It was on a walk through Covent Garden that Mary Alice Malone first discovered the brand DuoBoots, which prides itself on creating, producing and designing custom-made wide-fit boots for the masses.

“When the opportunity came to become the head of the brand, I jumped at it,” Malone tells Stylist. “I wanted to enchant a new generation with covetable styles while also staying true to the inclusive vision of designing boots for all women.”

The result, since Malone joined at the helm of the brand in 2020, has been precisely that. DuoBoots, which was founded in 1974, has a clear premise: to democratise boots and to bring custom boots to the masses. The result? People across the country having access to stylish boots that are made to fit their legs.

The process of buying a pair of DuoBoots, whose slogan is ‘boots that fit beautifully around you’, is simple. Log on to the brand’s website, input your shoe size (it stocks sizes UK 2-10) and your calf size (its sizing options span from 30cm to 50cm) and add the custom boots to your basket and let the brand do the rest for you.

According to the brand, over half a million searches are made each year for ‘wide-calf boots’ or ‘narrow boots’, marking the desire for more inclusive footwear sizing. Customers using DuoBoots’ own ‘Find Your Fit’ service has spiked by 300% in the last 12 months while Google Trends has observed that searches for ‘wide-calf boots’ have spiked by 160% in the last year alone. Malone expands: “It’s hard to find boots in over – or even under – a 38cm calf size, and that closes out options of footwear for many people.”

Size 14 content creator Erica Davies pitched an idea to John Lewis & Partners in 2021 about wide-calf boots and, by November, she’d debuted a collection of 10 pairs of knee-high boots made specifically for wider legs. The collection was, according to Davies, John Lewis & Partners’ “most inclusive range of boots to date, 10-15% wider than average”. Several pairs of the boots had sold out even before their official launch, and this winter, John Lewis & Partners joined forces with Davies once again for a follow-up collection featuring 16 additional size-inclusive boots, as well as outerwear too. 

Other brands have dipped their toes into the size-inclusive market, too. SimplyBe, a purveyor of size inclusivity, offers boot options for wider calves. As does Arket, which has an option of knee-high kitten-heeled boots that are wide-shafted. The options are still limited to a small pool of retailers though, something Malone hopes will change.

“I have a large family and big group of friends, and I’ve seen how many of them have struggled to find boots that fit,” she concedes. “As a footwear designer, I wanted to change that and make boots that suit every body.”

Images: Getty