We love natural materials on the inside of our footwear. Leather, suede and cork do a superior job of molding to our footprint and absorbing perspiration. What about wood? A brand called Zederna manufactures these ultra-thin insoles made of cedar wood, and I’m giving them a good walk-around.
Cedar is the world’s go-to freshening wood. Layering a thin piece of 100% cedar over 100% cotton to create a shoe insole seems brilliant at first impression. The pleasant smell is there. The soles are stiff, pliable, and about as thin as a penny.
Zedernas come in fourteen different sizes (women’s 5 to men’s 14), and are not intended to ever be cut with scissors. This product worked best in shoes with a relatively neutral insole shape and would not be ideal for sneakers or footwear with orthotic-style footbeds. More on that later.
The packaging says you can wear these without socks. After trying them in a variety of different types of shoe, I gave them a long-term gig inside my Softstar Portlanders which I tend to wear sockless around at home during the warmer months.
The Green Festival Expo calls itself America’s largest and longest-running sustainability and green living event. I took a walk around the 2016 New York City Green Festival Expo to see what they had.
It seemed like 75% of the exhibitors fit snugly in what most would categorize as GREEN. The rest was rather “anything goes”. Enthusiastic Green Expo greeters threw around green plastic frisbees by the entrance of Javits Center North and cheerfully guided guests to the green table-clothed rows of exhibitors. I paid the reasonable entrance fee of fifteen greenbacks and commenced the stroll.
Who’s the greenest of them all
All in all, it was a fun event. The folks working the booths I visited were kind and helpful. The overall vibe was earthy, crunchy and friendly, but I had to get a little grouchy towards some of what I saw, so read on with good humor.
SOCKS THAT GIVE, TREAT, FEED & TEACH
Cause marketing is here to stay. That is- products where a portion of the proceeds go to a charitable cause. Conscious Step socks are made in India from fairtrade certified organic cotton in an ethical, worker-friendly environment and come in four main styles, each with an embroidered graphic representing the cause their sale goes toward.
Water socks = Water.org
Book socks = BornToRead.com
Red ribbon = UNAIDS.org
Food socks = ActionAgainstHunger.org
Tree socks (Limited Edition) = treesforthefuture.org
The stockings are well-designed, quality to-the-touch, and the packaging makes them ever so giftable. What kind of monster doesn’t want to conquer starvation, AIDS, pollution, and illiteracy?
If it were that easy…
With Conscious Step, or any other cause-marketer, the empathetic among us must rely on the benevolence of the entity when it comes time for charity to be delivered. The grouch in me wonders if you make a $50,000 donation to a charity and don’t tell anyone, wouldn’t you be helping more than a company that donates a smaller amount to the same charity then makes the act part of their brand identity? “Millennials like to buy products they think are helping people” say the Wall Street market watchers. I do believe we all want to help.
Many wonderful people do hard work for non-profits around the world, but it is discouraging when trusted sources become embroiled in scandal or at least have serious questions raised about their donations.
One of the most successful cause-marketers in the footwear category, with profits north of $300 Million, has been TOMS Shoes with their “one-for-one” model of giving a pair of shoes to a needy child for every pair sold.
A thoughtful expose done by Tiny Spark found that TOMS founder was essentially a reality show bro with evangelical tendencies who did drop shoes off to poor African villages whether footwear was needed or not. Bain Capital Private Equity bought 50% of TOMS in 2014, and the company continues to thrive and expand into eyewear using the same 1-4-1 steez. No data is available on the current state of worldwide barefootedness.
In a world full of pressing problems, most philanthropists pick a single issue to concentrate their forces around, so Conscious Step servicing multiple charities seems rather ambitious. With a positive outlook, I commend their idea and will observe how they evolve. Did I mention the socks look really nice?
NERVE STIMULATING SANDALS
HiDow Acuslippers
Hi-Dow (pronounced High Dow) makes a variety of products that employ the latest in TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) and EMS (Electrical Muscle Stimulation). These Hi-Dow Circulation Slippers are affixed with rechargeable lithium battery-powered sensors that can be controlled with a number of iPod/tablet-like devices offered by HiDow.
HiDow Circulation Slippers can be activated wirelessly by a TENS device
Green how? Using TENS devices to treat nerve-related pain instead of drugs is probably better for your mental environment. Consult your doctor before trying footwear equipped with electrical nerve stimulators.
VEGAN SHOES
If there’s something to be admired about those who identify as vegan, it’s the valiant effort to keep consistent across their lifestyle. Synthetic leather, or pleather- once thought of as a cheap sign of fakeness gets a rebirth as vegan-leather. I have no idea if there are any animal byproducts used in the glues on these shoes, or if there exists any internationally recognized vegan certification. The well-respected Moo-Shoes store uses the term “cruelty-free” to describe the products they sell. PETA tells aspiring vegans to look for shoes made from “faux leather, synthetic materials, waxed canvas, cotton, microfiber, polyurethane, cork, mock croc and fake snake” so I’d assume Wills Vegan Shoes use some combination of the above. They had vegan versions of many popular men and women’s styles all hovering around the hundred-dollar range.
What about your socks, belt and underwear- are those vegan too? If you take off your shoes at a vegan’s home for dinner and they see “vegan” on the inside, will you get an extra piece of seitan ?
A couple isles over, I did have a piece of “vegan” fudge that was quite good. In 2016, vegan shoes are a thing and Wills London is doing that thing. Popdiatry recommends never eating footwear, vegan or otherwise unless they are deep-fried in peanut oil.
CURE-ALL INSOLES
BestSole Inc. offers some unique polyester insoles that contain glycerin (not the explosive kind), and serve to be a peaks & valleys landscape for your feet that BestSole claims they’ll massage while walking.
Image: massaginginsoles.com
Do your feet, ankles, knees, hips or back ever hurt? Do you like massages? Ever feel fatigued? What about heel spurs, Morton’s Neuroma, Plantar Fasciitis, spinal problems, or diabetes?According to this evangelical Bestsole pamphlet- these massaging insoles can address all of that and more.
Their copy stops short of saying these things can cure cancer then hits you with generic quotes from “satisfied customers”. WB – a “camera man” from ESPN says “THEY ARE WONDERFUL”. JD’s son from the Navy claims “Boot camp marches were made easier with these”. Notice there are no endorsements from ESPN or the US Navy directly. A logo from the Pedorthic Footwear Association graces the front, but it is unclear what they have to do- if anything- with this particular product line.
Of course the friendly folks at the booth insisted I try them for a test walk. I was wearing my Finn Comfort Linz boots with leather/PU coated cork footbeds perfectly fitting with some cotton socks – no way am I sliding these in to walk in a 3 foot circle to try to judge whether they’ve cured my Morton’s-Plantar-Spur-Spinal-Bunion in 30 seconds. Since I wasn’t in immediate pain there was no need for these joints. If they’re powerful enough to cure many maladies, couldn’t they have unwanted side effects? (Other than disappearing $45 from your account)
So-called premium insoles are big business; This product is a neat idea, and I’m a made-in-USA product supporter, but spare me the late-night-TV snake-oily sales tactics. I’d ditch the creepy pamphlet and concentrate on comfort and durability.- maybe pay an athlete to endorse them. Please visit an actual doctor if you suffer from any of the conditions massaging insoles claim they can treat.
GREEN GREEN GREEN
Quinoa and hemp were plentiful here. I snacked on some jackfruit, gobbled some quorn (a fungus-derived protein), got a flyer for a documentary called “Cowspiracy”, learned about the plight of American wild horses; Sleepy Hollow Cemetery had a table there (their grass is green, and they offer good walking tours). LiveOnNY was there (organ donation).
Despite some of the stuff being questionably green, you have to understand that exhibitions like this need to fill all their spots to give their mission momentum. The zany mix of exhibitors was rather interesting in a carnival sort of way. The same expo will be visiting Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland before the year’s up so keep an eye out if you’re near those locales. There’s plenty to see for all ages, and I’d love to know what you think about what I thought about the Green Festival Expo.
Special thanks to Oscar The Grouch for inspiration
Why do we spend bundles on third-party insoles like the kinds shown above?
Our footwear had no insole of their own
Our insoles are lost, thrashed, or unsuitable
Once upon a time Dr. Scholl might had well been my podiatrist. I’ve tried everything from the gel heels to the thin, perforated cushiony things. No knock on Scholl’s and the like, because they all offer many useful products within and beyond the insole category. There are sole options sold at grocery and pharmacy stores, usually grouped with everything foot related- sometimes they were a quick fix, but left me largely disappointed for the following reasons:
The partial ‘heel-cushion’ ones never stayed well in the shoe
the super-thin ‘pillow’ ones never stayed well either
I hated walking with the gel ones, plus they never stayed well
Gluing these consumer products into your shoe is never recommended, for if the insole doesn’t work out, you’re stuck. Having to re-adjust cheap insoles every time you put on or take off your shoes is not good. Just a glance and seeing that bunched-up perforated piece of chintzy medical looking stuff won’t get you excited to put on your kicks and face the day. I tried the Superfeet product because I wanted something to stay solidly inside my footwear like it belonged there. I was loving the rounded heal shape as well.
Superfeet (no affiliation) come in different colors, each tone a different thickness and design. The Black and the Carbon (gray) are thinnest when it comes to maxing toe-room. You can pop these in and out of your shoes, stealthily adding ergonomic arch without neutralizing wiggle room. It’s what SF calls biomechanical support. The heel is rounded to better seat our round calcaneus (heel bone); Unless your feet are flat, the arch on a Superfeet can add great underfoot feel where before was fatigue.
Superfeet Black insoles were an excellent solution for my Frye Arkansas boots, which have no insole and were downright uncomfortable to walk a lot in before I found this solution.
Superfeet Black
Toe room, like leg-room on a plane is so key. I wondered if the Superfeet Carbon were even thinner than the Black.
Superfeet Carbon
Above pics from company site. Straight off the cell pics below:
Which are Thinner ?
The Carbons are; Their overall construction uses less substance than the Black. The heel material feels the same, but the foam used for the cushion body is honeycombed and squishier than that of the Black. The foamed/cushion part of both are approximately 1/16th of an inch thick in the all-important toe area. The Carbon are less dense and with the perforation, can be pressed thinner than the Black, making Carbon the thinnest in the Superfeet family.
DJ Squeaky Boot
One weird thing: The Carbons made a squeaking sound when I used them in my workboots (Chippewa and Frye). It seemed like the cupped shape of the heel interacted with the stiff inners of these kinds of boots in such a way that an audible sound happened as I stepped and they flexed. The occurrence was intermittent, but I imagined how it could even become embarrassing in a public setting where silence was required. The Black heel design features stilt-like stability construction which seem to keep the calcaneus part from flexing, and I experienced no such squeaking when I wore them in the same boots. The Carbons did not squeak when worn in the soft fabric inners of my New Balance sneakers. I tried them in two different pairs. Feet are shaped all manner of types, and different shoes are built in different ways so your mileage will vary. I’m curious to know others’ experiences in other kinds of shoes, so feel free to post in the comment section ladies and gentlemen.
To my naked eye and hand, I could discern no difference between the plastic-like material used in booth of these products’ heel.
I don’t blame Superfeet for calling the Carbons “Carbon” instead of “Gray”, and the loud light green color of the underside could have been any color, but they looked HD enough for me (Mr. consumer) to spend $50 for a pair online. Superfeet Black run around $30.
They’re both essentially fabric-covered foam beds attached to plastic heel/arch pieces- in other words the Black may contain the same carbon as the Carbons. I did not take materials to a lab for analyzation.
Measure Twice, Cut Once
As you can see, I learned to cut more carefully when I copped the Carbons. Unless your size is just right, you’ll want to trim your premium insoles with large high-quality shears, snipping slowly and carefully. Think slivers, not chunks
Popdiatry recommends trying these or any of the other pro-sumer insoles out at REI and LL Bean-type places (running shops, etc..) to ensure you have the right starting size. It’s always a great idea to keep whatever stock insoles came with your shoes to use as a tracer for cutting the Supers. If you don’t have the original, you can also try using some 99-cent cheapos as a guinea pig before you start hacking the expensive ish.
Superfeet also makes the Black DMP insoles (not tested, but felt), which are just the Black with memory foam instead of the regular fabric. This adds girth making the DMP thicker than the Carbons or regular Blacks- I narrowed this article down to the thinnest.
Mix N’ Match + Overtime
You should use these suckas for multiple pairs of shoes. Carbons are currently working full time in my New Balance running shoes, and pulling a second shift in some NB walkers. Chance are, one of the shoe pairs will die before the Superfeet, so they’ll occupy another pair someday soon.
The fabric material that touches your foot on both B and C have a solid synthetic sensation and feel good with a wide variety of my favorite socks.
Allow me to comment on the photo above. Some thoughts about foot powder are below. In an attempt to cancel the squeaking sound described before, I even cut corners off the bottoms of these (it didn’t work).
Avoid dumping large amounts of foot powder into your shoes/socks. A light dusting once every few days is plenty.
Most any body powder will be adequate for shoe use. Alternately, we would never use something designed as foot powder for the rest of the body.
More About Insoles
These days I love me a good leather insole, or some coated cork like Naot, Finn Comfort, and BIrkenstock does. I feel like when you start spending more than $300 on shoes- they should include an adequate insole. One nice thing about removable insoles is that you can remove them for an air-out. There are times though when you’re going to want to add sole to footwear that doesn’t have any, or upgrade to something more biomechanically respectful of the shape of the feet and make you feel a little more super.
Shout out to Dr. Scholl’s and Spenco. We look forward to trying more insoles of all kinds!
