Regarding our Progressive Arch Design technology
The Arch Angels Children's Comfort Insole uses our own patented technology in the design of our arch support. Today, we'd like to briefly walk you through what this technology is, how it works, why it matters, and why other children's insoles don't work as well.
First, how most other insoles are designed.
Before we get into our Progressive Arch Design feature, it's important to understand how most insoles are made.
Most insoles are based on a single concept design that is then scaled up/down to create multiple sizes of the item. For example: Let's say that I create a prototype insole based on my own foot size and shoe size (men's 9½). I'm happy with the design and would like to move forward with creating different size insoles to cover shoe sizes women's 5 all the way through men's 14. That's a lot of different sizes to create!
So what nearly all brands do is simply scale the prototype larger or smaller, while keeping the prototype's proportions in mind. The shape of the insole and the shape of the arch support won't necessarily change, but where the support is placed, the total length of the insole, width, and other size and proportion factors are simply scaled to achieve the new size.
To be clear, this is actually quite effective for adult insoles. The average shape of a men's size 9½ foot isn't all that different from a men's size 7½ foot or size 13 foot. So scaling my size men's 9½ prototype down to a size 7½ or up to a size 13 still creates a suitable insole for those sizes.
This isn't really the case with children's feet, however.
Our Progressive Arch Design™ technology is better for children
Children's feet, however, change their shape quite a lot as they grow and develop. The average toddler's size 6 foot is dramatically different from the average children's size 11 foot and dramatically different still from the average youth size 4 foot.
To take from our example before, let's say we had simply developed a prototype insole for a children's size 11 foot. If we had taken this prototype and simply scaled it up and down to create different size offerings (as most brands do), we'd be making an insole that was effective for children who wear a child's 11 size shoe but not effective for children wearing smaller or larger shoes. Remember, the shape of their feet change, so the shape of our child's size 11 insole wouldn't work for other sizes!
Boiled down, this is precisely what our Progressive Arch Design technology addresses: For each subsequent size shoe insole, we designed a brand-new shape best suited for a child's foot at that stage of growth and development. The shape of our Toddler 6-8 insole is different from our Children's 11-12 insole and different still from our Youth 4-5 insole. Each size is not just a scaled up/scaled down version of another size; rather, we wanted each size insole to be optimally suited for a child's foot at each subsequent stage of growth.
Our design is unique & patented
The design of the Arch Angels Children's Comfort Insoles and the technology used in the Progressive Arch Design system are both patented. This means that you won't find another children's insole that uses the same approach to design that we have, and also that any "copycat" or "knockoff" products really aren't the same at all.