Buying Guides
How to Read the Specifications on an Insole
The features listed on the packet describe four different jobs. Knowing which is which tells you whether a given insole is built for your problem.
Section
Buying Guides
Comparisons and plain costings so you can work out what a product is really worth over a year, not just on the day you buy it.
Buying Guides
Firm or Cushioned Support: The Trade Off Nobody Explains
Soft feels better in the shop. Firm feels better at hour ten. The reason is a property of the material rather than a matter of preference.
Buying Guides
Trim to Fit: What to Check Before You Cut
It is a one way operation, and most of the mistakes happen before the scissors come out.
Buying Guides
What Insoles Actually Cost You Over a Year
The number on the packet is not the price. Replacement frequency decides the real figure, and it varies more than the sticker does.
Buying Guides
Work Shoes, Clogs and Trainers: Why One Insole Rarely Transfers
The three most common types of work footwear have quite different internal shapes, which is why an insole that is perfect in one is disappointing in another.
Buying Guides
The Best Compression Socks for Long Shifts: Four Worth Your Money
Graduated compression is a simple idea done well or badly. Four that do it well, at four very different price points, and the group who should ask a GP first.
Buying Guides
Anti-Fatigue Mats: What Actually Helps, and What Is Just Foam
A good mat changes a hard floor into a slightly forgiving one. The category is full of thin foam that flattens in a month, so the differences are worth knowing.
Buying Guides
Foot Massagers: The Three Worth It, and the £10 Alternative
Electric foot massagers range from genuinely soothing to expensive novelty. Here is what separates them, and why the cheapest option on this page is not a joke.
Buying Guides
Shoes and Clogs for Twelve Hour Shifts: Four That Hold Up
Footwear is the single biggest lever anyone standing all day can pull, and the right answer depends on whether you walk miles or stand in one place.