You need to take off your shoes - Married to a Mallu

If you’ve ever been to an Indian person’s house (or an Asian person for that matter), you’ve probably been asked to take your shoes off. Why’s that? Many people believe that shoes bring in lots of dirt and germs from outside – not to mention the occasional traces of animal poop. Although this practice seems straightforward, there are many implications that you may not realize.

Can you get your shoes off?

The first challenge that people have with this is how easy is it to get their shoes off? I used to own shoes with laces or buckles – shoes that I needed to sit down to get on and off. If you visit an Indian home or church you will see 100% slip on shoes (even sneakers with laces become slip on). Now I no longer buy any shoes that I can’t get on or off easily. Older or younger people might need somewhere to sit down. This is something that my family hasn’t really adapted to so they need a little extra time when they come over to get settled in.

What’s under there?

First off, what do you have going on inside your shoes? Are your socks in good shape? If you’re not wearing any socks, what’s the condition of your feet? These are things that you don’t need to worry about if you’re wearing shoes all the time in public. But once you enter someone’s home and are asked to take your shoes off, you suddenly can feel very unprepared. Even though we don’t wear shoes in our home, I always feel uncomfortable when new guests arrive (especially those that are not used to this practice) because I know they may not be prepared for this and my feel embarrassed. This is something that took my family a while to figure out as well.

Where do you put them all?

When your shoes don’t get used inside the house, they end up living by the door or the garage. Make sure you have enough room for all the shoes to be out (and conveniently slipped on when you come and go). We have each of our shoes in a different area – mine are by the front door and in the closet by the door, my kids have a basket for their small shoes, and my husband keeps his on the lower level near the garage. I also swap out my shoes seasonally so I only have out what I might use in that season. When guests come over, we have some room for their shoes, but not a lot. If you’ve been in any moderately-sized Indian home for a large gathering, you know that the shoes just take over the entryway and people just figure it out!

We have a bi-level home so we also keep some shoes by the deck off of our kitchen. We keep a pair of sandals for each of us right outside the door (it’s a covered deck) for when we need to step outside. I’m the only one that wears house shoes though, so I’ve been guilty of not switching my shoes and just wearing my house slippers on the deck or in the garage… oops!

Can you walk like that?

One of the issues I have is very high arches so I need a lot of support. I can’t walk around barefoot all day on hard floors without feeling like I’m going to die. At home I have house shoes which are basically supportive sandals or slippers that I wear all day long. (I realized during COVID that I was wearing through these shoes like crazy!) When I go over someone else’s house though, it’s hard for me unless I think to bring my own house shoes. My legs get very tired and achy after several hours like that.

My favorite easy-on shoes

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Here are some recommendations for slip-on or zip-up shoes that I have found very comfortable (your mileage may vary):

Dr. Scholl’s Slip On Sneaker

Sperry Crest Vibe Sneaker

Miz Mooz Lewis Chelsea Boot

Dr. Scholl’s Hidden Wedge Ankle Bootie

Aerosoles Clovis Slide Sandal

Style & Co Mulan Wedge Sandal

House Shoes: My favorite brands for arch support are Vionic and FitFlop – look for the original footbed, because some of the newer styles of FitFlop don’t have the same support.