The flat sandals a stranger wore that I had to ask about
At 62, I found flat sandals that are elegant and actually comfortable
Six things the Jennie gets right that flat 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 I have spent more summers than I care to count choosing between sandals that look nice and sandals my feet can actually bear. 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 Jennie, 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, gold and glinting under the table, and 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.
Flat and gold, at my age. I know. I thought gold would be too much and flat would be frumpy. Then I saw how elegant they looked on her, and that she had been on her feet all afternoon without a word of complaint. Read on.
Here is what years of sore feet taught me. Flat sandals come in two piles. The comfortable pile, the orthopaedic-looking ones with the clumpy soles and the velcro, which do the job and make you look like you have given up. And the pretty pile, the flimsy strappy ones that rub and slide and leave you hobbling by lunch. I had decided you simply could not have elegant and comfortable in the one shoe.
Comfortable and frumpy, or pretty and crippling. Those were the two piles, and I had made my peace with sore feet.
The Jennie is the first flat sandal I have owned that is neither, and having barely taken them off all summer, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The morning they arrived. I nearly sent the gold back on principle, then I tried them on.
THEY ARE FLAT, BUT NOT FRUMPY
A slim gold T-bar, sleek and simple, that looks like a proper elegant sandal rather than something from the chemist. Nobody looks at them and thinks comfort shoe. They look at them and ask where they are from. That alone I had stopped believing was possible in a flat.
The gold T-bar up close. Elegant, not orthopaedic.
Flat and genuinely elegant, which I had quite given up on finding. I get compliments every single time.
Christine B., West BridgfordTHE STRAP HOLDS YOUR FOOT
The T-strap up the middle and the little buckle at the ankle hold your foot properly, so you are not gripping with your toes or feeling them slide forward all day. That is the whole difference between a sandal you can walk in and one you take off at the first bench.
The strap holds my foot so I am not clenching my toes to keep them on. I can walk for miles in these.
Margaret E., SouthwellTHE SOLE IS FLAT AND KIND TO YOUR FEET
The sole is flat and light, with a soft leather footbed, so there is no heel to wobble on and nothing digging in. I have worn them round town, round the garden, and on a day out that turned into a great deal more walking than I planned, and my feet were perfectly fine at the end of all of it.
Flat, light, and a soft footbed. Comfortable from morning to night.
Flat and cushioned with no rubbing at all, even on the first day. No blisters and no breaking in.
Dorothy S., BeestonOPEN AND COOL WHEN IT IS WARM
They are open at the toe and light on the foot, so on a hot day your feet can breathe rather than cook. After a lifetime of hot, swollen feet crammed into closed shoes, that has been a small daily relief I did not expect to care about quite so much.
So light and cool on a warm day. My feet do not swell up in them the way they do in anything closed.
Pauline H., ArnoldTHEY GO WITH EVERYTHING
Gold sounds bold but it behaves like a neutral. They have gone with my summer dresses, my linen trousers, a skirt for a lunch out, even my good navy for a wedding. One pair has quietly done the work of three, and lifted every outfit a little on the way.
By the door, ready for whatever the day turns out to be.
Gold goes with far more than you would think. Dresses, trousers, the lot. I reach for them daily.
Eileen T., NewarkEIGHT COLOURS AND HONEST SIZES
If gold is not for you there are seven others, silvers and softer shades and a few brave brights, and the sizing runs honestly from a 3 to an 8 and a half. I have the gold. My sister has ordered the silver, and I can already see the lavender following before the summer is out.
I have the silver and my sister the gold. Honest sizing and true to fit. We are both delighted.
Maureen C., BinghamThe Jennie, against the flat sandals you have been buying
You can find flat sandals for thirty-odd pounds almost anywhere. I know, because I have a cupboard of them, most worn once. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Comfortable, but orthopaedic-looking
Thin straps that rub and slide
Flimsy sole, sore feet by lunch
One colour that goes with little
Cheap and plasticky up close
A sleek gold T-bar, elegant not frumpy
T-strap and buckle that hold the foot
Flat cushioned sole, easy all day
A gold that lifts every outfit
Eight colours, UK 3 to 8 and a half
About the price
The Jennie is £32.95 at the moment. It was £66.00.
I will pass on what the boutique told me, which is that they are clearing the summer stock as the season turns, and once it has gone it is gone until next year. 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 a summer of lunches and garden do's and ordinary warm days ahead, and you have made your own peace with sore feet the way I had, 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
JENNIE | ELEGANT FLAT SANDALS
- Elegant flat gold T-bar sandals, not frumpy
- T-strap and ankle buckle that hold the foot
- Flat, lightweight sole with a soft footbed
- Open toe, cool on a warm day
- Goes with dresses, skirts and trousers
- Eight colours, UK 3 to 8 and a half
- Free UK delivery and 30 day returns
Summer stock clearing now. The popular sizes go first.