Technique and articles for forming shoe shanks

A strip which will form a rigid shoe shank is applied to the bottom of an insole. The shank strip is flexible and includes a carrier sleeve which contains a plurality of fiberglass strands in a thermosetting plastic matrix. After the shank strip is in place, the matrix is activated by exposing it to an external stimulus such as heat or radiation. Heat can be applied locally to the shank strip and curing takes place directly on the insole bottom. The thermosetting resin can polymerize with or without an exothermic reaction. Preferably, sufficient heat is developed from exothermic heat or from the energy source and directed to melt the carrier sleeve to fuse it with the resin and to effect a bond to the insole for forming a unitary and rigid shank attached firmly to the insole bottom. The shank strip may be cut from a "rope" which may be wound onto a reel for storage and to facilitate continuous paying out of the rope to enable a shank length to be severed and applied to the insole bottom.