If you have a floppy shoe situation but it fits your length and width, here are a few things to try:
- Leg Warmers / Stirrup Socks – Works wonderfully in boots to fill up space but keep your toes free.
- Tongue Pads – My favorite low volume foot hack, but they are semi-permanent and will leave residue when removed.
- Foot Snuggs – This clever product is like a tongue pad, but can be worn inside your socks and comes in multiple lengths depending on the type of shoe you’re wearing them in!
- Heel Grip – Helps with heel slippage.
- Moleskin – This allows you to fill in a little space wherever it’s needed, even on sandals (because you cut it to fit).
- Barefoot Insoles – These work well if you have enough vertical space for them.
This is a common issue for people with low volume feet, but it can affect anyone depending on the type of shoe! Particularly with slip on and pull shoes, it’s a good idea to watch out for the dreaded flop. Fortunately, once you have a few items on hand, it is really easy to fix.
15 thoughts on “Fit Hacks For Low Volume Feet?”
What about narrow and low volume feet?
It would essentially be the same tips. You could also check the Barefoot Shoe Finder for narrower options.
I have a slightly longer length on my left foot so I need to buy a shoe size that will accommodate my left foot. I tried on the Lems Chelsea boot. Their W10 fits my right perfectly but not so my left foot. I’m waiting to fit a half size up to check but I’m anticipating the right boot will have some extra wiggle room. So I might try these tips on making the right boot fit just right. Do you have other tips if one foot is slightly longer than the other? Thanks!
The adhesive tongue pads will be your friend, I can’t think of anything else besides what’s in this FAQ to add.
I got the Belinka Polaris and they are really wooly inside so I don’t think the hacks will work with them as the hacks you mention tend to need to be able to stick to a surface. Any other ideas? The Polaris fit a lot better (little/no heel slip) with a medium weight sock but if I slip them on with a regular sock they slip up at the heel. Really beautiful and cozy boot tho, I want to love them 100% but worried about the heel slip and wondering if I need to return. Also do you know if they get a bit loser over time due to squishing the wool from wearing? I went up a size (up to 38) from my normal size (37) as I thought my regular Belinka size would be too small with the wool lining. I was going to order the two sizes and just return the pair that fit least well but they were out of stock of the 37. Oh the questions… And thank you so much for your very useful content!
Hi there! Yes for those boots I wouldn’t use a tongue pad but I am wearing leg warmers in my Polaris. Some chunky legwarmers over a medium weight pair of socks have been perfect and they haven’t been slipping.
hi Anya, do you think it’s much better to have the stirrup style of leg warmers? I worry that it would feel uncomfortable after a while to have the stirrup just under the mid foot (keeps foot from being flat to the shoe/ground, right?). did you recommend the stirrup style because you found that the non-stirrup style slips up the leg?
Personally I much prefer the stirrup style because they don’t slide up and because they tend to fit in shoes better. I do have some of the other types of leg warmers that I wear over my heel inside my shoes, but they want to ride up and feel bunchy in my shoes. I have 4 pairs of stirrup leg warmers that I got from Amazon and none of them cut into my foot or feel uncomfortable at all. I don’t even notice I have them. I also have some stirrup socks from Knitido that has an elasticized band around the heel opening and those ones I find tight on my skin after a while.
Du you yave you any photos on your blog of how you use the moleskin to make your shoes fit better? It would be helpful to see how this can be used.
You can find that here! It is the same process wherever you place the moleskin.
I just purchased the Lems Chelsea Boots and have low volume feet – the length fits but it’s quite floppy. I’m thinking of getting the tongue pads but wondering – would I put them on the upper surface of the toe box (rather than the “tongue” part of the boot)? Thanks!
Hi Hannah! Yes, you can stick them anywhere you need to fill in some space. That might be in the toe box above your foot, or further up near your ankle. You can even affix them to the sides of the ankle area in a shoe/boot that is too wide there. They are really versatile and can make all the difference!
I’m having a similar problem with Chelsea boots! Did the tongue pads work for you?
what are the shoes in the top right picture? brown slip-ons?
It is the Vivobarefoot Opanka loafer. Currently it doesn’t come in brown, but they might bring it back for spring.