eventually need to request specially made shoes - that would be such a DREAM COME TRUE!! But I am still quite some ways (say 3+ decades) from being able to afford that
I would love some feedback and advice from fellow wide-footed hikers. Perhaps you can change my life!!!
Thanks, and best of luck to you all!

-Sporky / Raging Moose

[Traillium]

I, too, wear Merrell Moab Ventilators. My first pair was Size 13, and I now wear Size 14 Wide. (My day-to-day dressy shoes are Size 12.5 Wides.) I use Superfeet Greens in hiking footwear, and the thinner Superfeet Charcoal in all my other shoes.

My feet swelled a size and a half over a 45 thruhike of Ontario’s Bruce Trail. And have only lost a bit of that since. Or perhaps I’m now just much more comfortable in long and wide shoes.

Go large and wide!


Traillium
Ontario, Canada

[Dogwood]

Small toe being pinched or pushed underneath the adjacent toe can be a sign of a shoe that isn't designed for your feet or doesn't fit. I went through this for yrs until finding the appropriate width shoes for my Squatch-like feet. I now go with Hoka One One Stinsons the widest in this companies line up. The Zero Drop Altras with my high arch were problematic although I loved their toe box and forefoot design.

When doing mostly off trail and rougher terrain or with heavier TPW's or more moderate MPD avgs I do like how Keen footwear matches my feet and hikes.

I don't combine with the heaviest wt bulkiest socks or the highest volume after market orthotics. I tend towards SW, DT, or Injinji med wt ankle ht toe socks w/some amt of merino and SOLE Performance THIN Footbeds.