When Every Inch Matters, Lift Kits Can Help

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When you think about it, science and technology have done a pretty good job of mitigating any real or perceived flaws in a person's physical appearance. Getting rid of acne, having thinner thighs, growing thicker eyelashes?sadly, there's not a lot of help for the height-challenged.

At 5'9", we don't fall into that category. Though admittedly, as teens, we longed to be 6'. 5'9" may be tall for a chick, but it's not extraordinarily tall. Though we've successfully scaled many of the body-image issues of our younger years, we do still occasionally think, "A couple of extra inches would be nice."

Enter Lift Kits. Yes, the same brand worn by Tom Cruise, Jeremy Piven, and Shia LaBeouf.

W are suckers for the novel, so when these came onto the radar, we were elated. Lift Kits makes an assortment of rises for men and now for ladies, too: you can gain anywhere from .5" to a full two inches. Our package came with the full range of inserts. Naturally, we went right to the turbo-charged two-incher.

Our first instinct was to cram them into a pair of stilettos. Like, duh, if you're going to go for it, you might as well GO FOR IT. But the inserts proved to be too chunky. After some trial and error, we traded down for an inch and a half lift. We tried on at least five pairs of shoes to get a good fit, including ballet flats (no), Pumas (no) wedges (no), engineer boots (close, but no), and finally found comfort in a pair of Loeffler Randall boots with a sliver wedge. For the higher lifts, the boots are a better choice, since the added insole can make your heel slip out of your shoes.

We walked around our neighborhood for about an hour. The shoes were still a bit on the snug side, but not bad. Like an extra-blimpy cushion insole, which did feel kinda nice on the feet. We went into a few shops on Vermont, even ran into a friend and chatted for a while. We wanted to blurt out, "So do you notice anything different?" But no one said a thing.

It's possible that we're not the best qualified to write this post. The Lift Kits were both functional and comfortable, but we didn't notice an overwhelming infusion of self-confidence—like the kind we get when we don a mega-pushup bra or something. Height isn't the same issue across the genders—after all, short or petite women are often seen as being cute, more delicate or even more inherently feminine. But we suppose for the average guy (who clocks in at 5'9") or his smaller counterparts, the extra inch or so could make a world of difference.

We invite you to find out for yourself: we have four spare pairs, and we'd like to put them to good use! Drop us an email at la@racked.com, and we'll hook up the first four responses.
· Lift Kits [Official Site]
· All Racked Giveaways [Racked LA]