Channeling Riley Morrison - Lack of Color Options in Women's Bowling Shoes

Same pair of shoes
September 2019
AFTER

Women's Dexter SST 8
February 2018
BEFORE

In the left photo are the new bowling shoes I bought in February 2018 to replace my stolen ones (see February 4, 2018 entry). In the right photo, the same pair of shoes 19 months later. My last pair of SST 8's lasted about 2.5 years. The amount of bowling I do hasn't changed much in 5 years, so it disappoints me to see these shoes haven't held up as well.

The part of the shoe I wear out most is where my feet bend. I stand with my feet together which causes the shoes to rub against each other when I walk on the approach to bowl. This also causes the inner bottom part of the toe cap to come loose. I usually keep a small tube of glue handy to seal the piece back in.

Time for new shoes. I ordered a new pair last weekend. Although my current Dexter Bowling shoe style is still available, I wanted to upgrade to The 9's. I held off until now because the women's line only came in 3 colors:

• white/gray
• gray/pink/blue
• gray/pink/periwinkle

Ugh. I'll repeat what I wrote 2 years ago (see August 27, 2017 entry).
I DON'T DO WHITE SHOES. Pastel colored shoes look hideous on me.

source: Dexter Bowling

My frustration with lack of color choices isn't so different than Riley Morrison, who wrote to Steph Curry last year: 'My dad and I visited the Under Armour website and were disappointed to see there were no Curry 5's under the girls section. However, they did have them in the boy's (sic) section, even to customize.'

Then last month, Dexter finally released a women's The 9 in BLACK. Almost too much black. With some sparkly crap to boot. But not a deal breaker to keep me from buying them. I'd pay extra to have the option to customize colors in the SST 8 or The 9's. To give my new 9's a little bit more pop, I replaced the original black/white laces with the aqua/black ones that came with my recently retired SST 8's.

Women's Dexter The 9 - Black

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While I may whine incessantly about the colors, I remain loyal to Dexter Bowling shoes because of the comfort and design. Like Riley's admiration for Steph, my favorite current PBA bowlers, Dom Barrett and Marshall Kent, are both on Team Dexter.

Which leads me to my next gripe. Why is Carolyn Dorin-Ballard the only female professional bowler on the Team Dexter website?