Commonly known as lift or tall shoes, elevator shoes for men are special shoes made to increase invisibly the height of the shoe wearer. The shoes work simply by lifting the wearer invisibily by putting thick in-soles so the shoe wearer will looked taller (please refer to “Inside Elevator Shoes” for further info).
Well, from the outside, there is no difference between these shoes and the ordinary one. In making these special shoes, the wearer’s comfortability is also considered, even though the wearer still need a couple days before get used to the shoes. Normaly, someone can get 2.5 – 4 cm taller by using these shoes. Well, there are also 5 cm shoes, but you will sacrifice your comfortability if you choose them.
History
If we track throughout the history about elevator shoes, we will find that these shoes were originated in 1500s when cowboy boots became trend in Spain. In the 1700s, another trend arose by combining men footwear with Cuban heel along with rising trend of high-heel shoes for men.
In this ‘civilized’ era, people have become more serious with their health. Some people who have flat foot found that normal shoes are not comfortable for them. To fix this, some people try to put extra soles inside the shoes, just to increase the height so they will looked taller and make the shoes more comfortable to use, especially after orthopaedic recommends this step as height-adjustment. In later days, this trend of thick, but soft shoes insoles became a living trend among some groups of people. Realizing this, some manufacturers tried to make their own men elevator shoes as a combination between comfortability and height adjustment.
It was in 1990s for the first women’s elevator shoes became another footwear trend. However, even though some women found these shoes can help them in increasing their height, some women choose to use flat, low, or even middle heels combined with thick shoes insole.
Parts Inside
Basically, there are 4 main parts inside men elevator shoes, all of them specially designed to meet both comfortability and great function.
Upper
This part should be designed well to support the thick shoes insole. Generally, there is slope difference between the 2 parts of the shoes: post and face. Manufacturers should also fix a problem where the post curve always has a higher value than ordinary shoes.
Insole
This is the key in elevator shoes in increasing the wearer’s height. Some manufacturers made insole from plastic, while the others choose foam or even cork. The back part of insole is always higher than the front one.
Mid-Insole
The main function of this part is as aeration provider and insole deteriorator. This is because the insole part commonly made from soft, but very expensive material.
Outer-soles
The main function of this part is to make the wearer feel comfortable while wearing the shoes and can walk naturally. For outer soles, ordinary heel can be used to replace rubber heels.
It is very important to remember difference between shoe lifts and elevator shoes for men. There are separated thick shoe insoles inside shoe lifts which you can adjust to any type of shoes. These shoes have diadvantages: you need to replace them once in few months to remove the dirty soles, less comfortability etc.