In Search of Perfect Fitting Shoes
Shoe Design Rooted in Injury RehabilitationI started designing and making shoes back in 1984 after tearing the ACL and MCL ligaments in my left knee.
Perfect Fitting Shoes: CORPORATE PHILOSOPHY
Perfect Fitting Shoes is based upon my continued belief that if I was provided the proper resources, I could build a team of people who believe like me that designing comfortable shoes does not mean trying to sell something that you might associate as being “Geriatric”. We make shoes based upon different designs that try to properly fit a person’s dynamic foot as they go about their daily activities. We sell shoes that allow our customers to be comfortable while wearing the same pair of shoes in the morning as they do at night.
We sell direct to the customer so that we can cut out the middleman and allow our customers to purchase high quality shoes at a very reasonable price backed by a company whose goal is to provide our customers with perfect fitting footwear that comfortably fits their feet all day long. We strive to provide genuine customer service that solves all of our customer’s concerns! This means that we will answer the phone and talk to you in person as we get feedback from our customers.
Perfect Fitting Shoes is structured to help others achieve the best that they can for themselves! We are a company based upon inclusiveness of all people who share our goal of helping others while working hard to help PFS grow into a profitable company that prides itself on giving back to others who are less fortunate due to circumstances beyond their control.
All employees will be provided a work environment that is safe and nurturing as we encourage a close knit family philosophy based upon helping others achieve common goals. All employees will be paid a livable wage with benefits that allows for quality family time away from work.
We design shoes for people to achieve their best no matter what their activity goal might include, and we will listen to our critics, good and bad as we strive to offer our customers the best footwear that they have ever worn!
Quality Materials
The leather we use in making Perfect Fitting Shoes is supplied by one of the top European tanneries which is located in Portugal. This tannery, Dias Ruivo, has been tanning leather for more than 80 years while being owned by the same family. They make some of the highest quality leather hides for the European market while using the best environmentally friendly solutions to ensure environmental sustainability for years to come. All of the leather provided by this tannery is from bovine hides which is a byproduct of the food industry. They primarily use vegetable extracts in the tanning of the hides which yields a much cleaner process for the waste water when making their high quality leathers.
Jim Ross
Founder/CEO
My name is Jim Ross and I am the founder and lead designer for Perfect Fitting Shoes. I started designing shoes back in 1984 after I started rehabilitation of my left knee from surgery to repair my torn LCL and ACL in my left knee. I have been designing and making shoes, handbags, belts and other leather items for myself and other companies in factories around the world.
As part of my physical rehabilitation I was forced to adapt my running gait so that I would push off on the balls of my feet and I would land on the balls of my feet so as to minimize the impact of the strike when my foot would hit the ground. I was so concerned about re-damaging my left knee that I made sure I would not strike on the heel of my foot which caused me problems due to the back of the shoe rubbing up and down on the back of my achilles tendon. This rubbing up and down caused me blisters which was my inspiration for designing the first shoes that I ever created back in 1984. Those shoes are very ugly compared to the shoes we are introducing into the marketplace now!
I reached out to Jose Lourenco back in April of 2021 to help me find a high quality shoe factory that had the ability to work with a start-up brand and after showing him photos of previous designs that I have made for myself he agreed to help me if we updated the designs to offer something with a fresh look. So I am very happy to say that I feel extremely proud to have collaborated with Jose on this new collection that we will officially offer to the Marketplace in June 2022.
I majored in chemical engineering at Texas A&M University but I never completed my degree. I took some business management courses after creating my first design and have never looked back wishing I had completed my engineering degree.
I met Chris back in the early 90s when we were both working for Nordstrom in the Northern California area. He eventually became my manager and I’ve always respected his willingness and professionalism to put the customer first except for when the customer was obviously abusing the system. (In my opinion Nordstrom has a lot of people who abuse their policy which makes it very hard for the sales people to help some of these people when you know that they are obviously working the system in order for the customer to get money back after their purchase.) So he has always been our natural choice to be in charge of operations for the Perfect Fitting Shoes website after we got it up and running.
Partners in Success
Chris Rohde
IT and Operations Manager
Chris has 15 years of experience in the shoe business that includes working as a shoe manager and buyer for Nordstrom in Northern California. He has another 12 years working as a Store Manager for Apple and Gateway Computers in the San Francisco Bay area, plus 3 years as an IT Manager for the tech companies Lyft and Asana.
“I strive to provide the best possible customer experience shopping for Perfect Fitting Shoes on our website!”
Jose Lourenço
Technical Director / Factory Liaison
Jose has worked in the shoe industry on the manufacturing side of business since 1991 starting as a Pattern Engineer. He has worked for factories in Portugal, Spain and Morocco where he made Timberland, Rockport, Clarks, Dansko, Chaco, Cabela’s, Lacoste, Aerosoles, Tommy Hilfiger, and Ecco shoes for export around the world.
He has worked for factories where the uppers were made in one country (Morocco) and shipped to another country (Spain) in order to produce the shoes at favorable prices with high quality results. His expertise includes working with CAD-CAM systems where the shoes are designed on computers and the patterns cut out with the aid of a high pressure water cutting table machine. Plus working with direct injection machines to produce shoes that were made by ex-Ecco employees from Germany.
“We shoe technicians transform a Design in pieces to come together to fit a plastic body that represents our feet. And we now use high technology to assist us in manufacturing shoes that perform to a person’s expectations!”
Our Story
I am convinced that the Holy Grail in life for a lot of people is finding a pair of perfect fitting shoes. A pair that they can comfortably wear all day long without suffering pain or discomfort. I say this because I sold shoes for many years at retail locations including Nordstrom, Aventura, and various specialty shoe stores. I got down on one knee thousands of times to help people put on multiple pairs of shoes only to find out that they didn’t fit correctly, regardless of all the pads and stretching devices available to customize the fit of the shoe to the customer’s foot.
Everybody deserves PERFECT FITTING SHOES all day long!
Most shoes are like snowflakes, each one is unique. Because of the way that most shoes are made, there are slight variances from pair to pair, so no two will fit exactly alike. This difference can be exaggerated if you are trying on a shoe that someone else already had on their feet. Trying on a shoe can alter it slightly, especially if the salesperson has already worked on the shoe to try to make it fit another customer. But what are you going to do? Buy 10 pair of the same shoe online hoping to find one that fits better than the rest? That is a waste of your time, money and patience. And will probably not be successful anyway.
A lot of people are shocked when they find out that one source of their shoe problems is the fact that for various reasons, their feet swell during the day. The result of this swelling is that a shoe that was the right size in the morning, is no longer the right size in the afternoon. So unless you are willing to wear shoes like the padded leather moccasins worn by Itzy The Iceman, carry a second pair with you that is proven to fit you better later in the day, or wear sandals or clogs all your life, then you might have to settle for suffering in pain on a daily basis.
People abuse their feet all day long by simply living their lives. According to published reports the average person walks over 75,000 miles before they are 50 years old. Feet are built for long term use but they can change shape and size all day long due to activity, temperature & elevation changes, and other factors. When you consider that each foot has 26 bones (25% of the whole human body), 33 joints; over 100 muscles, ligaments, tendons, a network of blood vessels, nerves, skin and soft tissue, it’s easy to understand why you have problems finding great fitting shoes that still feel good at the end of the day.
Typically, shoes are manufactured on forms (called “lasts”) which are made from solid wood, plastic or metal. These lasts are formed so that a shoe maker can shape the shoe to the ideal foot that the shoe was designed for, but the odds are virtually zero that you were born with that ideal shape, and the only adjustability that is generally built into any shoe is provided over the instep of the foot by laces, Velcro straps, or elastic bands. Of course, with most ladies’ pumps and flats, as with many men’s styles, there is absolutely no adjustability.
Custom made shoes can help. People with foot issues such as hammer toes, bunions, or with having two different size feet (we all do, but some more than others), can have shoes made specifically for each foot with extra room to protect those sensitive areas. A quality custom made shoe or boot from a high-end shoe company like Crockett & Jones (England), John Lobb (England), Pakerson’s (Italy), Saint Crispin’s (Austria), Stallion Boots (TX), or Murray Space Shoe (CA… Steve McQueen wore them!) will provide extra room around your problem spots, which will help to eliminate foot pain and discomfort. Last year a new company in NYC called Antonia Saint Dunbar started offering a custom fitted high heel pump and a flat, both of which included very support features, but this still doesn’t take into account that your feet swell throughout the day. So, there are two problems with custom made shoes. The first is that your feet still change throughout the day, so they won’t fit the same in the evening as they did in the morning. Secondly, as you can imagine, they can be very expensive.
So, what’s the solution? Should you completely forgo style, ignore the dress code at your business, and just wear clogs, moccasins or athletic shoes all day? Or maybe you should resign yourself to a life of foot pain? I say no… don’t settle! The perfect fitting shoe is out there and please tell us what you want to see in your next perfect fitting pair of shoes at www.PerfectFittingShoes.com.
Jim Ross
Lead Designer/CEO
Perfect Fitting Shoes