u/Soft-Classroom-5078

i spent 5 years fitting skates in a pro shop and probably fitted 200+ women. the stories i heard were wild. women told to "just bake them again," getting sized into mens boots with no mention that womens specific options existed, told their pain was just break in when the boot profile was flat out wrong for their foot.

i ended up building a free fit tool (her.hockey) because i got tired of watching people leave shops in the wrong skate. its still in beta so id genuinely love feedback if anyone wants to try it. but im also just curious what the experience has been like from your side. did you get a proper fitting? did you figure it out yourself? still dealing with skates that hurt?

(the tool also is only a shoe -> skate conversation right now. more updates to come)

I fit skates for 5 years and played for 17. Here's what I learned working in a pro shop, and what most shops get wrong about how women's skates fit.

**1. They put you in a men's skate and call it a women's skate.** It's not. The last (the shape of the skate) is still built for a wider male foot.

**2. They bake the skate the same way they bake a guy's.** Women's feet tend to run narrower through the heel, so a standard bake doesn't lock the heel in the same way.

If you trust the person fitting you, ask them about the shrink wrap technique. After the bake, with the skate on your foot and laced at about 75% tension, they wrap stretch wrap from the heel up around the ankle and eyelets. Then you sit with your knees bent at 90° for 10-15 minutes without standing. The wrap pulls the boot tighter to your actual foot shape while it cools. Works best on full carbon boots like Trues. On softer composite skates it'll still help but won't hold as aggressively.

Shrink Wrap - Tech

**3. They upsell stiffness based on your level on paper, not your weight.** A 130lb player in a senior pro stiffness skate is going to get bone bruises and quit before they figure out the skate is the problem.

Caveat: if you're skating every day, the argument for a top-tier skate comes back, because a softer skate will break down fast under that volume. But for most women buying a "level appropriate" skate, the stiffness is way too much for their weight.

None of this is the fitter being malicious. Most of them just haven't fit enough women to know.

If anyone has questions about women's fits I'm happy to go deeper in the comments. I've been working on something to help women figure this stuff out before they buy but that's a different conversation. Just wanted to get the knowledge out there.

If you've got a skate fitting horror story or found something that actually works for your feet I'd love to hear it though. What model, what worked, what didn't. The more real experiences I can pull from the better.

Edit: There are probably a lot of vet shop guys out there and if you guys have any advice or knowledge, leave a comment I always want to learn more.