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. 

To be continued