If you wear orthothic insoles what sort of summer shoes do you wear?

[overwroughtowl]

Got the proper firm orthotics last year and I really can't do without them. Do have trainers but don't want to wear them all the time and they are more a casual look.

Thinking ahead as it'll be time to retire the boots soon.

Ooh some of the Vionics look great

I couldn't wear my insoles with these, but they'd be a reasonable compromise, and a smarter alternative to Birkenstocks

www.vionicshoes.co.uk/women/sandals/sahara.html

Thanks very much all, will have a look through the suggestions now and noting the tips.

That's what I've been looking for Zesty, some sort of suitable sandal with a covered heel. The holy grail it would appear

Going to try that trick with cutting the cheaper insoles Lego. I have plenty here from my gym days as they were always softer on the feet than the soles that come in trainers.

I have rigid half sole orthotics. I have bought Skechers with a strap and customised the insole by cutting it to fit alongside the orthotic.

Several German makes have removable insoles to accommodate orthotics. They include Think!, Hassia, Waldlaufer. A good place to look online is Peter Hahn.

Hassia do a wide fitting, rigid, ballet pump which works brilliantly with orthotics and it has a removeable insole to accommodate them. They are expensive, but very hard wearing. I've had mine for years.

Overwroughtowl - if you do decide to try out cutting the insoles of your shoes, I definitely recommend the following:

• buy some cheap insoles to practise with. Never cut the actual insoles of your shoes until you are really confident that you've got the placement of the cut right, & that you're keeping the shoes. I've recommended some below.
• only cut approximately the back 1/3 off the insole (basically the narrow heel section). Any more than this & you will have problems - you will not leave yourself plenty of overlap for the orthotic insert to sit on top of it & hold it firmly in place, & it can start to slip back into the heel if you remove much of the wider toe portion. IME you need at least a couple of inches overlap.

Usually I don't cut the insoles, only if they are quite thick & it's a sports shoe with specific areas of toe support. It's generally preferable to remove them & replace with something like these lambswool insoles, which can easily be cut to size by following the contours of your existing insole.

Another option can be to cut off the rim around the edge of the heel in trainers - they are sort of cup shaped. I did that once where I kept the greater portion of the insole but just cup off the rim of the heel cup so that my insert sat properly into the shoes. It's a trial & error business & there's often a lot of faffing about with cutting the existing insoles, which is why I usually just get the sheepskin ones these days TBH.

To clarify, re cutting the heel cup - I meant just cutting the top of the heel cup off so it's flattened, not cup shaped. It still needs to fit snugly into the heel of the shoe without moving about.

In order to shape the inoles, I put the orthotic in, draw round the bottom edge of it, then take the orthotic and insole out. I cut away the part of the insole that is to be occupied by the orthotic.

Fozzley Thank you for sharing the PH site. Just picked up some items I really needed

Clearwinter-the shoes aren't bad, are they? Not cutting-edge fashion, I grant you, but a reasonable selection for "difficult" feet.

I wear boots and trainers with orthotics until it's Summer then switch to Birkenstocks (the three strap kind). I find that the shaped sole supports my foot in the same way as an insole. They need breaking in but once the cork is shaped to your foot i find them incredibly comfortable and live in them all summer (plantar fascitis and over pronation here)

Better than our options here Fozzley and being able to wear my orthotics Durkheim to say in summer would be ace. I only bought one pair for now though. Problem is a few tops, two blazers and some jewellery slipped into my cart as well

I've just taken delivery of a pair of Vionics sandals, so thought I'd report on them.
They have three straps across, all adjustable, and a strap at the back.
The soles are flexible, and covered in a sort of suede, and have some sponginess, as if they might mould to the feet a bit. The main thing is they have a deep heel cup, and a high arch support. This is good for me, because my arches are high and I'm starting to get some pain from over pronation on one foot.
I sized down. I'm an 8, but these are a 7, and are perfect for sandals, but in closed in shoes I would try an 8. I'm pleased to find sandals with arch support, so I can maybe forgo the blessed orthotics in summer!
Could anyone with Fitflops tell me if they have arch support? I'm starting to rival Imelda Marcos for shoes, in pursuit of comfort!

Another orthotic victim here - I love shoes but the orthotics are the bane of my life and make my summers very miserable, but I can't manage without them. Another vote for Vionics here - I have 2 pairs and the insoles are are inbuilt and perfect for me. Another name to look out for is Strive - also fab for sandals! Some Clarks sandals have inbuilt arch support in them so I discovered last year - I think it was a new thing tbh but very welcome. However, it depends on how much support you need as to whether they'd be comfortable enough........

All you lovely ladies - see this wonder product which can now allow us to wear 'normal' sandals this summer!
http://www.orthotics-online.co.uk/store/index.php?mainpage=producttinfo&cPath=1&productsid=1

I wear Strive sandal in the summer. Big fat arch support and heel cup

Placemarking. Also sometimes fake Birkies come up high enough at the sides around the heel that you can use glue or velcro dots to fit half orthotics in them without it being obvious once you wear them. I've done that before with a pair from Shuropody, the arch support was amazing.