If you're like the 30% of women and 15% of men who need more padding in their heels to fit better in shoes, you might be disappointed by most of what's available to help.
Heel pads crunch your toes against the front of your shoe and often don't actually prevent your heel from rubbing or popping out.
And most so-called "padded socks" on the market usually provide too much thickness in the areas you don't need it (toe box and sole) and annoyingly underpad the outer heel walls.
A big secret: the only way to learn how a sock is structured is to turn it inside out.
Once you've turned a sock inside out, some things become very obvious and sometimes very shocking.
Take for example the low-cut socks by Calvin Klein shown inside-out at the top of this article that are marketed as thick and padded.
If we zoom in, we can see that, although we wanted socks with heel padding specifically, instead everything is padded with luxurious terry cloth EXCEPT the heels!
Additionally, they've included a silicone grip to reduce rubbing and keep the sock in place, but it's a thin layer (to save money on manufacturing) and focused only on the very back of the heel wall.
This is typical of most socks on the market today.
Yet for those of us that need socks with padded heels... This. Will. Not. Help.
Why is it so hard to find thick socks with padded heels?
Honestly, it's because a majority of people only need a sock to absorb sweat and to cushion the bottom of their step.
But for those of us who have narrow feet or heels, who blister, or whose heels rub and/or pop out of our shoes, we need actual heel padding to fill up the air gap* in our shoes!
Not padding "everywhere but the heel," but specifically targeted there.
* What's the "air gap"? That's the space left between the edges of our feet and the heel wall of our loose shoes that leads to blistering and slipping if we don't "fill it in" to improve skin-to-shoe contact.
Introducing Skinnys Socks with Heel Padding
Mass-market sock manufacturers aren't targeting us (even when they say their socks are padded), so that's why our founder developed Skinnys, a thick orthotic-style sock liner with padding targeting the heels that can be worn either as standalone invisible no-shows or as liners beneath your current socks (if you want to keep them but still fit better in your shoes).
Shear on top, extra-cushioned (with thick terry) in the heel cups, and with a custom silicone gel-grip engineered all around the sides of the heel cup (twice as much as conventional non-specialty no-show socks), Skinnys are an orthotic-like solution where generic so-called padded socks have failed for people who really need help in their heels.
In short, Skinnys extra-padded liners are guaranteed to fill up the air gap and keep your heel in place without slipping:
- 3x-thick heel cups, padded with terry cloth (thickness compared to other no-show socks)
- 2x-poured silicone grip that wraps all the way around the heel cup to ensure a snug fit even on the sides of the heel (compared to other brands that only use a thin layer directly behind the heel, with nothing on the sides)
- Super-low cut to stay hidden in most slip-on walking shoes.
Skinnys cushioned no-shows help you fit better with conventional ankle socks as well
Skinnys aren't just a padded no-show sock. They're also usable as an invisible underlayer with fashion socks (ankle-high, knee-high, etc.) to help you fit better in every socked situation.
They can be worn two ways:
- Standalone with slip-ons like Vans or loafers to appear "sockless" (like regular low-cut/no-show socks, but better)
- Underlayer liners below dress socks to pad up your heels even more.
As an added bonus, when worn as an underlayer below dress socks, the friction point is moved away from your skin, as both the outer sock and the Skinnys liner will rub before your skin will.
Either way, your shoes will better stay on your feet and heels.
Time to try Skinnys?
We'd love to have you try a starter pack of Skinnys (in both invisible liner-cut and performance sneaker-cut styles)! We think they'll work for you, because they worked for us. And because 25% of our business is repeat customers, we're pretty sure they're becoming the best new tool in the arsenal to tighten people's step.
If you have any questions, please contact us. We're quick to respond, and we love talking to customers!
