Tips for "wearing in" a new pair of loafers?

[lilmann40]

Hey all. I have a pair of loafers that fits a bit tight. I've now worn them to work about 3 times and each day, by the end of the day, as they say, my dogs are barking big time. Specifically the top of my foot is very tight.

Any advice/tips on how to wear loosen them up? I'm going to try wearing them around the house for like an hour at a time (instead of all day at work), but I figure that will be a much slower process. I was reading that cobblers can help loosen them up...anyone have experience with that?

 

[LA Guy]

Cobblers with the proper equipment can stretch the shoes about half a size. Try that.

 

[Astaroth]

Easiest is to get a cobbler or if its a decent shop you bought them from then they can do it for you.

Outside of that you can buy shoe stretching tools that look like shoe trees but with a mechanism to enlarge them which are best combined with a mechanism to soften the leather slightly in the problem areas like mink oil.

The non-equipment mechanism is to wear a couple of extra pairs of socks and put up with the pain to stretch/break them in