Gabor Anatomical Footbed Size 37 – Leather Insole for Feet That Get Warm and Damp

Description

Gabor Anatomical Footbed Size 37 – Leather Insole for Feet That Get Warm and Damp – the breathing leather bed for feet that leave a shoe warmer and damper than they went in

A foot puts out a surprising amount of moisture in the course of a day, and most of it has nowhere to go. The upper is often coated, the outsole is rubber, and the bed underneath is a closed cell foam that absorbs nothing at all. So the moisture stays where it is, the sock goes damp by lunchtime and the shoe develops a smell that no spray ever properly cures.

Change the bed and you change the whole balance. Leather takes moisture up into the fibre through the day and lets it go again overnight, which is why leather lined shoes have always been the comfortable ones in warm weather. It is not a gimmick or a coating; it is simply what a natural hide does, and a synthetic bed cannot copy it.

One pair of shaped leather footbeds, cut in a 37, which Gabor sets against a UK 4 on its chart.

Why choose this gabor anatomical footbed size 37?

• Leather takes the damp up instead of trapping it. Hide is porous, so perspiration moves into the material rather than pooling on top of it. The practical result is a sock that is still dry at four o’clock, and that single change does more for comfort in warm weather than any amount of cushioning.
• It gives the moisture back overnight. Absorbing is only half the job. Left out of the shoe in ordinary room air, a leather bed dries right through by morning and starts the next day empty. A foam bed that has taken up moisture in its cells stays wet for days on end.
• Smell has nowhere to establish itself. Odour comes from bacteria living in a warm, damp bed rather than from the foot itself. Take away the permanent damp and you take away the habitat, and that is why leather footbeds so rarely smell while old foam ones nearly always do in the end.
• Shaped support as well as a dry surface. This is not a plain sheet of leather. The Exclusive bed carries a proper instep contour and a cupped back to it, so the anatomical support arrives alongside the moisture management rather than instead of it, which is what you are paying the extra for.
• It holds up to daily wear for years. Leather compacts slightly and then settles, where foam crushes and stays crushed. A bed like this is still doing its job several years in, which is the honest reason it costs more than a foam insert at the outset.
• Real hide, and the box says so. Gabor prints Echtes Leder on the pack because it matters. At £22.99 you are buying genuine leather rather than a leather look topsheet over foam, and the difference shows up in exactly the situation this page describes.

How to use the Gabor anatomical footbed size 37

Take the old bed out before you fit these, because leaving a damp foam liner underneath a new leather one defeats the entire purpose of buying them in the first place.

1. Remove the existing liner completely, however tired it may be.
2. Wipe out the shoe and let it stand open for an hour.
3. Compare the new bed against the old and trim the toe if needed.
4. Set it in leather face upward and press it into the heel.
5. Wear a natural fibre sock rather than a synthetic one with them.
6. Lift them out at night so the hide can give the moisture back.

My tip as a shoe specialist

Never dry a leather footbed on a radiator, and never park the shoes over one either. Hide that dries fast and hot loses the oils that keep it supple, and it will go hard, then curl at the edges, and finally crack across the ball. Room air and time is all that is needed, and if the shoes are properly soaked then a shoe tree or loosely crumpled paper inside them will draw the moisture out faster than any heat source. I have seen more good leather ruined by radiators than by rain, and it is always avoidable.

Specifications

Facts and figures

• Size: 37, a UK 4
• Hide: Genuine leather, Echtes Leder on the box
• Contour: Anatomical, shaped at arch and heel
• Quantity: A single pair
• Coverage: Full length
• Strong point: Breathability and moisture control
• Fitting: Trimmable at the toe
• Line: Gabor Exclusive
• Origin: Gabor

Frequently asked questions

Will a leather footbed stop my shoes smelling?

It removes the main cause, which is a permanently damp bed for bacteria to live in. Combined with airing the shoes and rotating two pairs, most people find the problem goes away entirely. On its own it is a large improvement rather than a guarantee.

Can I wash them if they do get unpleasant?

Please do not soak them. Wipe the face down with a nearly dry cloth and stand them in still air. Wetting hide through and forcing it dry afterwards is what turns a good footbed into a hard, curled one.

Do they work with synthetic socks?

Less well, and that is worth knowing. A polyester sock holds moisture against the foot before the bed ever sees it. Cotton or wool lets the leather do the job it is good at, and the difference is noticeable.

Where can I buy the Gabor anatomical footbed size 37 in the UK?

Here at Shoespecialist.co.uk. The full Gabor size run lives on my shelf, an order placed by 5pm goes into the post that afternoon, carriage falls away above £50, and the returns window is a full 60 days wide.