For people who wear a heel lift every day — whether for leg length discrepancy, Achilles tendon therapy, or any other ongoing condition — summer creates a problem.
The closed-heel shoes that worked all winter get replaced by sandals, flip flops, and open-heel shoes, and suddenly the lift situation becomes complicated.
Most heel lifts are made from white cork, dark foam, or opaque plastic. In a closed shoe they're invisible. In a sandal they're immediately obvious — a thick white wedge sitting under the foot, visible from the side, impossible to miss. The result is that a lot of people quietly stop wearing their lift during warm months and then wonder why their back pain or hip discomfort creeps back in the summer.
This page covers how to avoid that problem.
The transparent vinyl material of the Clearly Adjustable heel lift is the key difference. Clear vinyl takes on the color of whatever it's resting against — which means inside a tan leather sandal it looks tan, inside a dark footbed it looks dark, and in most cases it's essentially invisible to anyone looking at your foot from the side or from a normal distance.
This isn't a minor cosmetic point. For anyone who needs to wear a lift consistently — and consistency is where the therapeutic benefit comes from — the fact that the lift is undetectable in open-heel shoes makes the difference between actually wearing it through summer and quietly abandoning it for five months. That five-month gap adds up mechanically. Muscles, joints, and the pelvis that have adjusted to a corrected leg length difference don't maintain that adjustment when the correction disappears for a whole season.
When choosing a lift size specifically for sandal use, go one size wider than you would normally order for a closed-heel shoe.
Here's why. In a closed shoe, the heel cup walls on both sides keep the foot centered and prevent lateral drift. The foot stays put. In a sandal, those walls are gone — nothing is keeping the foot from sliding side to side while walking. A wider lift provides a larger stable platform under the heel, which keeps the foot better centered and makes the lift more comfortable to walk on over the course of a day.
The Clearly Adjustable lift is easily trimmed with scissors, so if the wider size is slightly too wide for a particular sandal's footbed, it takes about thirty seconds to trim it down to fit.
In a closed shoe, the Clearly Adjustable lift stays in position on its own. The stair-stepped bottom surface grips the heel pocket and doesn't move. Sandals don't have that heel enclosure, so the lift needs to be anchored. There are two reliable ways to do it.
A heavy-duty staple or small tack driven through the bottom layers of the lift into the sandal's heel is the most permanent solution. The staples used for ceiling tile installation are ideal — they're wide enough to grip the vinyl without pulling through it.
The one thing worth doing here to avoid any discomfort: before stapling, remove the top few layers of the lift, staple the bottom layers to the sandal through the bottom of the heel, then replace the top layers over the staple heads. This way the staple hardware is sandwiched between layers, completely isolated from the foot. You won't feel it at all.
If you're not comfortable doing this yourself, any shoe repair shop can do it in a few minutes and for very little cost. It's a simple job.
Tape is the more flexible option — it holds the lift securely but can be repositioned if needed.
The critical thing here is using the right tape. Most carpet tape and general-purpose double-faced tape sold in hardware stores contains adhesives that react with PVC vinyl — the material the Clearly Adjustable lift is made from. That reaction softens the vinyl, degrades the adhesive bond, and eventually causes the lift to slip around inside the sandal. That's exactly what you don't want.
G&W Heel Lift makes a double-faced tape specifically formulated for use with vinyl heel lift material. The adhesive is compatible with PVC, it's cloth-backed for durability, and one roll provides enough tape to secure several hundred lifts. It's inexpensive and worth ordering alongside your lift rather than improvising with whatever tape is in the drawer.
Find it at gwheellift.com/tape.html.
Fashion sandals with a built-in heel create a somewhat different situation. If the sandal already has significant heel elevation, you may need less additional lift height than you'd use in a flat shoe — the existing heel elevation has already changed your foot's position. The goal is the same regardless of shoe type: achieve the correct therapeutic elevation on the shorter leg while keeping the foot stable and comfortable.
For women managing leg length discrepancy who wear heeled sandals regularly, the practical approach is to measure what elevation the sandal's built-in heel already provides and subtract that from your prescribed lift height. A 6mm lift in a sandal with a 10mm built-in heel gives you an effective correction of roughly 16mm total — which may be more than you need or more than is comfortable. Adjustable heel lifts for leg length discrepancy are particularly useful here because you can dial in the exact additional height needed for each specific pair of sandals rather than using a fixed-height insert that may or may not be appropriate.
For flat sandals and flip flops, the approach is the same as any other sandal — anchor the lift with tape or staples and size up one width for stability. The main challenge with flip flops specifically is that there's very little material to attach to on the heel area. Stapling works better than tape in this case since the heel of a flip flop is often too thin and flexible for tape to grip reliably over time.
For people who need lift consistency across all their footwear, having a dedicated lift anchored in each pair of regularly worn sandals is the most practical approach — the same way you'd have a lift permanently fitted in each pair of everyday shoes rather than moving one lift between shoes throughout the day.
Sandals are where heel lift therapy most commonly breaks down — not because the lift stops working, but because people stop wearing it. The discomfort of having a visible white wedge showing under the foot in summer sandals is enough for most people to quietly discontinue use for the season.
A transparent lift that's nearly invisible in open-heel footwear removes that barrier. The therapeutic benefit of adjustable heel lifts for leg length discrepancy, Achilles tendon therapy, or heel lifts for hip alignment depends on consistent daily use across all footwear. Sandals included.
On This Site
Where to Buy Clearly Adjustable Heel Lifts — Authorized vendors where you can purchase the Clearly Adjustable heel lift online or by phone.
Sizing Information — How to measure your heel pocket and choose the right lift size — and why to size up for sandal use specifically.
Leg Length Discrepancy and Short Leg Syndrome — Why consistent lift use across all footwear — including sandals — matters for effective leg length discrepancy correction.
Achilles Tendonitis and Heel Lifts — How heel lift inserts support Achilles tendon recovery, and why the therapy needs to continue in sandals and open-heel shoes during warm months.
Usage and Customization Instructions — How to place, adjust, and trim the Clearly Adjustable lift, including guidance on sandal installation.
Selecting the Right Heel Lift — A Buyer's Guide — A comparison of heel lift materials and types, including transparency and stability considerations for open-heel footwear.
Why Not Use Heel Lifts? — What can go wrong with heel lift use and how to avoid it — including the consequences of inconsistent use across footwear.
External Resource
G&W Heel Lift — Double-Faced Tape for Vinyl Heel Lifts — The tape specifically formulated for use with PVC vinyl heel lift material. Cloth-backed for durability, safe for all heel lift types, and sold in 36-yard rolls. Using standard hardware store tape risks softening the lift material — this is the correct product for the job.
Disclosure: Richard W. Zehr, the author, is the manufacturer of the Clearly Adjustable Heel Lift and has managed a moderate leg length discrepancy using in-shoe heel lifts for several decades, including in sandals and open-heel footwear. This information is presented for educational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. ©2004–2025 Clearly Adjustable.