8 Things to Look for When Choosing a Shoe for Standing All Day

12/22/2022

8 Things to Look for When Choosing a Shoe for Standing All Day

Life keeps us busy. For some of us, being busy means being kept on our toes—literally—all day. Whether because of recreation, daily living, crossing brooks and creeks on day-long hiking trips, or never-ending errands, most of us are on our feet often. Many of us are also on our feet for work, in which case your day may involve even more physical exertion.

No matter the reason for standing all day, you should have shoes that support you. Imagine how terrible standing in dress shoes or heels all day can make your feet feel. 

Kizik knows comfortable shoes and what to look for in them. Below are our must-haves for any shoe you expect to support you all day long.

1. Supportive arches

In daily use, the arches of our feet take the brunt of the impact from movement. They are our body's natural shock absorbers, making them essential in daily locomotion. That makes it especially important that our footwear supports our arches, especially when standing for long hours. There are plenty of ways to achieve this. 

For example, look at our Men’s Lima. This walking shoe features a springy Rabbit Foam™ outsole. This allows for a cushioned, comfortable fit that flexes to meet all your support needs.

If you need extra support, you can also look at the insole or midsole of your shoe. The midsole absorbs most of the impact, so it’s especially essential for protection. 

Flexible materials like those in foam insoles are more protective than plain fabric. This extra cushioning is often found in running shoes and dedicated walking shoes alike. Better cushioning can also protect against issues like plantar fasciitis

Having low arches or flat feet and high arches can contribute to certain issues, and uneven wear on shoes and persistent pain can be signs of these problems. Visiting a healthcare professional like a DPM (AKA a podiatrist) can help with formal diagnoses, and they may suggest a change in footwear or formal support. 

Arch support can also help with pain associated with flat feet. These can be built into footwear or be part of customized orthotics.

2. An ideal fit

A great fit isn’t just important for workday shoes. It’s important for all shoes. For a long day, comfort matters, and the way a shoe fits matters most. 

Ditching laces is one way to make shoes more comfortable. Laceless shoes and slip-on sneakers also have the benefit of being easier to put on and take off. The actual shape of the footbed matters too. Too wide, and you’ll slip out. Too narrow, and you’ll be constricted, and the shoe will stretch—not to mention the potential for blisters.

Regardless, having a little extra space in the toe box is excellent for work shoes, giving you extra room to move. While some shoes are built for wide feet, however, you may find yourself sizing up a half size or so if you want to get that extra room—or you could choose shoes that are designed with a spacious toe box to begin with. 

Finding the best-fitting shoes is essential to making sure you’re getting the support you need. Shoes that fit incorrectly can lead to pain and discomfort. 

3. Comfort and flexibility

Daily standing shoes shouldn’t just fit well. They should also be wonderfully comfortable and flexible. In many cases, the two go hand-in-hand. Kizik’s Roamer shoe prioritizes fit, comfort, and flexibility. 

Laceless shoe entry technology allows you to put on and take off the shoes totally hands-free. The bounce-back of the material stops the back-crushing folds standard shoes suffer from. 

The upper material is also essential for day comfort, since it’s vital to determining the breathability of your shoe. Especially if you’re in an active environment, breathability can impact both the comfort of the shoe and how quickly it dries. Many materials can help, though mesh uppers, in particular, are a great choice for active shoes. 

The insoles impact your support since they are in direct contact with your feet. Our shoes use contoured insoles to support everything from the heel to the forefoot. 

In general, memory foam padding can also help improve the feel of your comfy shoes. It contours to your foot shape and adjusts to your gait and how you naturally move. Since you’ll be engaging your feet all day, it matters that your footwear supports your motion. 

4. Style

The shoes you’re standing in all day make an impact on your style, so you should make sure any shoes you pick fit with your personal style. 

If you’re wearing a pair of shoes in a fairly unathletic work environment, feel free to play around a little more. Materials like suede and more relaxed styles are great if they won’t be undergoing exposure to the elements. 

If you’re looking for something better for hiking or other more active endeavors, consider athletic shoes or sporty-inspired activewear shoes. No matter your taste, there are plenty of options to help you find your perfect day wear. 

5. Slip-on, slip-off technology 

When we get home from standing all day during a long shift, the last thing most of us want to do is bend down. Shifts longer than eight hours can leave us feeling exhausted, and not needing to unlace your shoes makes things easier. 

Many of us just want to kick off our shoes, so why not wear something that allows for that? Well, taking lace-up shoes off and not unlacing them can damage them in the long term.

For Kizik shoes, this problem is no more, all thanks to our Cage™ technology. You slip your foot into the shoes, and the heel contorts to allow easy access. Once your foot is in, the heel springs back. There’s no crushing or retying necessary, making these great for kicking your shoes off when you walk in the door and useful for anyone who, for any reason, is unable to tie their shoes. 

It’s a small detail that makes a daily part of our lives easier. 

6. Slip resistance

If you’re working in a fast-paced environment or somewhere grip matters, slip-resistant shoes are essential. Non-slip shoes use rubber outsoles to ensure stability. 

Slip and fall accidents are a major threat to people of all ages, and within the workplace, they are one of the biggest contributors to accidents

It’s one thing to wear a pair of shoes that grip poorly for a special occasion where you’re not moving. However, to stay on the go, your shoes should support every activity, even the ones that might cause tripping or slipping. 

This doesn’t mean you need a pair of running shoes to help you move fast. However, casual shoes can take you from work to errands to everything else, so long as you choose a pair with enough traction.

7. Shock-absorbency

If you’re standing all day, the chances are you’re also walking all day, which means that with each step you take, you’re getting a little shock. On their own, our feet handle regular flooring well. The wrong pair of shoes, though, can alter that shock absorption. 

Heel pain is often one of the first serious signs that your work shoes or comfortable shoes could be better at absorbing shock. 

It all comes down to the midsole cushioning of your shoes and how they generally fit your feet. Take heels, for instance: they center all of the gravitational force from your body on one single fragment of your foot. They also, unsurprisingly, don’t have the same extra cushioning that active shoes do. 

8. Easy care

Our last goal goes more for when your shoes are off than any other time: They should be as easy to care for as they are to slip on and off. When it comes to footwear care, Kizik makes sure our guiding principle of making your life easier still applies.

Our footwear features a removable insole that can easily be taken out and washed to keep it clean and extend its lifespan—it doesn’t get much easier than that.

Closing note: Choosing the right shoe for you

What makes the best shoes for standing all day? It can be boiled down to one crucial element: Ease.

Your daily shoes should be easy to get on in the morning and take off in the evening. They should support and cushion your feet at all other times while being breathable and spacious enough to relax in.

No matter what you value most, Kizik is here to support you and your feet. Need comfort more than anything? Our contoured insole and spacious toe boxes are created to better fit and support your soles.

Want something that grips while remaining flexible? Our tech does both of those things at once.

And if you just want stylish footwear, well, we have that too. Shoes for men, women, and children can be found at Kizik

Sources:

Plantar Fasciitis | Johns Hopkins Medicine

Flat Feet | Mayo Clinic

Slip-Resistant Shoes | CDC

Written By: Chris Fry

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