Full Length Insoles for Work Boots and Athletic Shoes

Full Length is the length for work boots and athletic shoes. It runs from the heel to the toe and takes the place of the insole the shoe came with. You lift that insole out, set it aside, and put the custom pair in the empty bed. 3/4 Length is a different object: it stops behind the ball of the foot and sits on top of an insole that stays in the shoe. If the shoes you care about are boots for work or shoes for training, start here, then check the actual shoe before you order.

What Full Length is doing in the shoe

A work boot and a running shoe are built with a footbed you can usually take out. The boot is deep. The athletic shoe is deep enough that the brand expects you to remove its insole and put something else in that space. Full Length uses that space from heel to toe. Under the arch, the shell is printed from your scan. Under the heel, there is a cushion and a cup. The fabric on top is the design you picked. None of that is a reason to leave the original insole underneath. Two full insoles in one shoe will lift your heel and crowd your toes.

The same length is what we use for walking shoes when the insole comes out. The title of this page stays on work boots and athletic shoes because that is the line on the site. The check is the same: out with the old insole, in with the new one, heel pushed all the way back.

Check the work boot before you order

Pull the insole at the heel. If it lifts out in one piece, the boot can take Full Length. Look at the toe box next. Your toes need room to move after the new pair is in. A steel-toe or composite-toe boot can be roomy in the middle and still tight at the front. If the Full Length edge bunches at the toe, you trim only that toe end, a few millimeters at a time, using the old insole as a pattern. You do not trim the arch.

Some boots will not take this length. A narrow boot, a fashion boot, or a boot whose insole is glued down is the 3/4 case. On the site, narrow boots sit with dress shoes, not with work boots. Forcing Full Length into a glued or tight boot stacks material the boot was not built to hold. 3/4 Length is coming soon for that boot. Keep Full Length for the boots and shoes that open up.

Covers that sit quietly with boots are still just covers. Outpost is a camo print in grey, tan, and olive. Espresso is a coffee brown that sits next to brown leather. Obsidian is solid black. The shell under each one comes from your scan, not from the print on the cloth.

Check the athletic shoe the same way

Take the insole out of the trainer, the court shoe, or the gym shoe. If it comes out, and the shoe still has a clear heel pocket, Full Length belongs there. Slide the new insole in, heel first, until the cup meets the back of the shoe. Lace the shoe the way you wear it. Walk. Your heel should stay down. Your toes should not feel pushed into the end of the shoe.

A tight racing shoe, a narrow cross-trainer, or a shoe with a fixed footbed can fail that check. If the original insole will not come out, do not lay a Full Length pair on top of it. If the insole comes out but the toe box was already close, a full insole can make it closer. That shoe wants 3/4 Length on top of its own insole, or it wants no added insole at all. Cycling shoes are the second kind. They are cut close on purpose, and they usually have no room for either length.

Shop the length itself at Full Length. Every design in the full collection can be ordered in that length. Carbon Cell is a black cover with a fine grey cell, the sort of cloth that disappears in a dark trainer. The arch is not different because the cover is dark.

How to put the pair in

1. Take the original insole out. Keep it. You will use it as a trim pattern, and you will want it if this pair later lives in another shoe.
2. Match left to left and right to right. The shells are printed from two scans. They are not mirrors.
3. Push the heel of the insole all the way to the back of the shoe.
4. Check the toe. If the front edge curls or wrinkles, trim only that edge, a little at a time, and try the shoe after each cut.
5. Lace up and walk on a hard floor. The heel cup should stay seated. The toes should still move.

The picture guide is how to put custom insoles in your shoes. The general length comparison, including dress shoes, is the full length and 3/4 length guide. This page does not replace that one. It only stays on boots and athletic shoes.

One pair, two shoes, if the length matches

A Full Length pair can move between a work boot and an athletic shoe when both of them let the insole come out and the toe shapes are close. You are not buying a boot insole and a sneaker insole as two different arches. You are moving one pair. Take it out of the boot at the end of a shift if the sneakers are what you will wear next, and put the boot's own insole back so the boot is not empty and wet. Label the original insoles so they go home to the right shoe.

Do not expect that same pair to live in oxfords. Dress shoes and narrow boots are 3/4 Length. That is a second pair at the same $69.99, with $99.99 crossed out, not a trim that turns Full Length into 3/4. The shells on the second pair can reuse the scans on your email. The length cannot.

The arch is the same idea in either length

Choosing Full Length does not choose a taller arch. There is no arch menu. You choose a US shoe size. The scan does not recommend one. After you pay, you scan both feet with the order email on complete your scan. We print the left shell from the left scan and the right shell from the right scan. Foam and fabric go on top. How it works is that sequence in one place. US orders are delivered within 14 days once the pair is being made from a finished scan.

On the first days the boot or the shoe can feel fuller, and the arch can feel new, because the shell is actually there. That is the stack, not a sign that the print was "too much." Wear the shoes you will actually use this week. The first week note is the wearing advice. If the pair arrives cracked or unfinished, email support@customsole.shop with the order number before you trim anything.

A short check before you pay

• The boot or the shoe lets its insole come out.
• The toe box still has room with a full insole in place, or you are willing to trim only the toe.
• You are not trying to put this pair into a glued dress shoe or a narrow boot. Those take 3/4 Length.
• You know which email will scan, because that email has to match the order.

If those are true, order Full Length from the Full Length collection or pick a cover from all 16 designs. The price is $69.99 either way. The scan is included, and it happens after you pay.