Shoe Catalogs You Can Still Order From by Mail

If you wear a hard-to-find size, need a specific width, or simply can't get to a store that stocks real depth, shoe shopping by mail is still the most practical option. The pair of shoes you need may not exist in three local stores combined — but it ships from a catalog warehouse within two days. The catalogs that survived the move online did so because they solved the real problem: letting customers buy shoes they can't try on, with enough selection and a return policy permissive enough to make the risk tolerable.

Zappos

Zappos (zappos.com) didn't just survive the shift to online shoe retail — it redefined what buying shoes by mail could mean. Founded in 1999 by Nick Swinmurn in Las Vegas and acquired by Amazon in 2009, Zappos built its entire model around the two things that made shoes-by-mail frightening for most shoppers: shipping and returns. The answer was free shipping both ways and a no-questions 365-day return policy. That policy is not a promotional teaser — it is the core product. It exists because Zappos understood that a shopper who can't try shoes on needs the return window as a substitute for the fitting-room.

The selection at Zappos spans hundreds of brands across every category: running shoes, dress footwear, boots, sandals, athletic, comfort, and orthopedic-friendly styles. Sizing and width filters are genuinely useful — they narrow a search to what actually fits rather than surfacing every shoe on the site. Brands like New Balance, Brooks, Clarks, Vionic, Dansko, and Birkenstock sit alongside trend-driven labels, which means both the comfort shopper and the fashion-first buyer find what they need in the same place.

Zappos prices at or near full retail, so it is not a discount destination. What it offers instead is the lowest-friction return experience in the shoe business and a depth of selection no physical store can match. Customer service is a genuine differentiator — Zappos has a reputation for resolving problems with a minimum of friction, which matters when a wrong-fit return is the only way to course-correct on a purchase you couldn't test in person. For most shoppers, Zappos is the default and the safest place to start.

Massey's

Massey's (masseys.com) is the legacy women's footwear catalog, and it exists to solve a specific problem that Zappos's breadth can dilute: hard-to-find widths at value prices. A long-running mail-order shoe catalog, Massey's built its following among customers who need narrow, wide, and extra-wide widths in dress shoes, comfort flats, and seasonal footwear. These are the sizes that mainstream retailers rarely stock across a full style range — a retailer may carry a wide-width label but offer only three styles in it. Massey's constructs its catalog around width availability rather than treating it as an afterthought.

The assortment leans toward comfort and easy-care styles rather than trend-driven fashion. Dress pumps with a generous toe box, comfort flats in extended widths, casual walkers, and seasonal boots in wider fits make up the core. Prices are accessible — well below what the specialty comfort-shoe stores charge — and Massey's offers a deferred-payment credit plan that has been part of why the catalog retained its loyal, older customer base through the transition online. Customers who found Massey's in print decades ago still order from it because the sizing problem it solves has not been solved better elsewhere.

If you have struggled to find a wide-width dress shoe, a comfortable flat that actually fits across the ball of the foot, or an extended-size casual walker at a price that doesn't require justification, Massey's is purpose-built for that problem. It is not the right catalog for athletic footwear or fashion-forward styles, but within its lane — women's footwear in non-standard widths, value pricing, comfort emphasis — it is the most focused option available by mail.

Two Shoe Catalogs That Are Gone

Older shoppers will remember two more names from this category, and both have closed. Blair, the Warren, Pennsylvania apparel catalog founded in 1910 that sold value-priced comfort shoes alongside its clothing, stopped accepting new orders on August 19, 2025, according to its Wikipedia entry. OnlineShoes.com, one of the original internet shoe stores and a go-to for comfort and orthopedic-friendly styles, went offline in January 2017 when its parent company, Shoes.com, shut down.

If you used either one, the substitutes map fairly cleanly. For wide widths at value prices, Massey's covers the ground Blair's shoe section did. For comfort and support-driven shopping, Zappos's width and brand filters do the job OnlineShoes did, with brands like Vionic, Dansko, Brooks, and New Balance in the same search and the 365-day return window as a safety net while you work out fit. A mailer or saved bookmark from either closed store should be treated as out of date: neither domain loads today.

Returns, sizing and width: what to know before ordering shoes by mail

Buying shoes without trying them on introduces one real risk: fit. The strategies that reduce that risk are measurement, understanding width designations, and choosing a catalog with a return policy that lets you exchange without penalty.

Measuring your feet at home takes five minutes and prevents most sizing errors. Stand on a sheet of paper, trace each foot, and measure the longest dimension (toe to heel) and the widest dimension (ball-width). Feet change over time — adult foot size shifts with age, weight change, and pregnancy — so measuring annually is worth the time even if you've ordered shoes successfully for years. Measure both feet: they are almost never identical, and you size for the larger one.

Width designations run from AAA (narrowest) through AA/A (narrow), B (standard women's), D (standard men's / wide women's), E/2E (wide men's), and 4E (extra-wide men's). Not every catalog carries every width in every style — this is the core shopping constraint when buying by mail. Massey's is specifically organized around extended widths for women; Zappos offers the broadest width range across the most brands and lets you filter a search by width.

Return policy is the deciding variable. When you cannot try a shoe on before purchase, the return window functions as your fitting room. Zappos's 365-day free-return policy is the benchmark — it removes the cost and time pressure from a return decision. For Massey's, check the current return terms on its site before ordering, as policies can change. Look specifically for: free return shipping (or prepaid label), the window length, and whether exchanges are processed as new orders or directly. A restocking fee or a short return window turns a wrong-size purchase into a financial loss, not just an inconvenience.

Matching the catalog to your need

Neither catalog dominates every dimension. Zappos wins on selection, fit filtering, and return policy; Massey's wins on width specialization for women at value pricing.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find my shoe width for mail order? Stand on a sheet of paper and trace your foot. Measure the widest part — across the ball of the foot, just behind the toes. Compare to a width chart for your shoe size; most catalog sites publish one. Women's standard width is B; men's standard is D. Wide women's is typically D or E; wide men's is 2E or 4E. If you've never measured, do it before ordering: buying a length-correct shoe in the wrong width is the most common mail-order fit error.

Which catalog has the best return policy? Zappos has the most permissive return policy in the category: free return shipping both ways, 365-day return window, no questions asked. For Massey's, check the current return terms before ordering — policies vary and can change. The key things to verify: whether return shipping is free or at your cost, the return window length, and whether you can exchange for a different size without paying again.

Can I still order shoes from a paper catalog? Zappos is online-only — no mailed print catalog. Massey's has deep roots in print catalog mail-order and may still send mailers to existing customers, though its primary ordering channel is now the web, which is the most current view of inventory. A Blair catalog still sitting in a drawer can't be ordered from: Blair stopped accepting new orders in August 2025.

What if I'm between sizes? The standard guidance is to size up by half a size if you are between sizes, then return if the fit is wrong. This is where a permissive return policy matters most: if a catalog charges for return shipping or has a short window, the cost of a half-size error accumulates quickly. Zappos's free-return policy makes the half-size gamble genuinely low-risk. With other catalogs, factor the potential return shipping cost into the purchase decision before ordering a borderline size.

References

• Zappos: https://www.zappos.com
• Massey's: https://www.masseys.com
• Blair Corporation — Wikipedia, on Blair ending new orders in 2025
• Shoes.com (defunct company) — Wikipedia, on the 2017 shutdown that took OnlineShoes.com offline