Do sneaker/shoe models vary depending on what store carries them?

[savoyspecial]

Last year I bought a pair of Asics 81 sneakers from Urban OUtiffters. Best pair of sneakers ever, they stopped selling the specific color which disappointed me. I went Nordstrom seeking a replacement. I bought the same model Asics 81 at nordstrom back in April of this year. The shoe doesn't fit like the one I bought at Urban Outfitters, it is just not as comfortable. I checked back in with Urban Outfitters last week and bought another Asics 81 shoe, albeit in a different color scheme than my previous ones. They fit great out of the box, much more comfortable than what I got at Nordstrom. The sizes of all 3 shoes were 12.


So my question is, is/why is there a difference between what UO and Nordstrom carries for this shoe? Has anybody else noticed this?

[Bulldoggery]

I sold athletic shoes for a long time. The issue isn't the retailer, it's the manufacturer.


As is the case with myriad other products, when the same style/model is made in multiple different factories, you'll often end up with multiple different levels of quality.


When applied to clothing, this means that fit varies (sometimes drastically) depending on which factories produces the style(s) in question.

[Cannon]

Even shoes (and more often, clothes) made in the same batches in the same factories vary. It is an issue of attempting greater production runs and lack of quality control.


They often cut fabrics and cushions in stacks, but as fabric will stretch and bend, the further down the fabric stacks, the more the size changes. The machine cutters on a stack of 20 denim sheets to make jeans, is going to slice down through them but it will get messier and move as it pushes through.


By the end, variances are bound to happen and they just have to stitch up the final product and put it as if it really did come out in the size they claim for the template.