The comfy sandals a stranger wore that I had to ask about
At 62, I found comfy sandals I can walk all day in that do not look like comfy sandals
Six things the Elena gets right that comfortable sandals get wrong, from a woman who is not a fashion writer.
Caroline Richards · Customer · Nottinghamshire · 5 min read
Let me be plain about who is talking. I am Caroline, I am 62, I live in Nottinghamshire, and my feet and I have spent years falling out over shoes, the pretty ones that hurt and the comfortable ones I was too vain to wear. So this is not a review. It is a woman who had given up on having both, saying she was wrong.
The ones I am writing about are called the Elena, from Nottingham Boutique, a small boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now. I first saw them on a friend at a garden lunch, a lovely woven tan pair, and she had been on her feet all afternoon without a word of complaint. When the boutique later asked if they could put my letter up for others to read, I said yes, on the condition I could be completely honest in it.
Comfort sandals, at my age. I know. I thought comfort meant clumpy and orthopaedic and beige. Then I saw the woven leather and the neat gold buckle, and how easily she walked in them. Read on.
Here is what a lifetime of sore feet taught me. Sandals come in two piles. The pretty pile, the flimsy flat ones with no cushioning that leave you sore by lunch and slipping about on a wet pavement. And the comfort pile, the clumpy orthopaedic ones with the velcro that do the job and make you look like you have given up. I had decided you could have comfortable feet or a nice pair of shoes, but not the two together.
Pretty and sore, or comfy and clumpy. Those were my two piles, and my feet had lost the argument for years.
The Elena is the first pair I have owned that is neither, and having barely taken them off, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The morning they arrived. The woven leather looked far dearer than the price on the box.
THE WOVEN LEATHER LOOK IS FAR DEARER THAN IT IS
They have a lovely woven, braided leather-look strap across the foot and a neat little gold buckle, so they look like the sort of artisan sandal you would pay three times as much for in a nice shop on holiday. Nobody looks at them and thinks comfort shoe. They look at them and ask where they are from.
The woven leather and the gold buckle. It looks far dearer than it is.
They look like an expensive designer pair. Nobody believes what I paid for them.
Christine B., West BridgfordTHE CUSHIONED FOOTBED MEANS NO SORE FEET
There is a proper soft cushioned footbed inside, the kind that supports the whole of your foot, so there is no aching by lunchtime and no counting the minutes to sit down. I have worn them round town, round the garden and on a long day out that turned into a great deal of walking, and my feet were perfectly fine at the end of all of it.
A soft cushioned footbed, and a chunky grippy sole underneath.
The cushioned footbed is a dream. I walked miles and my feet did not ache once. Bliss.
Margaret E., SouthwellTHE WOVEN STRAPS HOLD YOUR FOOT
The woven straps sit across the foot and hold it properly, with a buckle you set once and forget, so you are not gripping with your toes or feeling your foot slide forward all day. That is the difference between a sandal you can actually walk in and one you take off at the first bench.
The straps hold my foot so nicely, no sliding about. I can walk all day without a thought.
Dorothy S., BeestonTHE SOLE GRIPS, SO YOU FEEL STEADY
The sole is a chunky, grippy, slip-resistant one, so I feel steady and sure-footed on it, even on a wet pavement or a slippery bit of tile. At our age that matters more than we like to admit, and I had not realised how careful I had become in my old flimsy sandals until I stopped having to be.
A grippy, slip-resistant sole. Steady and sure-footed, even on a wet path.
The grippy sole makes me feel so steady. No more edging carefully across wet paving. Wonderful.
Pauline H., ArnoldTHEY SLIP STRAIGHT ON AND GO WITH EVERYTHING
They slip straight on, no bending down and fiddling, and they go with absolutely everything, a summer dress, my linen trousers, jeans, a skirt for lunch. A good tan goes with the lot, and they lift a plain outfit without any effort. One pair has quietly done the work of three.
They go with everything I own and slip straight on. I reach for them every single day.
Eileen T., NewarkEIGHT COLOURS, FROM TAN TO CHERRY RED, IN UK 3 TO 8 AND A HALF
If tan is not for you there are seven others, soft neutrals and a green and a proper cherry red if you are feeling brave, and the sizing runs honestly from a 3 to an 8 and a half. I have the tan and my sister has ordered the black, and I have half a mind to have the red before they go.
By the door, ready to slip on and go.
I have the tan and the beige and I wear them constantly. Lovely colours and a good range of sizes.
Maureen C., BinghamThe Elena, against the sandals you have been putting up with
You can find flat sandals for thirty-odd pounds almost anywhere. I know, I have a cupboard of them, pretty and painful. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Pretty, but no cushioning and sore feet
Or comfy, and clumpy and orthopaedic
Flimsy soles that slip on wet ground
Straps that rub and let the foot slide
Cheap-looking plastic up close
Woven leather look, elegant not clumpy
Cushioned footbed, no sore feet
Chunky grippy sole, feel steady
Woven straps that hold the foot
Eight colours, UK 3 to 8 and a half
About the price
The Elena is £29.95 at the moment. It was £60.00.
I will pass on what the boutique told me, which is that they sell through the popular colours and the middle sizes first, and once a colour has gone it is gone. Their words, not mine. What I can tell you from my side is that half price is usually where I start asking what is wrong with a thing, and I have found nothing wrong with these.
And I do not trust perfect scores, so I read the reviews before I ordered. Just over three hundred of them, sitting at 4.2 stars, which sounded like real women rather than robots, so I read on. The same six things I have just walked you through come up in them, over and over, in other women's words.
Back in the box between wears, though mine rarely make it that far.
If you have spent years choosing between shoes that look nice and shoes you can walk in, and you would rather like both at once, these are the sandals I would put on your feet myself, while your size is still there. Stop dithering and go and have a look.
Caroline
ELENA | WOVEN LEATHER-STYLE SANDALS
- Woven leather-style straps that look far dearer than they are
- Soft cushioned footbed, no sore feet
- Chunky grippy, slip-resistant sole for steady footing
- Woven straps and a buckle that hold the foot
- Slip straight on, go with everything
- Eight colours, UK 3 to 8 and a half
- Free UK delivery and 30 day returns
Popular colours and middle sizes go first.