The New York Times reported that the FitFlops generated a virtual craze in England, where 18,000 pairs sold out within three days of their May release, and two women actually got into a brawl over the last pair of size 7s at the London store Running Bare.

What is so remarkable about these flip flops? Well, in a way reminiscent of Masai Barefoot Technology, which have also enjoyed tremendous international success, the FitFlops claim to be designed in such a way as to sculpt your calf, thigh, and buttock muscles as you walk. You may be able to tone and trim your legs, burn more calories, absorb shock and improve posture with their patented "microwobbleboard" sole. Marcia Kilgore, the creator of FitFlops and a former personal trainer, explains that the shoe ‘makes you step more naturally and it activates the slow-twitch muscle fibres in the legs [the fat burners].’

Do they work? Only time and wear will tell, I guess. As for me, I am definitely intrigued. There is a 15,000 and growing waiting list in the UK, and one can only expect things  to pick up here in the US. Both and Body Works, one of the few online retailers of FitFlops, are already running out of sizes and are currently restocking. The price is reasonable: $39.95. You can also preorder them for $45 at Bliss Spa. The FitFlop website promises to keep us updated as other stores start carrying this product.

Would you try them?

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A few weeks back, I posted here about a company I’d found that makes a line of heat-moldable insoles to offer you custom footbeds in various types of shoes from athletic to casual to dress styles.

Well, the good people at SOLE were kind enough to offer us a few sample pairs so we could try them out and review them here for your benefit.

In spite of the torrential rain this weekend, I was able to try out my new insoles (the Slim Style, seen here) in 3 different pairs of shoes.

Before any reviewing starts, I have to say that the mindset of this company seems great to me. Alyssa, the customer service rep I dealt with was very friendly and generous in her help. Also, they’re almost completely switched over to environmentally friendly shipping materials (they ship via FedEx), and there’s a minimum of extra packing material, so there’s not much waste created by the shipment. Thumbs up, and that’s before I even tried the soles.

First things first: time to mold the soles. According to the little brochure that came with my soles, you can use them without heat-molding them, but for a more personalized fit, the heating is recommended. It’s easy and quick.

You preheat your oven to 200 degrees (F) and pop the soles in for 2 minutes, or until the little indicator on the inside of one sole’s arch turns from gray to black. Sure it’s hard to see in this picture, but trust me… that indicator is black. FYI, if you ”mess up” the first time around, or your SOLEs don’t quite mold just right, you can re-heat them and re-mold them up to 5 times.

Step 1: Heating the soles. Check. Time to try these babies in a pair of shoes. The first pair I’m trying is my PUMA Criatura II slip ons.

As you can probably see from the picture of the shoe, the insoles that come in these Pumas are removable, so I slip them out and stick the overn-warmed SOLE insoles in. You’re supposed to then wear the shoes with the SOLEs in them for 2 minutes so they have a chance to cool and adjust to your feet. Well, I was off to get my hair cut, so that was no problem.

How did the SOLEs work in the Criatura? Well, not great to be honest. However, I’m not sure the SOLEs are really at fault here. The Criatura has always been a little tricky on my feet. I probably shouldn’t have bought them in the first place, but they were so darn cute! In order to avoid rubbing at my heel, bought a half size larger than I usually wear. They’re the right length, yes, but they don’t fit my feet very snugly. And as a result, I couldn’t really feel any difference in the arch support the SOLEs offered. I have an average arch (not super high, not real low), but I wasn’t really noticing a difference.

Hmm… maybe it’s time to try these in a different pair of shoes.

Next up, a change of shoes for errand running. This time I went with my trusty Paul Green Bernie boots. I don’t have a readily available picture of them, they’re close to 10 years old, but they’re in great shape. They’re black microfiber ankle boots with a velcro ankle strap to hold them on. They’re flat with a bit a platform. In go the SOLEs. Aha! This is excellent! In a closer-fitting shoe, I can feel the arch support and the nice contouring along the bottom of my feet. The one thing I’ve never been 100% satisfied with in the Paul Green boots is that their insole is pretty flat and doesn’t offer much arch support by itself. But now… the SOLEs are making all the difference. I proceed to walk around for the rest of the day with a spring (and an arch support) in my step.

Cut to Sunday. Instead of yesterday’s beautiful spring sun, we are now in the middle of a deluge. A proper deluge. Apparently New York got the 3rd most rain it’s ever gotten in a day yesterday. And of course, I had to go out. Well, as the eternally stylish French say, ‘C’est la vie!’ So, I bundle into my rain gear, including rubber rain boots (with my orthotics… not the SOLEs) and bring a pair of nice shoes to change into when I get there.

What shoes are these I bring to change into? Why, my adored brown leather ankle boots with the long narrowing, squared-off toe. I love and worship these shoes, and I dread the day when my constant wearing of them finally destroys them. I hope it’s far off. However, are these shoes supportive? Not in the slightest. The sole is not very shock absorbent and there’s no arch support. When I first found out about SOLE, these were the first candidates I thought of for some insole assistance.

Clearly, as you can see from the picture, the SOLEs fit nicely into my boots here. And yet again, they made all the difference. These boots now feel supportive and walkable over long distances. Again, I think the key is that they’re pretty close-fitting. It means that my foot stays right there cradled in the SOLE and getting all the support on every step, as opposed to my attempt with the PUMA’s, which, as I mentioned, are much looser.

So, what are my conclusions about the SOLE insoles? I have to say, after several shoe attempts, I really think I found the right type of shoe to use these with (the close-fitting ones). I’m really pleased with this product. They’re thin, so they can really fit in a lot of shoes, but they still offer a good amount of support for your heel and arch. The one thing that would really seal the deal for me is if they had some metatarsal arch support (the part under the ball of your foot that takes the weight of the front part of your step). That’s my big foot issue is that I need metatarsal support, but it’s also something a lot of people could benefit from. So, are these SOLEs going to be a replacement for my orthotics? Well, no, because those are custom made, medical insoles. But damn! the SOLEs are great! There are plenty of shoes I can’t fit my orthotics in that offer no support whatsoever, and it looks like the SOLEs are about to start saving the day in all those shoes.

Overall, I’d give SOLE A’s all around (customer service, product range, and product quality), although they’re unlikely to fit into your dress shoes or particularly narrow cuts.

My fellow Shoebloggers also played guinea pig for these insoles, and here’s what they have to say.

Shoesense says:

I happen to own the world’s flattest sneakers, which I nevertheless adore (my beautiful Kowalski’s–see them here, in the bottom right). I LOVED wearing the SOLE Slim Casual inserts in them, even more so than my orthotics–because my orthotics are a 3/4 length and so stop right before the ball of the foot, while these inserts are foot-length and offer some welcome padding in that area. A pleasure to wear all around.

I also tried them in boots, again, with spectacular results–basically, worked well in just about any boot. For some reason, because of this, I had high hopes that I could finally wear my super-flat, super-flimsy Delman ballerinas with the help of these inserts. However, no such luck. Although they are supposed to be the ‘’slim” version for the ”low volume footwear” my SOLE inserts did not fit into my ballet flats. They didn’t even come close to fitting, actually–way too bulky. To my dismay, they didn’t fit in anything that was dressier and slightly pointy toward the end, either, and when they did, they added so much height to the shoes that they flew off my feet (you know what I’m talking about–these low-cut flat shoes that offer little in terms of cradling your foot and have no removable insole, so if you elevate the footbed, you’re in trouble). The SOLE inserts did, however, work well in all my loafer-type shoes. I wonder if I need to trim the edges, but then I’m afraid they’re not going to be that comfortable.

But that’s ok, you know? They do save my feet for quite a large variety of shoes I own, and I wouldn’t even dream of wearing my Kowalski’s without them, as well variety of boots I own! Because I molded them to my footprint, the arch support is adequate enough to make wearing orthotics on top of them redundant.

Shomore says:

SOLE has a variety of footbeds to select from, ranging from an athletic line to dress casual. Since I already have very comfortable cross trainers and spend most of my time working in dress shoes, Slim Casual seemed like a perfect fit for me. Also, I suffer from sweaty feet, so the perforation on Slim Casual looked like they would provide the breathability that I desired. Note: For those that are unsure of which footbed to use, there is a handy product selector tool which I also used to confirm my selection.

Since the instructions mentioned that I could wear the soles without heating them, I decided to try that first. Let me just say out of the box, I could already feel the arch support when tested in a pair of loafers and cross trainers, both of which have removable soles. The instructions say to remove the orignal insole, if possible. On the loafers and running shoes I tried, I found that removing the original soles were an absolute MUST. Otherwise, the extra cushioning from the double soles on my Coach loafers and Espirit boots caused my feet and toes to feel cramped. Next up, the intended dress shoes. Sadly, like Shoesense, I found that the ”Slim” SOLE was simply too wide for any of my pumps, regardless or pointy or square toed. I considered trimming them, but noticed a warning to ”Only trim the toe end”. Ah well, life isn’t perfect.

Feeling a bit more Betty Crocker-ish, I now proceeded to heat up the SOLEs in the oven. Ding. Two minutes have gone by and the soles are ready to be custom molded to my feet. Since I already knew they wouldn’t fit in my dress shoes, I molded the soles using my loafers. Nice!! The customization worked even better than out of the box. I didn’t even feel the need to break in the new fit either. In fact, I was able to window shop for a few hours over the weekend with the new soles.

For the final test. I moved the customized soles into my Reebok cross trainers. Although Slim Casual are not exactly intended for running shoes, I can safely say that they survived the test at the gym. My feet felt properly supported, weren’t sweaty after the gym, and I didn’t even need to air out my shoes after the gym - YES!

Overall, while I was a bit disappointed on the fit, I would still recommend this product if you are looking for support for your loafers and/or running shoes.

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It’s pretty generally true that everyone could benefit from custom-molded insoles in at least one pair of shoes. Maybe it’s your hiking boots, maybe it’s your party shoes, maybe it’s those stylish-but-uncomfortable shoes you wear to work. Well, now you may be able to have those insoles without having to pay several hundred dollars for an orthotic.

A company called (appropriately) SOLE, offers heat-moldable insoles for only $40-50 a pop (and if you buy multiple pairs, you can get a discount on top of those prices). This is genius, as far as I’m concerned. We all know that, much as we might like to, it’s not practical to buy shoes that offer you full support 100% of the time. But now, you can slip in these smart little helpers and add that support into any shoe that will fit the insole.

Just heat them up in an oven for a few minutes, then slip them into your shoes and slip your feet into the shoes on top of them. They’ll mold right to your foot. And there are different types of insoles for different activities and different types of shoes. There’s even a great Sole Selector to help you figure out which sole is best for your type of shoe and desired activity. The site has plenty of information about what the different soles can offer in terms of support.

Go check them out. Your search for customized support may be at an end.

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Just saw this article from the Orlando Sentinel this morning. It’s a line of sport shoes that incorporate a GPS tracking chip, so you can be found anywhere you go. Apparently, the inspiration was a miscommunication in which the inventor thought his son was missing.

Now, I have to say that this gives me the willies a little bit. Shoes that KNOW WHERE YOU ARE! A little Twilight Zone. But then again, I have that reaction to most GPS-related technology.

The other reaction I had was that sneaker technology is rapidly expanding.

I remember when the first hi-top sneakers came out with the air pump techonology. The first sneakers with lights in the soles. The first sneakers with wheels in the heels.

And now there are GPS sneakers and the Nike+ sneakers that can communicate with your iPod Nano to help you get the most out of your workout.

What will they think of next?

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