• 14 parts
  • Checked September 2026

Parts of a Heel on a High-Heeled Shoe

A high heel cut lengthwise, then five kinds of heel to name.

Parts of a Heel on a High-Heeled Shoe

Name Date

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
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Write the name of each numbered part.Answer key

  1. Vamp
  2. Counter
  3. Sock (sock lining)
  4. Shank
  5. Outsole
  6. Heel
  7. Heel seat
  8. Heel breast
  9. Top piece (top lift)
  10. Stiletto heel
  11. Cuban heel
  12. Louis heel
  13. Wedge heel
  14. Platform

Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry. Licence: own work.

Each numbered ring is a button. Use the arrow keys to move between them and Enter to choose. Names are read out in Study, and once a part is answered.

Next step Next: the parts of a sneaker and a dress shoe

All 14 parts on the diagram

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The shoe, cut lengthwise 9

  1. Vamp A court shoe, or pump, is cut low at the vamp.
  2. Counter A piece of stiffening material round the heel of the foot. It supports the upper. Also called a stiffener.
  3. Sock (sock lining) A piece of leather or fabric laid on the insole. It covers the stitching and nails inside the shoe.
  4. Shank Stiffens the waist of the shoe. A piece of steel, wood or board between the insole and the outsole, from the heel seat to just behind the ball of the foot.
  5. Outsole The outsole is the layer in direct contact with the ground.
  6. Heel It rests below the heel bone. It raises the back of the foot above the ball.
  7. Heel seat The part of the shoe's bottom the heel is fitted to. The top of the heel is slightly hollowed to fit it.
  8. Heel breast The front edge of the heel, facing the toe.
  9. Top piece (top lift) The last piece fixed to the bottom of the heel. It wears against the ground and is easier to replace than the whole heel.

Kinds of heel 5

  1. Stiletto heel A steel stem inside it lets it be this thin without snapping.
  2. Cuban heel A straight-fronted heel of medium height. It is also used on cowboy boots.
  3. Louis heel A slender heel with a curved back line and a curved breast. The sole is carried down the front of the heel.
  4. Wedge heel The shoe stands flat on the ground all along. That is because the heel runs from the back of the shoe to the ball of the foot.
  5. Platform A piece of material, often cork, between the insole and the sole. It thickens the sole beneath the foot's ball.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two sources use it: Wikipedia, text only: Shoe, Shoe heel, High-heeled shoe, Stiletto heel, Wedge (footwear), Platform shoe, Court shoe and Sock (for the sock of a shoe), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-heeled_shoe; Bureau of Indian Standards, IS 2050:1991, Glossary of terms relating to footwear, https://archive.org/details/gov.in.is.2050.1991 (vamp, counter, sock, shank, outsole, heel seat, heel breast, top lift and top piece of heel, platform, court shoes, and the Cuban, Louis, spike and wedge heels); a four-language glossary of the footwear industry read through archive.org's full-text search, https://archive.org/details/footwearindustry0000vari (heel breast, heel seat, top-piece, shank, sock, stiffener or counter, court shoe, and the Cuban, Louis, stiletto and wedge heels); and June Swann, History of Footwear in Norway, Sweden and Finland, read the same way, https://archive.org/details/historyoffootwea0000swan (heel breast, top piece, Louis, Cuban and wedge heels, platform soles). Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; no maker's shape or mark, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

These are the parts of a heel and of the shoe it holds up. The first drawing cuts a high heel lengthwise; the second shows five kinds of heel.

Read the full guide

The parts of a shoe heel, top to bottom

The heel is fixed to the heel seat, the back end of the shoe's bottom. Its front face, toward the toe, is the heel breast. The small piece it stands on is the top piece, or top lift. Inside the shoe, the sock lies on the insole, and the shank stiffens the arch between insole and outsole.

Five kinds of heel

The second drawing asks for the stiletto, Cuban, Louis and wedge heels, and the platform under the front of the foot.

  • Top piece and top lift are two names for the same part.
  • A court shoe and a pump are the same shoe.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a high heel called?

The heel has a seat at the top, a breast at the front and a top piece at the bottom. The shoe above it has a vamp, a counter, a sock and insole inside, a shank under the arch and an outsole.

What is the bottom of a high heel called?

The top piece, or top lift. It is the last piece fixed to the bottom of the heel and the part that wears against the ground, so it is the part a repairer replaces.

What is the front of a heel called?

The heel breast: the front edge of the heel, facing the toe.

What is the metal in a high-heeled shoe for?

There can be two pieces. A shank, often steel, lies between the insole and the outsole and stiffens the arch. A stiletto heel also has a steel stem inside, so that it can be thin without snapping.

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