I'm currently using a pair of Nicks thick leather insoles inside a pair of non-Nicks boots to help take up some of the excess space, which is working great. After a week of daily wear, I started to feel a little bit of a minor rub on one (the removeable insole rubbing against the leather bottom of the boot itself).
The insole is definitely noticeably more worn in and molding to my foot, which is great, but it did also feel more stiff and/or dry than it was when I first bought it, so I've gone ahead and conditioned it.
(Also just to be fair, I did use this insole on and off with various other shoes before this over the last few months or so, so it's not like it just magically dried out over one week.)
I'm just curious how often people find themselves conditioning their insoles. It seems like I'll have to do it more often than I do the boots themselves, and I'm just curious why. Am I, like, squeezing the moisture out of them as I stand and walk on them? Or is it just that it's compacting and compressing, so it just *feels* more stiff, but not actually drying out? Or is it something else?