[Don Black]

I purchased my first pair of AEs during college to go with my one formal suit. Since I have wide feet, I had to get 8.5EEE lace-ups from Nordstrom.

Fast-forward a few years and I'm looking to spruce up my casual shoe collection.

I tried buying some 8.5EEE Ferragamos but those were simply too narrow. Different brand; different standard of width. I get it.

So I tried on a pair of AE 8.5EEE slip-ons (the Winthrop if anyone cares) and they were much tighter than my lace-ups of the same size from AE. Which brings me to my first question: Are lace-ups of the same size wider than slip-ons?

Regardless, I bought the 8.5EEE Winthrop anyway and after a two-week break-in period, I find them to be fairly comfortable although still not as loose as my 4+ year old AE lace-ups.

Thinking that 8.5EEE at AE was my size then, I went ahead and purchased another pair of AE slip-ons (the Bruzzano). But when I got them, I was shocked to find that they didn't fit at all (not even close on the width).

So what's going on here? I admint that I don't know much about shoes but I figured the same size from the same brand should fit, no?

Thanks all.