A review of SportArt Compression products

I’ve been trying out a range of exciting new products recently, including three items from SportART:

• Compress socks
• Calf guards
• Insoles

Who is SportART?

A pair of Ironman triathletes set up SportART. It is a relatively new company. The first product they developed was insoles. The triathletes came up with a technique to analyse human feet and develop ‘sports-anatomical insoles for different arch types’. Custom-made insoles are usually significantly more expensive than these.

I put the insoles into an old pair of trainers that I have. I’m terrible at keeping records, so I’m not sure when I bought the shoes or how many miles I’ve done in them. (Strava could tell  me how many miles I’ve done in a particular pair of shoes, but I don’t log in often enough to make use of the tools there).

How were the insoles?

I couldn’t feel the insoles after putting them into my shoes. That was good as it showed me that they fitted. I had wondered whether I would need to cut them to fit my shoes. Luckily, they were perfect out of the box.

I’ve only tried custom mounded insoles once before, which was when I first went to Sweatshop. After having them added to shoes, I found out their price. I had to turn them down as they were so expensive.

I rotate through using several pairs of trainers, so have been wearing the insoles for over a month now. They have reinvigorated an older pair of shoes and have provided my feet with good support on long training runs. If you are struggling with foot pain or need greater support, you might want to try a pair.

SportART compression

SportART compression garments were developed by a CompresSport Developer. I’ve tried CompresSport calf guards before, so I was interested to be able to try out these products to see how they compare.

The socks are made of a soft, thick fabric, but they weren’t too difficult to put on. I had measured myself carefully, but as with all ‘knee-high’ running socks, they were slightly too long for me. I’m 5′ 5″ tall (1m 66cm) and believe that I would need to have calves that are an inch/2cm+ longer for these not to turn over at the top.

The socks come in a choice of two colours: white or black. I tend to avoid white because of the challenges of keeping white clothes looking clean, but these have washed well and remained white.

The socks were comfortable to run in and provided a moderate level of compression, however, I found the toe box rather oddly-shaped so I had to adjust them on longer runs. (You can see where my toes are in the picture below – my little toes are not in the narrow toe panel).

Compression calf guards

The final product that I tried was a pair of compression calf guards. (I paired the calf guards with black socks in the images above and below). This was my favourite product and one that I would strongly recommend and would buy in future. The fabric felt soft and smooth and gave a good level of compression.

Have you tried any compression garments or specialist insoles? Which brands do you like? Have you tried any SportART products?

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