Custom Insoles for Running: How to Choose the Length

For running, choose the insole length from the shoe you will run in, and let the scan set the arch. If that shoe's insole comes out and your toes still have room, order Full Length. It replaces the insole from heel to toe. The arch under the foam is printed from a scan of that foot after you pay. You choose a US shoe size on the page. The scan does not recommend one. There is no list of arch heights. The rest of this page is how to make that length choice, and what the printed arch is doing in the shoe.

Start with the shoe in your hand

A daily trainer, a trail shoe, and a lightweight racer are not the same cavity. Take the insole out. If it lifts cleanly, look at the hole it leaves. That hole is where a Full Length pair goes. The heel of the insole has to reach the back of the shoe. The toe has to lie flat, or you trim only the toe until it does. Your toes still need room to move once the shoe is laced the way you run in it.

If the insole will not come out, stop. A Full Length pair on top of a fixed insole is two beds in one shoe. The heel lifts. The toes hit the front. That shoe is a 3/4 Length shoe, or it is a shoe that should keep what it came with. 3/4 Length stops behind the ball of the foot and sits on top of the insole that stays put.

Shop both paths from the full collection. The Full Length versions live together at Full Length. 3/4 Length is coming soon. The price is $69.99, with $99.99 crossed out. The arch is the part that comes from the scan. The length is the part you match to the shoe.

How to choose between the two lengths

Use the shoe you run in most, not a pair you keep for a single outing.

• Full Length when the insole lifts out, the heel pocket is clear, and the toe box still has room after you try the stack. This is the usual case for a daily trainer and for many trail shoes.
• 3/4 Length when the shoe is tight through the toes, the insole is glued, or a full replacement makes the heel sit high. The shoe keeps its own insole. You set the shorter pair on top and push it back until the cup meets the heel.
• Neither when the shoe was built with no spare volume. AAOS notes that cycling shoes fit snugly, without room for an insert. A very short racing flat can be the same kind of shoe. If your toes are already against the end, leave that shoe on the insole it came with.

Two running shoes can disagree. A roomy trainer and a narrow racer may need two lengths, which means two pairs. That is two orders at $69.99, not a failure of the first pair. The length guide covers dress shoes and boots as well. This page stays on running shoes. If the other shoes are work boots, those also take Full Length when the insole comes out, which is Full Length for work boots and athletic shoes.

The arch is printed from the scan

Length does not set the arch. After you pay, you scan both feet with the same email on complete your scan. White socks, a hard floor, a sheet of plain paper, one photo of each foot. Volumental records the feet. We print a PA12 shell for the left foot from the left scan, and a shell for the right foot from the right scan. They are not one shape flipped over. Foam and a fabric cover go on top, so you stand on the soft layers. A heel cushion sits under the cup.

You do not pick low, medium, or high. You do choose a US shoe size for the outline. AAOS notes that the two feet often differ, and that a foot can change size through the day, which is why a single size is a weak stand-in for the arch. The outline of the insole is still the length you ordered. Only the shell follows the photos. How it works shows the same order: pay, scan, print. US delivery is within 14 days once that print is underway. If you scan a week late, the making starts a week late.

The shell is there to hold the arch shape step after step. The foam is there so the shell is not a hard plate against your sock. That is a description of the stack. It is not a claim about how far you will run, and it is not a reason to skip a clinician if a foot needs one.

The cover is not the arch

People shopping for running often start with the picture. The picture is cloth. Topo Trek draws teal contour lines, like a trail map, and the product copy lines that print up with trail shoes. Carbon Cell is a black cover with a small grey cell, easy to miss inside a dark trainer. Solar Flare is a paint splash you will see every time the shoe comes off. All 16 sit in the same collection. None of them is a different arch. The shell under the cloth still waits for your scan.

Pick the cover you want to live with. Then pick the length the shoe can take. If you later want the same shells in a second color, that can be another order on the same email. If you later want the other length, that is also another order. A new color does not turn Full Length into 3/4.

Putting the pair into the running shoe

For Full Length, take the shoe's insole out and keep it in a labeled bag. Put the left insole in the left shoe. Seat the heel. Check the toe. Trim only if the front edge bunches, and only a little at a time. Lace the shoe and walk, then jog a short easy effort on a familiar route before you decide the length was wrong. A brand-new arch feel on the first block is the shell, not a ruined shoe.

For 3/4 Length, leave the shoe's insole in place. Set the shorter pair on top, heel back, and see whether your heel stays down. If the heel pops out, that shoe does not have the depth for this stack. Use the Full Length pair in a shoe that opens up, or leave this shoe alone.

Do not put a store arch pad on top of the printed shell. Do not swap left and right because one side feels higher. The higher side is the other foot's scan. The install details are how to put the insoles in. What the shell is, on its own, is what the printed arch shell does.

After the pair is in the rotation

Use the shoes you actually run in. A pair that lives in a shoe you never lace will tell you nothing. Give it ordinary days, including easy runs, before you reorder the other length. The first week page is that pause. Wipe the cover with a damp cloth and let it dry in the shade. Do not machine-wash the pair, and do not dry it on a heater. Heat and a long soak are how layers split. Care, in full, is how to care for the insoles.

When the foam on top feels packed down, look at the shell before you assume the whole pair is done. The shell is the printed shape. The foam is the layer that compresses. The lifespan note is how long insoles last. Replacing the pair is another $69.99, the same crossed-out $99.99, and a scan you already have unless your feet have changed.

You can change or cancel within 24 hours of checkout. After that, the pair is final sale because it is made from your scan. If it arrives damaged or made wrong, email support@customsole.shop with the order number. We reply within two business days.

What to have decided before checkout

• Which running shoe the pair is for, and whether its insole comes out.
• Full Length if it comes out and the toes still have room. 3/4 Length if the shoe has to keep its own insole.
• A cover you like, from the 16, knowing the cloth is not the arch.
• The email you will scan with. It has to be the email on the order.

Then pay $69.99 and scan. The arches are printed after those photos match the order, not before. How it works is the map. The collection is where you pick the cover.