How platform shoes are revolutionizing bathroom health—And why squatting actually matters
A gut health brand is reinventing bathroom comfort with an unlikely solution: designer platform shoes engineered to optimize your toilet posture.
As explained heare, Let Loose, a wellness company specializing in digestive health supplements, just launched a limited-edition product that challenges everything you thought you knew about doing your business. The inventively named “$69 “shit shoes” are essentially wearable toilet stools—retro-inspired platform sandals with a 7-inch lift designed to mimic a natural squatting position while seated.
Why squatting beats sitting
The science here is solid. Our modern toilets force us into an anatomically awkward position. When sitting upright, the puborectalis muscle—a sling-shaped band surrounding the rectum—remains partially kinked, creating unnecessary resistance during bowel movements.
Raising your knees above your hips into a squat-like position relaxes this muscle, allowing waste to pass more efficiently and requiring less strain. As Let Loose founder Alexandra Houx Grounds puts it: “Back in the olden days, we would squat. Squatting allowed your colon to unkink and actually move things through.”
A problem worth solving
The stakes are higher than bathroom comfort. Excessive straining contributes to hemorrhoids—affecting roughly 1 in 20 Americans now, climbing to about 50% of adults by age 50. Chronic constipation impacts 16% of the population and costs the healthcare system dearly: 2.5 million doctor visits annually and over 700,000 emergency department visits. Americans spend hundreds of millions on laxatives yearly, and hospitalizations for constipation alone have more than doubled since 1997.
Modern lifestyles bear some blame: sedentary habits, low-fiber diets, and insufficient hydration all slow digestion.
Not the first, but different
Toilet footstools aren’t new. The Squatty Potty and TUSHY Ottoman have long promised similar benefits, but they require storage space and must be tucked away. Let Loose’s shoes take a different approach: designed to look intentional enough to leave out in plain sight, they double as conversation-starting decor.
The market seems ready. Since launching this week, the shoes have sparked enthusiastic online reactions—customers declaring they’ve “never purchased anything faster” and promising to make them mandatory birthday gifts.
Grounds, herself a former artist who struggled with 15 years of digestive issues, stands behind the product with confidence: “If these don’t change your life, you can email me personally—because they will.”