It's very common that we receive questions about which ways it's possible to adjust the fit of a shoe that is a bit too large. In this guide we will show how you can make a pair of shoes about a half size smaller (UK0,5). We will use an insole, tongue pad and heel grip. You can find them and many others in Insoles etc. category here.
The products we will use in this guide
Shoes are half a size too large
Shoes are usually available in half UK/US sizes or sometimes full EU sizes, so if you have a pair that is a bit too large / roomy it's usually somewhere around 1/4 or 1/2 sizes too big. In this guide we will try to apply our products on a pair of shoes in UK10 for our test person that usually wears size UK9,5 in the same model of shoes. When the shoe is laced on our test person without any of the products applied it's to roomy over the instep and at the front part of the shoe. It's also too roomy in the heel which causes heel slippage.
How the shoe looks laced before the adjustments.
First adjustment - insole
Our first adjustment will be to add a thin insole in leather. This sole will build approximately 1/4 in size. This will make the overall volume of the shoe smaller. After the sole is in place and we have laced the shoe, the overall fit is much better, however we still want to be able to lace the shoes harder and to have better fit in the heel.
By adding the thin insole the volume of the shoe reduces about 1/4 size.
Second adjustment – tongue pad
To get better contact between the tongue and the instep of the feet we will add a tongue pad in suede. This is made out of suede leather with memory foam which not only decrease the size of the shoe, it also make the pressure from the tongue very soft on the instep of the feet.
After the tongue pad is attached we can see that the lacing forms a small V. This is not something that always is preferred, but for our test person this is what he likes, and of course depends on type of shoes.
The tongue pad is self-adhesive and is easy to attach.
When the tongue pad is attached we can see that the lacing forms a V whic our test person prefers.
Third adjustment– heel grip
After the first two adjustments the overall fit is much better. However we still experience some heel slippage. We will now add a heel grip in suede leather which will make the heel a bit more narrow in shape which will make the shoe fit our test persons heel better. After the heel grip is attached our test person doesn't experience any heel slippage at all. We've developed a type of soft heel grips that are really comfortable.
Summary
With these easy adjustments you can adjust the fit of a shoe that is a bit too large. We were able to adjust the size to about 1/2 size smaller with these 3 adjustments.
Below is the final result. Since our test person has quite narrow heels the conclusion was that a half size down in shoes with heel grip would be the perfect choice for him. In many cases one can do one or two of these to get a proper fitting shoe.
If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail us at ktj@skolyx.se the contact form in the menu and we will be happy to help you!
Are the shoes too small instead? Check out our guide on how to stretch shoes yourself here.