Is a narrow-toe box better than a broad-toe box in footwear?

Technically and in foot anatomy, the broad toe box is essential for foot health and safety. Where the foot works when wearing shoes for a full day or standing for long periods, the narrow toe box injures and causes rotting of the toes and risk of fungus and calluses. However, broad-toe boxes are not worn unless there is a severe foot problem.

Simply put, there are only two reasons for this:

First of all, no such campaign is run by fashion icons and the fashion industry; our primary source of marketing and industry influence is TV ads, social media marketing, and the impact of fashion icons. But by completely ignoring the concept of Narrow and Broad-toe-Box, only Narrow Toe Box is considered a fashion symbol, so in such a scenario, explaining the benefits of Broad-Toe-Box to the consumer and convincing them that Narrow-Toe-Box is detrimental is a challenging and almost impossible task. All your research and debate boils down to this phrase "if the narrow-toe box is as harmful, or broad-toe-box is beneficial, then why isn't the multibillion-dollar media and fashion industry working on it?" "

While the second thing which is the worst obstacle in its way is that the footwear designers and footwear technologists are very creative in upper designing and sole designing and technically very strong in pattern making, respectively. While on a shoe last, there is no grip. The shoe last acts as a bridge between the foot and the shoe and is designed keeping in mind the anatomy of the foot and keeping the fashion element in mind so that the shoe made on it is comfortable for the foot and can follow fashion styles or trends. Accordingly, it has a unique look, shape, and feel. What happens here is that some big brands make shoes keeping this thing in mind, and their unique feature is that like bespoke shoes, i.e., shoes that stick right next to the skin of the feet, even the shoes do not disturb the feet. Relatively extraordinarily comfortable and wearable as the big brands and designers go through the high-end and proper research and development phase. But people dealing at a trim level and in masses since they do not have access to the big brands and their shoe last as well, and also they don't have the capital to spend on R&D, buy shoes from that shoe brands and copy the last with the help of plaster of Paris. They think they have copied the profile of foot anatomy, while the reality is quite the opposite. Then, more copies of this copy, considering this last as the final letter and viewing themselves as the last expert, toe box shape changes are made by making new shapes that gradually shift the position of the navicular and Metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joints on the last elsewhere. The critical position shifts back and forth in the last. Most footwear experts cannot extract the insole pattern and correct it according to the foot's anatomy, so the result is that the constant repetition of the error gives the impression that narrow-toe-box can never be true.

As a footwear designer and a humble student of the footwear field, I suggest that a wide foot is beneficial for foot health, but that does not necessarily mean that a narrow toe should not be worn if the shoe last maker can understand the anatomy and bone structure of the foot, he can develop a last in a narrow toe shape that is optically fashionable and in form according to trends, but provides the same comfort to the foot that gives a broad-toed shoe.

Even today, my answer to non-specialists is that the broad toe is better, but I would like to tease people who are from the footwear field that the narrow toe shape is not bad for the health of the foot, but we make a mistake in understanding the last according to the foot.