You love to skate right? But a standard boot just won’t fit your foot and a custom made boot just blows your budget… then you need a boot that not many skaters know exists. A semi-custom boot.

A semi-custom boot is a standard boot with a few changes to fit an individual foot. Common problems that a semi-custom boot can fix include:

• One foot longer or wider than the other
• Skinny ankles
• Skinny feet
• Wide feet
• Slightly abnormal shaped feet
• Boot height
• Special frame-mounting hole placement

So, how do we fix these common problems? For a wide foot, we build up the last (the last is used to build the boot around, it is a piece or plastic, wood, or nylon crafted into the shape of a foot) to make it wider, a faxed foot tracing to the boot manufacturer helps a lot in this case. For a skinny foot, we give you a smaller size and make it longer. For example, say you are a size 10 foot, after looking at your tracing we may determine that you are a size 8 in width, so we use a size 8 last and build the last up to make it a size 10 long. Also, you may have a slightly larger foot than a 6 but slightly too small for a 7 so ½ sizes can be semi-custom ordered. Skinny ankles… you know you have skinny ankles if when you tighten your boot, you can’t get the laces tight because the two sides of the boot touch. To fix this you can either add a piece of foam to the inside of the tongue, or when ordering a semi custom boot we will cut back the top of the boot so when the laces are tightened, they do not touch. Slightly abnormally shaped feet can be fixed in certain cases, but it’s probably best to go for a custom made boot if possible. Frame-mounting hole placement can be drilled in a number of configurations and places on the boot. Boot height can also be changed depending on the skaters preference although certain boot heights have been found to be most advantageous (see boot height article in a previous edition)

Now for the cost of these modifications. Some manufacturers will charge you a lot to make these changes, some won’t. Semi custom boots can be ordered through your local skate shop, but you will have to wait for them to be made which will vary between manufacturers, you should be looking at between 2-3 weeks before you get your semi-custom boots.

It is imperative to have a snug fitting comfortable speed boot to get the responsiveness you need and the comfort you want. Many problems skaters have with their boots are due to ill fitting boots.

One thing to remember with semi-custom boots is that in most cases they are non returnable, so if you don’t like them you can’t just get your money back as with a normal off the shelf boot.