Three methods to help your heel fit better in shoes

One shoe fitting challenge that we often run into here at SHOES-n-FEET is helping our customers feel comfortable with the fit around the heel in different types of shoes.  Heel slippage is a common issue that crops up for many legitimate reasons.  Sometimes the type of shoe will dictate whether the heel should be 100% secure or if some slippage is actually a good thing.  In that case, there are products we can recommend to make the customer less worried about friction injuries.  In other cases, we can adjust the shoe with either a foot pad or with adjusting the lacing to help the customer feel more secure in the shoe. 

Dansko clogs are a good example of shoes that are supposed to slip in the heel.  The reason is that clogs are so stiff (remember they were originally made out of wood) that if a person’s heel was completed secured in the shoe, that person would not be able to walk.  Imagine securing your foot to a block of wood and attempting to walk. In the image below, the bottom left picture is a foot a rest in a Dansko clog.  The top picture shows how the heel is supposed to lift a little mid-stride. The bottom right picture, illustrates how the clog and foot catch-up at toe off.  The foot in the picture is wearing a Injinji sock that is made of Merino wool fibers.  Wool both wicks moisture away from the skin and helps to reduce friction that would cause a blister.  Polyester socks also work well. 

In shoes with laces, we recommend three different tying methods to secure the heel.  Please check out the video above.  The video is the best way to demonstrate these three methods. 

Finally, in shoes without laces we put a pad in the forefoot or arch area of the shoe.  See the image below for an illustration of this method.  We use 1/8 inch foam pads.  One is typically enough, but we sometimes stack two.  In the image we insert the foam pad into the arch area, under the insole, of a Aravon Daneille comfort shoe. The pad helps to level the forefoot with the heel to limit the foot sliding forward.  In addition, filling up some space in the front on the shoe pushes the heel back into the heel of the shoes.