How to Put Custom Insoles in Your Shoes

The pair is finished when it is in the shoe, not when the box opens. Most of the trouble people have on day one is the stack: two insoles where one should be, a heel that never reached the back, or a toe edge that was cut once, too far. This is the install. Which length to buy is a different page.

Before you open the shoes

Check the length on the order. Full Length runs heel to toe. 3/4 Length stops just behind the ball of the foot. You cannot install them the same way. If you are still choosing, use the full length and 3/4 length guide and come back. If the pair is already here, stay on this page.

Work on a table, with both shoes, the new pair, and a pair of sharp scissors. Keep the left insole with the left shoe. The shells were printed from separate scans. Have a trash bag ready for the original insoles if you are replacing them, so they do not go back in by habit. The layers you are installing are the same ones on how it works: printed shell, heel cup, foam, fabric cover.

Full Length, step by step

1. Pull the original insole out. If it will not lift, this shoe wants a 3/4 pair, or it wants no added insole at all.
2. Brush out grit. A pebble under the new shell feels like a lump in the arch.
3. Slide the Full Length insole in, fabric up, and push the heel cup until it touches the back of the shoe.
4. Look at the toe. If the edge lies flat, stop. If it curls or bunches, mark a trim.
5. Lay the old insole on top as a pattern. Cut only the toe, a few millimeters. Try the shoe. Repeat. Do not cut the shell.
6. Lace the shoe the way you normally do. Walk indoors for a few minutes. The heel should stay back. The toes should still have room to move.

Do the other shoe the same way. Do not assume the trim you made on the left is the right amount for the right. The shells differ, and the shoes can differ too.

3/4 Length, step by step

1. Leave the shoe's own insole in place. This length is meant to sit on it.
2. Set the insole on top, fabric up, and push the heel cup to the back of the shoe.
3. The front edge should end behind the ball of the foot, not under the toes.
4. Put the shoe on. Walk. Your heel should stay in the cup, not climb out of the collar.

If the front edge folds, the insole is not flat against the original. Take it out and set it again. 3/4 Length rarely needs scissors. If you are cutting it shorter to force it into a tiny shoe, that shoe is the wrong match.

The mistakes that make a good pair feel bad

• Full Length on top of the original. That is two pads. Toes hit the roof of the shoe. Take the original out.
• 3/4 Length with the original removed. The short insole then sits in a cavity it was not shaped to fill, and it slides.
• Heel not all the way back. The arch lands in the wrong spot, and the toe looks too long.
• One big cut. You cannot put material back. Small cuts, then a walk.
• Judging in the doorway for thirty seconds. Wear them in the house, then on a normal errand, before you decide the length was wrong. The first week page is that timeline.

Shoes to skip

Look inside before you fight the fit. If the original insole is glued down and the shoe is already snug, neither length will be comfortable. Cycling shoes are built without spare room. A very pointed toe box can crowd a Full Length pair even after a careful trim. AAOS suggests about half an inch between the longest toe and the end of the shoe, and room to move the toes. An insole that uses that space up is in the wrong shoe.

Low shoes that were tight with only the factory footbed will be tighter with a shaped pair. The insole does not thin itself. Pick another shoe, or pick the shorter length if the original insole is staying in. Moving one pair between shoes that do fit is covered in moving insoles between shoes.

Socks, laces, and the second shoe

Install with the socks you wear for the real day, not a dress sock if you will live in athletic socks. A thick sock plus a Full Length stack is a different fit from a thin sock plus the same stack. If the shoe feels tight only in the thick pair, the insole is not the variable that changed.

Lace the shoe the way you normally would, then walk. If the instep is the only tight spot, try the next eyelet a little looser before you trim anything. Trimming does not fix an instep. It only shortens the toe. Do both shoes. A trim that suited the left can be too much or too little on the right, because the shells are not copies and the shoes wear differently. Keep the original insoles in a bag with a note of which shoe they came from. You will want them if you move the custom pair to another shoe for the afternoon and need to put the first shoe back the way it was.

After they are in

Wear the socks you actually use. A thick hiking sock plus a Full Length pair can be too much in a shoe that was fine with a thin sock. If a spot rubs, check the stack, the heel, and the toe edge before you assume the scan is the problem. The arch will feel present. That is the shell. It is not a bump you should sand down.

Both lengths are $69.99, and the 16 designs install the same way. The design does not change the steps. If the pair arrives damaged, or a layer is split before you have even worn it, email support@customsole.shop with the order number. Do not trim a damaged pair to "make it work."