Walk in to any drug store and buy some insoles and they’ll probably be better than what came with 99% of your shoes, but that doesn’t mean they’re good, or right for you. Upstep takes a mold of your step to create orthotics perfectly tailored to your needs, and the results are game-changing.
I don’t have any kind of chronic foot issues, but I do have very bad posture and deep arches. The first time I stood on my Upsteps, it was immediately apparent that my step had never been properly supported before. The level of perfectly targeted support provided by Upstep is intense, so much so that I expected soreness, or counterintuitively, fatigue, but neither happened. My feet felt great, and as a bonus, the orthotics improved my posture as well.
I like a wider toe box. I’ve found with some shoes, like the Seavees Huntington Middies, that I can barely get the front of my foot comfortably in to what is otherwise the right size for me. At the opposite extreme, our beloved Astorflex boots tend to have massive amounts of extra room in the heel area. For these reasons, I went with Upstep’s half insert, which covers the back of the heel to about halfway up the foot. That means more space in the toe box, and a closer fit in the heel area.
We tested Upstep’s orthotic with a variety of shoes, including our Blundstone boots (which already have great, removable insoles), and Astroflex’s Greenflexes and Bitflexes, which have permanent insoles built-in. Comfort and support were improved on all fronts.
Upstep orthotics are not cheap, but these days I don’t leave the house without putting them in any shoe they’ll fit in. If I had foot problems, I’d be running (in pain) to buy more.