Custom Shoe Insoles Versus Off-the-Shelf: Is Custom Worth It?
Custom Insoles Are Made of High-Quality Materials and Designed for Your Unique Feet.
Are you looking for shoe insoles to relieve foot pain? You may have seen off-the-shelf insoles in stores. Are those what you really need? Will they really help your foot issues?
Or do you need custom insoles made just for the shape of your feet?
Let’s look at whether custom insoles are really worth the money. First, we’ll see what you really get if you buy off-the-shelf insoles, then what you get with custom insoles, and why the differences are truly important for your comfort and health.
What Is an Off-the-Shelf Insole?
Prefabricated, or off-the-shelf, insoles are made in the general shape that a foot might need. There are hundreds of suppliers and dozens of popular brands you can find in stores.
But they come with a few hidden problems:
- Made for the Average: Store-bought insoles are made with a one-size-fits-most mentality, for the average person’s foot. The problem is that there is no average person or average foot. Companies try to make insoles for everybody, but that means they don’t serve any one person’s feet just right.
- Lower-Quality Materials: Prefabricated insoles might be advertised as memory foam insoles or gel insoles. But in general, they’re not made from the best quality of materials. They’re made to sell at a low price.
- Little Evidence: Many insoles are made to look and feel good at first, but there are few clinical studies proving they help align the complex system of the foot over time.
- Not Enough Foot Support: Basic insoles don’t support the feet enough, because they’re mostly just gel or padding. They don’t have proven features that protect the ankles, prevent rolling, relieve stress in certain areas, and more.
- No Warranty: Manufacturers don’t offer your money back if you’re not satisfied, and they won’t adjust them for you. (We will.)
Why do people buy off-the-shelf insoles if they’re not the best? Because they can drive to a store in five minutes and buy them for a low price. Plus, they feel soft and comfortable on their feet at first.
What Is a Custom Insole?
The best insoles for your feet and needs are customized just for you. The advantages of custom insoles include:
- Made From Scans or Molds: Your feet are digitally scanned in three dimensions. Or your step is captured in a high-quality impression. Your manufacturer has the exact dimensions of your feet to work from.
- Customized for Issues: A professional supplier knows how to add features to insoles that help dozens of different foot conditions.
- Customized for Goals: You can request modifications for playing sports, standing at work, wearing dress shoes, and other everyday activities—each connected to insole modifications.
- Backed by Research: Studies show that custom insoles help realign the feet, relieve problems all the way up to the lower back, stop the development of problems like bunions, and much more.
- Long Life: Custom insoles last longer, because they’re made from high-quality materials and designed to give you your money’s worth.
- Money-Back Warranty: A smart manufacturer saves your foot scans to remake or modify your insoles if you’re not satisfied—or gives you a 100% refund.
- Improves Biomechanics: They align the whole foot on each step, preventing it from rolling, taking stress off of ligaments, muscles, and bones.
Custom insoles are made just for you. That’s why they work. They’re not just for a theoretical average person with average feet. They’re made for your feet and your specific needs.
They’ll help if your feet have unusual shapes or are not symmetrical, you have a chronic condition, your feet hurt in just one spot, or you have gained weight.
What About the Price?
Off-the-shelf insoles are:
- Cheap because they’re mass produced from cheap materials using a one-size-fits-most mentality
- Mostly just padding which, while comfortable, offer little real support to improve the biomechanics of a person’s foot
- Not capable of helping solve most foot conditions, because they’re not made specifically for your feet
Off-the-shelf insoles' lower price doesn’t truly serve you, because they won’t give you great results.
In contrast, custom insoles are:
- Made from high-end materials for one customer’s needs—yours
- Not just padding but precisely-made structures to promote healthy, pain-relieving movements
- Medical devices offering clinically-proven stability and support to help address a range of issues
Custom insoles cost more because they offer superior results, along with the possibility of saving you money on more costly medical interventions.
You Don’t Have to Wait Long for Custom Insoles
Using the traditional route, it takes a long time for patients to get custom insoles. It includes an appointment with their primary doctor, then waiting a month or two to see a foot specialist, then another month for insoles. That can add up to two or three months!
Sure, it seems easier to run to a store for gel insoles. At least they offer a temporary feeling of relief (without fixing specific foot conditions).
But today, you can get high-quality, custom insoles in as little as two weeks! Here’s how:
- Through our 3D scanning app (or a free impression box we’ll send you), we’ll get an impression of your feet at home.
- In our 3D printers, we’ll create shoe insoles that exactly match your feet and needs.
- We’ll ship them to you within about 2 weeks of receiving your final impressions or scans.
Just fill out the Sole Dynamix questionnaire here, and we’ll match you with the design that will satisfy your goals, relieve your pain, and get you back on your feet. Take the first step to healthier feet!
