Is it possible to reduce the heel height.. - Page 2

Guy N. Heels · 22nd October 2007, 01:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Shoe

Not neccesarily ruined as you could always get new heels put on to restore them. The process to lower heels is like increasing them but in reverse, you will need to bend the shank to make the pitch OK. A cobbler will take off 1.5 cm at the most but it'll make a huge difference.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DO THIS YOURSELF.

You will need an expert cobbler to do the job. Downsizing the heel by 1-2 cm will make a big difference. Another alternative is to add a platform of 1-2 cm to the boot (don't raise the bridge - lower the river), but you will still have a geometry problem that will need professional attention. Best of luck to you.

flavio · 15th May 2008, 03:31

Going totally contrary to the tendency of this thread, I did it myself.
I always self-studied how shoes are made, I'm not a pro like Dr. Shoe.

Since I have some hand tools and like to work with wood and make things in my own house, I decided to do that with my beloved 5 inches. They were 5.5 before the job.

5.5 was to high for me. I did a lot of trainning in then and never was able to walk gracefully since my calf didn't stretch the way I can do a step without pain when the foot goes forward. I waited more then an year to decide what to do. Since I'm very busy lately, I didn't have time to go to a cobbler.

I started studying my boots. First step, simulation. I putted the boots on a corner of a table and saw the angle of the original heel and how it would be after the job. I realised that 1cm (0.5 inch approx.) would do a very small angle to the verticallity of the heel. Little or no problem. The point of the toebox would be a little more springed, no trouble at all.

Second step, removing heeltips. WARNING! these boots have wood heels and they are not regular stilletos, they are a bit chunkier then stilletos. They don't have the inner metal where the heeltip fits. Don't do this in your boots if they have regular plastic or inner metal heels or if you don't know what you're doing!

To remove the heeltips, since they were glued, was just a matter of carefully taking them with a sharp tool. Then, unglue the leather around the area I want to remove. Perfect, no damage 'till here.

After that, was to mark and cautiously saw the heels. Perfect.
A little finishing so the wood was plain. With a sharp knife I cutted out the excess of leather. Finishing with superglue.

Superglue did the job to the tips after cautious cleaning and plainning them.
PERFECT.
Walking in them was a pleasure I never had before! I was capable of confortably walk in them and spend a lot of time without hurt!

The angle was a bit bad looking. I solved that holding the boots firmly with my hand (no tools here please) and with the other hand firmly and cautiously pushing the arch of the boot to make a new shape to the inner steel shank. Since the difference was minimum, there was no risk to ruin the boots.

The results? Are on my feet now. I love them and will wear them forever. They are the greatest shoe I ever had. Beautiful, warm, sexy, practical and more comfortable then any "men's" or "women's" shoe I have.
A lesson: now I know exactly my limit of 5 inches heels.

shoerepairer · 19th May 2008, 10:21

What you are “technically” talking about is the Balance of the footwear. The biggest problem’s with altering the balance of any footwear are in fact the uppers (the part your foot goes in!) design & shape, this can not be easily altered! So if you have a boot (in this case) with a 4 inch heel, the upper would have been designed around this height & your foot will sit in it with bent toes accordingly.
If you was to take off say 2” you would find them almost impossible to walk in as you would “feel” as if you was falling back with each step taken.
The second issue here is the part that makes the boot rigid at the point where the heel is attached to the upper, called the shank. This would be placed under tremendous strain & would after a short period of time break causing the “Kick under” as mentioned.
As a rule of thumb you should be able to place your finger under the toe for correct balancing, most footwear has a “tolerance” (see pictures)

Picture one shows the shoes correctly balanced.
http://www.brilee.co.uk/hhplace/001.jpg

Picture two, shows how the same shoes would sit with a 1cm lowering, which would be within acceptable limits
http://www.brilee.co.uk/hhplace/002.jpg

As a rule of thumb most stilettos can be altered about this amount. & boots as shown in the images can be lowered between ¼ & a ½ inch, any more & you risk breakages.

Lee

flavio · 23rd May 2008, 15:09

Thanks for the info shoerepairer!
That was exactly the experience I did before lowering 1cm my boot's heels.

atsumivn · 27th May 2008, 19:53

Hi guys, these are weird terms since I am not a native English
Just wonder - if you can lower your heels, then can we do it the other way?
I wanna heighten my heels - about 2cm more. Can we make it happen?

shoerepairer · 28th May 2008, 09:43

yes you can go the other way, but as with the previous post, only by 6 - 12mm (¼ & a ½ inch) or you will feel as if you are stumbling forward all the time.
the strain on the shank is in the other direction & the heel could collapse outwards.
On a stiletto type heel you will in almost all case's have to replace the entire heel block to achieve this safely & this more often than not out ways the cost of simply buying shoes the correct height.
On other heels this can be achieved in various ways with few problems.

Its also worth remembering that any footwear design is based around the height of the heel block being put on it, this is often the starting point of the design.
Altering this will always be a compromise between design, comfort & strength altering the height of your heels should always be given considerable consideration as it can be a fruitless exercise.

Lee