Review of Hotter Shoes for Women

Update 5/16/23: Hotter Shoes for women is available to shoppers in the United Kingdom and Europe only now. The U.S. store has apparently shutdown, I’m sorry to report.

However, if you’re landing on this review from someplace other than the United States, please keep reading. I love this brand, and I’m so sorry that my fellow Americans can no longer buy these shoes.

When I first learned about Hotter Shoes for women a few years ago, I’ll be honest: I wasn’t super impressed. This shoe brand from the UK got onto my radar because of my ongoing search for the best wide width shoes for women.

Nay, my ongoing search for the best extra wide width shoes for women. Extra wide, you ask? Yes, that’s what I’m blessed (or cursed) with. Feet that need double wide width shoes. 

Anyway, this was back in 2017 when I first discovered Hotter Shoes. At that time the catalog was really limited. 

No thanks on orthotic shoe styles

Also, the styles were, honestly, very grandma. I mean, like what my grandmother might have worn. Or my mother in law. Not me.

Boy, how times have changed.

Why I’m writing about Hotter Shoes

In fact, Hotter Shoes reached out to me to ask that I write this review. They were aware that I’d written lots of blog posts about wide width shoes for women. 

Also, I’m a member of their affiliate program. That means when people click through my links and make a purchase, I get a commission. However, I only write about and join affiliate programs for brands I believe in.

Anyway, Hotter Shoes asked that I give the brand another try. In exchange for sending me two free pairs of women’s shoes, they asked that I write an honest review. So, here you go.

What are Hotter Shoes for Women

Before I get into the meat of this review, you may be asking, “What are Hotter Shoes?” or “Where are Hotter Shoes sold?” Let me answer the first question first. Here is how the brand describes its shoes and mission:

“At Hotter, we understand that comfort is personal. Well, so are your feet. We strive to provide straight-out-the-box feel-good comfort in every shoe we make. No matter your comfort flavour[sic; remember, it’s a British company], our Comfort Technology allows your fit to be a little less average and a little more you. When it comes to our shoes, it’s all about you.”

Now, where can you buy Hotter Shoes? Well, despite what your Google results may tell you, there is only one place you can buy Hotter Shoes–on the Hotter Shoes website.

Review of Hotter Shoes for Women

So deciding which two pairs of shoes to get was fun. Like legit fun scrolling through my options. There were so many cute shoes to choose from.

On the other hand, I wish there had been more double wide width shoes in the collection. When I filtered by width, I had 28 choices. 

Nonetheless, I was able to narrow my choices down to five pairs of shoes. And then to two.

Shoe choices by width

As I mentioned there were 28 pairs of shoes that would fit my double wide feet. They were available in the following:

• Boots
• Sandals
• Slippers
• Trainers aka sneakers

I really wanted to get a pair of booties for winter. But it is spring when I’m writing this review. Therefore, that would have been a stupid choice, because it would have been months before I could wear them for real. 

So instead I chose a pair of cute retro sneakers with purple and silver stripes. FYI, Hotter refers to sneakers as trainers. Because, you know, they’re based in the UK. Also, I chose a pair of leather sandals in my favorite color–green.

Using TrueFit with my Hotter Shoes selections

I’ve mentioned that I’d last tried Hotter Shoes for women in 2017. At that time they did fit my feet; I just didn’t like the styles.

However, since I wasn’t intimately familiar with the brand, I wasn’t sure if the 8 and a half WW in Hotter Shoes would be like other brands. Thankfully, the website uses TrueFit to help you with your fit.

I’ve used TrueFit before on Nordstrom.com for pants and tops. In case you’re not familiar with TrueFit, it has you go through a series of questions about other brands you wear. Then, based on your answers, it makes recommendations for the size you should choose for the website where you’re currently shopping.

So, I went through all of the steps with TrueFit on Hotter dot com, the website for Hotter Shoes for Women. Fingers crossed that TrueFit still worked for me.

Widths available for shoes

In women’s shoes that you can buy from Hotter, you have four width choices:

• Slim Fit
• Standard Fit
• Wide Fit
• Extra Wide Fit

So, in addition to working for hard-to-fit extra wide feet like mine, Hotter Shoes can also be a resource for women with narrow feet. I know that they face similar challenges in finding shoes that fit.

Shoes I tried out

As I mentioned at the start, Hotter Shoes offered to send me two pairs for free in exchange for an honest review. So, what shoes did I get? One, a pair of their tourist sandals with a cork wedge heel. And, two, their switch shoes modern leather deck shoes, aka the sneaker.

Review of the tourist sandals

My pair of tourist sandals were in a light green, one of my favorite colors. The cork wedge heel is a bit of a misnomer, in that the wedge heel isn’t really that big of a wedge.

Unlike my pair of Rockport Cobb Hill Jana slingback suede platform sandals, with a three-inch inch wedge heel, the tourist sandals from Hotter Shoes only have a 1.25-inch heel. But that’s a good thing. Frankly, they make them easier to walk in and wear all day.

These sandals look and feel similarly to my all-time favorite sandals from Josef Seibel, the Tonga style that also have a cork heel. They have a 1.5-inch heel. Also, like those Seibel shoes, the tourist sandals have an opening and closure around the ankle and the front of the foot. Two thumbs up for this functionality.

Sandals fit my wide feet like a glove

This is an important feature for wide-footed gals like myself. Sometimes we need a little extra room to accommodate our extra wide feet. While the Seibel sandals have Velcro, the Hotter Shoes have a pretty, brass buckle. It was super easy to open and close it.

All together, the tourist sandals were quite comparable and as comfortable as my Seibels. In fact, if you put them side by side, you might think they were from the same designer. So bravo, Hotter Shoes on the sandals.

Review of switch shoes modern leather deck shoes

A big challenge for me when it comes to closed-toe shoes is the toe box. That is, if my toes or forefoot are squished, I can’t wear them. My trick to test a wide enough for me toe box is this: can I cross my toes inside the shoe?

Well, guess what? These Hotter Shoes sneakers passed the test. And they looked damned good with my white jeans! I can easily see these becoming a weekend staple.

Unfortunately, since ordering these sneakers, the purple and silver stripe combo has sold out. However, there are other color combinations available, including pastel rainbow.

Here is a link to the other color options in this sneaker or trainer style.

Overall thoughts on Hotter Shoes for women

As I mentioned at the start of this review, my opinion of Hotter Shoes was quite skewed before getting my footwear. I had an outdated view of the kinds of shoes that Hotter made and sold.

And while you can still find more geriatric-looking shoes on the Hotter website, they have so much more to offer, such as the cute sneakers and sandals I received. 

The one con against Hotter Shoes? There is not enough of a selection in extra wide widths for someone looking for more fashion-forward shoes. Just because women like me have extra wide feet, that doesn’t mean that we should be limited in our choices of fashionable and comfortable footwear.