Let's Talk About Cosplay Shoes and Comfort

So many character designs have impractical and uncomfortable shoes, and I see a lot of questions about how to deal with such shoes. A lot of cosplayers will just tough it out with bad shoes, and at best this makes them not want to rewear the costume, and at worst can cause actual foot issues down the line. Cons are a lot of walking! 

Shoes are typically the least important cosplay item for accuracy, but one of the most important for comfort. If it’s a shoot in a controlled location where the shoes are just for show and you aren’t walking in them? Do what you will. Go for those impractical heels and look fabulous in them. But if you’re wearing a costume to a con? Prioritize comfort over looks every time. Your feet are important, and if you have bad shoes, you will have a bad time in the costume and at the event. This doesn’t mean you should wear shoes that don’t fit the costume, though. In most cases, shoes that are more comfortable but 75% accurate will be better than shoes that are uncomfortable but 100% accurate. Maybe I'm just getting old, but if you want to continue to cosplay for a long time like I have, you need to take care of yourself.

As always, this has exceptions and is speaking in general. Cases such as needing orthotic shoes for medical reasons obviously don’t apply here. Do what’s medically necessary, always.

The first recommended method of making cosplay shoes more comfortable is to choose shoes that are close enough but more comfortable. Often, fully accurate character shoes sold as such are cheaply made, with little in the way of structure and padding. If the character has basic shoes, you can easily sub in storebought shoes meant for daily wear that have the same color and similar design details. You can also choose shoes that are close in style but easier for you to wear. Fictional characters don’t need to actually walk in their shoes because they’re not real, so you often end up with characters with shoes that are nearly physically impossible. In cases like this, I like to change up the style of the shoes so they still read as the character but are still nice to wear. This could be lowering heel heights, adding a small platform to the heels, choosing thicker heels, shoes with a strap instead of tensioned onto the foot, or any other change that improves your personal comfort. For a character like Kaine from Nier (pictured), her shoes are close to real world shoes, but not an exact 1:1 match to any known actual style (and if they exist, they would likely only show up for a season and be gone forever). In a case like this, you can buy cosplay shoes, but they would likely be cheaply made, and that's not what you want when it comes to strappy heels. I also put in a picture of shoes I would wear for her that are "close enough" to read as her shoes, especially with some basic mods like an extra bit of elastic for extra straps, but are a known brand that focuses on comfort. 

This next method goes hand in hand with the first method, since you’re often doing this with your “close enough” shoes, and that’s modifying more comfortable shoe bases to be more accurate. This can be anything from making bootcovers and reusing the same bases to painting a pair of shoes from a brand you know you like. I personally like Life Stride and Dream Pairs brands for heels, so I often find myself using these brands as bases and making them look more like the character shoes. You can also use shoe clips for decorative elements or glue items directly onto the shoes as needed. One advantage of this method is that you can have shoes that look more like the character but that you know are good on your feet. For a character like Ulala from Space Channel 5 (pictured), I would go with a thicker heel that’s a bit lower and a thick enough platform to reduce the slope of the heel height. Choosing a late 1990s borrowing from the 1960s shape with these features would still read as her even if they aren’t accurate as such when comparing directly to the artwork but would be far more comfortable to wear than fully accurate shoes with sky-high heels, a smaller platform, and very thin heels. Another is that if you make all the modifications temporary, such as removable bootcovers, you can reuse the same base shoes for multiple cosplays or even use shoes that you wear in daily life and already know are comfortable.

If the shoes are just terrible for your specific feet and there’s no way to modify them to be more comfortable, you can always wear shoes that go with the aesthetic of the costume but aren’t anything like the canon shoes. This is also my recommendation for characters who are barefoot, since I personally don’t trust the common methods for invisible shoes to hold up during all day on wear, but obviously your own experience may be different. If you go this route, try to find shoes that look like they go with the costume. Even if you have to wear shoes that don't match in style, try to match colors or choose a coordinating color rather than wearing something that visually clashes. If you don't care about photos or are swapping to more comfy shoes because of foot pain at a con, do what you will, but if these are meant to be the permanent shoes for that cosplay, keeps consistent aesthetics will help a lot with the overall look. Think about not just colors, but shapes, materials, and the world of the story, and the types of things within those categories your character would gravitate towards.

Finally, the most cumbersome but most accurate way to deal with uncomfortable shoes: simply carry the more accurate but worse to wear shoes with you and swap them for photos. This is easier during photoshoots than at cons, but it’s doable at cons as well. Shoes are bulky and heavy, so only do this if you really need the aesthetic of the accurate shoes, and if you can put them away when you’re done with them, even better. Some circumstances where you might want to swap shoes are if the canon shoes are easy to carry, if you’re going to a gathering or have scheduled a photoshoot, or if you are entering the cosplay contest but wearing the costume in the halls during the day. If you’re just sitting in panels or doing your shopping, I personally wouldn’t bother carrying other shoes and swapping just because it’s so cumbersome and most people taking hall photos either won’t care or won’t even get your feet in the shot. I swapped shoes for this Cairngorm shoot so I wouldn't have to wear the canon platform sandals while scrambling over rocks to get to the location.

Choosing shoes can be tricky, so here's my tips and favorite brands. Your particular feet will have particular needs, so this advice may or may not work for you, but this is generally applicable advice. My focus here is on heels, but this can apply to any shoes.

• If you are wearing heels, I often find that a tiny amount of platform helps with comfort. The more platform there is in relation to the heel height, the less slope there is for your feet, often allowing you to wear higher heels than you would normally be able to because the slope is the same as a one or two inch heel rather than a five or six inch heel. A small amount of platform on shoes that aren't drawn with platforms, especially when buying cheap shoes, will also help with the problem of feeling every lump and bump on the ground through thin soles. Most mid range and up heels without platforms will have more padding there built in, but if you're going for super cheap shoes, find ones that prevent you from feeling the ground.
• Heels should be centered under your center of gravity. If they are too far back (more common than too far forward), your balance will be slightly off and you will be unconsciously compensating for that all day. All shoes should feel balanced in weight and balanced the same as your natural stance or close to it.
• I prefer heels with flexible balls of the feet and structure through the arches. This helps them to move with your feet in the places they need movement but will hold your foot into place in the areas that is needed.
• If you can, size half a size up and use insoles and padding. Your feet swell over the course of a normal day, let alone a long day of walking, so this will give you a little bit of extra space for that swelling as well as give you a bit of extra room for whatever padding you need. Insoles can provide arch support and bottom of foot padding. I like adhesive back of heel padding for pumps, since this prevents the shoes from rubbing the back of my heel skin raw and also provides a little cushion to keep them on better. Moleskin is useful for anywhere the shoes rub, especially if you are wearing them without any sort of socks or tights. Some shoes come with built-in padding, which is great for baseline comfort, but may still need additional padding depending on the shape of your feet.
• Make sure you have good fit to begin with. Some styles of shoes, like pumps, require good fit to stay on your feet, but other shoes, like sneaker or boots, can be slightly oversized with thick socks. Too small shoes will rub and pinch, and too large shoes will move around on your feet and rub areas raw, so be sure to keep a balance. My advice on sizing up half a size works best with boots and similar rather than pumps.
• If your shoes have straps, elastic or slightly stretchy straps tend to move better with your feet and are less likely to rub than very firm straps. This will depend on the style of shoe and your particular needs.
• Many people find thicker heels to be more stable and easier to wear than thinner heels.
• If you can't try them on in person, buy from somewhere with free returns so you can return if they don't fit you correctly.

​I have a few favorite brands of shoes: Life Stride, Dream Pairs, Cape Robbins, and Aerosoles. The latter is a bit higher in price, but the first three are relatively inexpensive, especially if you can find some on sale. Personally, I'd rather spend 40~50USD on a pair of shoes that are better on my feet than 20USD on a pair that I find to be torture. Life Stride makes the best heeled pumps I've found, Dream Pairs makes a good variety of shoes but I especially like their boots, and Cape Robbins is good for platforms.

Additional examples:

You can't wear skates at a con, so if you're going as a character from a skating series like Yuri on Ice or Jet Set Radio, choose shoes that match the aesthetic of the skates. If the character has very distinctive skates, like most Jet Set Radio characters, you can make bootcovers or modify some boots to look like theirs, but otherwise, you can get funky sneakers with colors that match your particular character. If doing a character like Yuri Plisetsky, who wears basic ice skates, lace-up boots in the same color as his would give the same look but without the danger.

As any ballerina or safety-minded cosplayer who has been around long enough can tell you, pointe shoes are a terrible idea if you aren't trained in ballet, and if you are trained, you probably realize that wearing them at a con is a bad idea with the amount of walking you do. Thankfully, ballet aesthetic is perpetually in fashion, so you can find shoes with a similar look to your ballerina character without risk. You can also add straps of ballet elastic or ballet shoe ribbon to shoes with a similar shape if you want to use shoes you already own or can't find good ones with the straps included.

Barefoot characters are hard because you obviously don't want to walk around a con without shoes. A shoot is one thing, but a full con is another. I've seen barefoot shoe tutorials using insoles, and while they look great, I'd be worried about how they hold up, especially if you step on something sharp by accident. Characters who are barefoot are a prime place to either swap "shoes" (slip them off for photos and immediately put them back on) or find "close enough" shoes that match the aesthetic. You can also get shoes that are close to your skin tone to imitate bare feet.

Inuyasha here is a great example of a barefoot character you can get shoes in a matching aesthetic for. Since he has a traditional Japanese aesthetic, look for shoes that either are traditional Japanese shoes or that have a similar style. Tabi boots are comfortable and fit his look very well. Geta look great but many people find them hard to walk in, so if you go that route, practice ahead of time or bring a backup pair of similar shoes; cheap flip flops are also hard to walk in due to lack of support, but if you can find walking sandals with a toe strap, those would work better. Waraji are traditionally worn in rustic and informal settings and for long journeys, so if you can find or make some or find Western shoes with a similar look, they would go great with Inuyasha's character.

As always, if cosplaying a character inspired by a specific real-world culture or historical period, do research into what was common at the time so you don't end up with waraji on your oiran character or koma-geta on your rural adventurer character, since even if it's from the same culture, it would be an odd mishmash of formalities and styles.

This example is just for me because I was doing research for this post and found perfect shoes. Kohaku from Dr. Stone wears these odd platforms that not only don't exist in real life but would be hard to walk in if they did. If someone wants to make them using some sort of waraji x komi-geta hybrid method, more power to you and also please show me because that sounds cool, but if not, these sandals meant for walking in have near identical straps and colors and would very much look like hers but also allow you to be on your feet all day.