Buyer’s Guide to Custom Insoles: 7 Things to Look For
Not all online insole providers will give you the results you need. How can you be sure before you buy? Use these 7 tips as a guide!
Buyer’s Guide to Custom Insoles: 7 Things to Look For
Charlotte* was a successful, hard-working nurse in a hospital. She also loved walking her dogs after work, and she had been a high school athlete.
Over the course of a year, she developed metatarsalgia, or pain in the balls of her feet (the pads on the soles right behind the toes). Her longer shifts at the hospital became almost too much to handle.
She bought some insoles at a store, along with pads made for the balls of the feet, but they didn’t relieve her pain.
Next, she ordered custom metatarsalgia insoles online. She mailed her foot impressions to the company and talked to a representative on the phone.
Then she waited. And waited. And waited. For months.
The company kept sending her updates about why her insoles were delayed. Charlotte thought, “Thanks, but I shouldn’t have to get calls about delays. There just shouldn’t be any delays!”
Meanwhile, she struggled with foot pain every day at her job and in her home life.
Finally, after around three months, her custom insoles came in the mail. They worked fairly well to relieve her foot pain, but she wondered if it was normal to wait that long—or if she could have avoided months of foot pain with a different, faster company.
* Details changed for privacy.
What Online Insole Companies Can You Trust?
Charlotte had already been worrying, “Will my money actually get me the foot pain relief I need?” The delays on her insoles just confirmed her fears. Later, she went back and read the company’s customer reviews, and she realized lots of people waited months for delivery.
That’s one of the reasons we’re writing this guide. We want you to avoid online custom insole companies that might not give you the value you need.
And we feel your pain! On our team, we wear custom insoles. We know what it’s like when foot pain disrupts work and makes everyday mobility extremely difficult. We know what it’s like to want to get back to normal life fast!
So, who should you buy from? You can order custom arch supports from several major companies these days. But if you’re struggling to choose one, here are seven traits of the best companies to look for while shopping.
1. Fast Delivery (2–7 Weeks)
Our founder is an orthotist. When his clinic made orthotic devices for in-person patients, they took four to six weeks to complete.
But online companies today can deliver custom insoles to your home within two to seven weeks—the fastest shipping insoles in two weeks consistently.
If you research companies’ online reviews, you’ll find out after a few minutes if anyone is waiting for several months to get their insoles. No matter how good their product is, you should ask yourself:
- Can I wait for months for foot pain relief?
- Is fast relief crucial for my job?
- Could my foot be out of alignment and getting worse?
Also, look at where they ship from. If you live in the USA, the fastest delivery will be with companies who manufacture and ship within the US. This avoids supply chain delays, geopolitical problems, border issues, etc.
You really shouldn’t have to wait for months! A company that cares about your foot health will send you custom insoles as fast as possible, to help prevent your foot condition from getting worse.
2. Smarter, Faster Manufacturing
Here’s one way that a custom insoles company can deliver insoles faster: by manufacturing them faster. Top-of-the-line 3D printing, for example, gives these advantages:
- Manufactures your custom insole design with precision down to fractions of an inch (needed for therapeutic insoles for specific conditions and pain)
- Easily, quickly repeats the 3D print to make a new pair
- Effortlessly adds customizations for specific conditions, such as plantar fasciitis, flat feet, heel spurs,pain in the ball of the foot, bunions, and others
- Uses a design saved in a computer for any later repeat use or changes
When a company hand-makes custom insoles, technicians have to add custom features by hand. This can cause problems if a particular technician isn’t experienced with the features needed or makes a mistake.
A smarter manufacturing system helps you get your custom insoles faster—and get pain relief and help for your foot issues when you need it most.
3. Customization for Your Foot Needs, Lifestyle, Weight, and More
Have you ever used off-the-shelf insoles? Did you notice they didn’t actually help your foot condition in the long-term?
Or have you ordered custom insoles, but they were uncomfortable and difficult to break in?
Great insoles should be truly customized for your:
- Foot shape and length
- Lifestyle and work needs
- Foot condition (if any)
- Body weight
- Type of shoewear
Store-bought insoles can’t be customized like this, and even some custom insoles leave out a detail or two.
Look for a company that has a simple, fast way to submit your foot impressions, along with details like your weight and shoe size. That’s the only way to get comfortable orthotic insoles that fit right and really work.
4. Foot Condition Expertise
The company should understand how to help with different foot conditions—and even general foot pain.
Flat foot insoles, for example, are shaped one way. Custom insoles for heel spurs are shaped a different way. Companies who employ experienced orthotists (clinicians who are responsible for insoles and other orthotics) are usually the best at creating custom insoles for your needs.
Look for a company that asks about your specific foot conditions and has expertise in creating insoles that have been effective for those conditions in the past.
5. High-Quality Padding Options
Different types of padding satisfy different lifestyle needs, so your insoles brand should offer custom designs with different padding types.
What can padding do?
- Support You at Work: A soft, comfortable padding can give you general pain relief when you are standing or walking for a long work shift.
- Protect You on the Field: Padding for athletic insoles can return energy with every step, give you shock absorption to help your joint health, and last longer even when you’re putting a lot of stress on it.
- Help With Your Condition: For specific foot issues, padding that conforms to your foot can take pressure off of problem areas and relieve stress on your feet.
Look for a company that offers different insole models—such as athletic and condition-specific types. That often means they’re using different types of padding.
6. Easy Foot Impressions or Scans
If you’re ordering from home, the process should be simple—almost impossible to mess up. It shouldn’t be messy, imprecise, confusing, or stressful.
Two simple ways that companies get impressions are:
- Impression Boxes: For several years now, companies have offered home impression kits, which include foam blocks that you press your feet into. They take several days for shipping to your home and then shipping back to the company. If the impression happens to have a major problem, you may have to wait for a new impression box to re-do it.
- 3D Scanning: An exciting new option uses an app and certain iPhone technologies. In minutes, you can get a 3D scan of your feet and submit your scans—without waiting for an impression box in the mail.
Even if you don’t have the type of smartphone required, a friend or family member might have one that you can borrow for a few minutes. You can even get someone else to scan your feet for you. Just put your foot up on a chair so they can pass the smartphone around your foot.
A good app will show you if there are any gaps in the scan and let you scan your feet again as many times as you want! There’s no stress about getting it right.
This is the fastest way to start your order and get foot relief at home. It skips several days of shipping. Plus, if the company technicians notice a problem with your scans, you can quickly re-do them, instead of waiting for a new impression box in the mail.
For example, here's what a Sole Dynamix customer wrote:
Lately I have been dealing with occasional pain in my right foot. My foot tends to roll outward slightly when I walk, so I suspect that's to blame. I was on the fence about ordering but decided to go for it since I was able to use my HSA card. After taking a little quiz on the website I ordered the comfort pair of insoles. I wanted to try the scanning app but don't have an iPhone, so I enlisted the help of a friend who does. The scanning process was simple and it's honestly kind of impressive that you can create such a detailed 3d model on a phone.
About 2 and a half weeks later I received my insoles. - Nathan A.
7. Environmental Safety
Traditional methods of making custom insoles are wasteful and a potential problem for the environment. For example, in the manufacturing method called “vacuum forming,” technicians throw away 60% of the plastic used in making an insole.
Contrast that with 3D printing. Whereas vacuum forming only uses 40% of the material, 3D printing uses 90% or more of the material. Very little has to be sent to landfills.
Plus, some 3D printers can convert recycled plastics into insoles, which helps support the companies that gather used bottles and other products, clean them, and refine them to be reused.
Take Action to Make Your Feet Feel Better Fast
You might hear a lot of conflicting claims about what brands of insoles to buy. Well-meaning friends and family will tell you what has worked for them. But they don’t have your unique feet, needs, lifestyle, and so on. So to make your own decision, the seven guidelines above can help.
If you could get custom insoles made for your specific foot shape and issues—and get them shipped to you quickly—what would it mean for you?
Would you be able to work the shifts you need? Would you enjoy life with your family again? Could you go back to a hobby that you had to give up?
We started Sole Dynamix because of stories like this. After years of working in orthotics clinics, making insoles and foot and ankle braces, we wanted people at home to get custom insoles delivered to them faster, to get relief faster.
You have a lot of options, and we encourage you to research our insole models. We offer no-stress 3D scanning, environmentally friendly 3D printing, and fast shipping from our lab in Indiana, USA. We ship within two weeks of a completed order, so click below to find out more.
