Editorial policy
Editorial policy
The sourcing standard, the correction policy, and the review cadence - published so you can hold us to it.
Sourcing standard
Because nobody here holds a clinical credential and nobody here tests products, citation is where our authority actually comes from. The standard is deliberately stricter than the norm in this category.
Acceptable sources, in priority order:
- Manufacturer specifications — the brand’s own product or spec page. The primary source for construction, materials, sizing, mmHg ratings, warranty terms and slip-resistance standards. We cite the exact URL on the product card.
- Standards and regulatory bodies — APMA Seal of Acceptance status, the named ASTM or EN ISO standard a product is tested to, published compression-therapy guidance.
- Independent measurement — where an independent party has measured a figure the manufacturer also publishes, we print both and name both.
- Published owner feedback at volume — aggregate patterns, cited as aggregate owner reports. Never as our own finding, and never as a number we invented.
Prohibited as sources:
- Our own memory or assumption. If it cannot be traced to a source, it does not get written.
- A competitor’s page as a factual source. Most of the well-ranking pages in this category carry specs and prices from 2019 to 2021 presented as current. Copying a figure from one is very likely copying something stale, and it is not our research.
- A single forum or social post as evidence of a general pattern. Aggregate patterns only, labeled as such.
- AI-generated or recalled specifications. Every specification on this site was looked up.
Where a figure cannot be verified, the page says the manufacturer does not publish one rather than filling the gap. Where two published figures disagree, we print both and say they disagree - because a contradiction we hide is a contradiction a reader will discover.
Citation links are real rel="nofollow" links to the source. They are never routed through our affiliate redirector: a citation is not a money link, and conflating the two is a trust failure.
Correction policy
Errors are corrected in place, dated, and acknowledged. When we get something wrong:
- We fix it on the page rather than quietly deleting the page.
- We note the correction and the date it was made.
- We update that page’s last reviewed stamp and its
dateModified. - If you reported it, we reply and tell you what changed.
This exists because the failure it prevents is real and visible: one of the best-ranking pages in this category gives two contradictory answers to the same question inside its own FAQ, with no mechanism that would ever catch it. Contradictions here are treated as bugs.
Report anything you think is wrong to contact@shiftandsole.com or through the contact form. Corrections are answered before anything else.
Review cadence
This is the schedule, published so it can be checked against the dates on the pages themselves.
| Page type | Scheduled review | Off-cycle trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Buying guides and roundups | Every 90 days | A top pick is discontinued or goes out of stock |
| Head-to-head comparisons | Every 180 days | Either product gets a new generation |
| Single-model reviews | Every 180 days | The manufacturer changes the fabric or construction |
| Guides | Every 365 days | New published guidance on compression levels or footwear |
| Category hubs | Every 180 days | A new page is added to the section |
A review updates the visible date only when something was actually re-checked. Bumping a date without reviewing the page is a false freshness signal and we do not do it. That rule is the only thing that makes the dates worth printing.
Independence
- No paid placement. No brand can buy a position in a guide, and none has.
- No sponsored picks. Nothing on this site is a paid recommendation.
- No brand review before publication. No manufacturer sees our copy in advance or has any right of reply before it publishes.
- Commission does not affect ranking. Where the cheaper option is the better one we say so, including when it pays us less.
What would make us remove a pick
- It has been discontinued, or is no longer buyable in the size or variant we described.
- Owners consistently report a safety or durability failure.
- A specification change invalidates the reason we chose it.
- We find that a figure we published was wrong and the pick does not survive the correction.
When a pick is removed, it comes off every page that carried it rather than being left on the ones nobody is looking at.
What this site will never contain
- A testimonial, star rating or review count. We have no first-party rating data for Shift & Sole.
- A claim that we have worn, used, tested or owned a product.
- A clinical credential, license or qualification, because nobody here holds one.
- A price we cannot verify, including a price from a previous year presented as current.
- An invented urgency or scarcity claim. We have no stock data and manufacturing urgency is dishonest.
Shift & Sole is published by Selena Hann. Related reading: how we pick and how we are funded.