My name is Maddie. I want to talk about my relationship with sandals.
Back in the dark times before I discovered Willow Shoes (I do not speak of this time unless I have a cup of chamomile tea on hand to calm me down afterward), I was a very enthusiastic wearer of sandals. I think this was because they were the only type of shoe I could buy in a size 10, which was always the biggest size, and kind of allow my feet to lovingly spill out of the toe and the heel ends of the shoe. If I walked fast enough no one would even notice, right?
This meant that every pair of sandals I wore was extremely uncomfortable. The straps were always tight enough to leave criss-cross indents in my skin which were all fun and games until they became blisters. I’m a little embarrassed to say that in the pre-Willow days, this is what I thought sandals were supposed to do. I was genuinely under the impression they were just a naturally tight shoe and that every expedition a person took in sandals had a definite expiry where they’d have to take them off. I was wrong.
After years of getting it wrong...I finally realised I was missing out on some serious comfort when I found my first pair of sandals on Willow Shoes website. I couldn’t believe how many pairs were in my size. I don’t think I’d ever had to choose between styles of shoes before, usually, I would have had to just buy the only pair a shoe store would have in my size. I decided on two pairs: a hot pink and tan pair for the summer days and a black sandal for night-time. The temptation of the website hard to resist - great pics and fun little descriptions had me scheming over my fashion dreams and putting together prospective outfits in my head.
The sandal treasure arrived at my place a few days later. When I tried them on they fit perfectly first time. The straps weren’t cutting off blood circulation and my toes weren’t making bold escape attempts off the toe-end of the shoe! They actually fit - what a concept! This is when I discovered that my entire sandal life had been a lie. Sandals are actually supposed to be comfortable with a little extra bit at the end and my heel safely placed ON the back and not hanging over it! So my question to you is: Are you still living your own sandal lie?
I know how difficult finding a great pair of shoes can be. My experiences have included being turned away from countless shoe stores and receiving so many confused looks from retail assistants hopelessly pointing me to the men’s section that I could be writing a blog about it! LOL I used to scour the internet for hours for shoes with the help of my mum (it was a two-person job) and come up with nothing.
Once we found a truly horrendous gold sandal/kitten heel hybrid that was available to order from overseas. I’ve done my best to block this moment from my memory but I do remember that they had little trinkety gold pieces dangling off them which were a real mystery to us all. I think we can agree that we don’t need things dangling off our shoes, it’s a hazard if nothing else.
I also remember these shoes being oddly proportioned because the straps would gape in some parts but be too tight in others. When we’re looking for the perfect shoes, we need something high quality, and wrongly proportioned shoes just won’t cut it! This pair of shoes never graced the streets of my city and I think we can all be grateful for that.
I have so many shoe shopping horror stories like this from the days before I discovered Willow which honestly caused my wardrobe to be limited to tennis shoes, running shoes or jandals. Even though this meant I was totally onto the trend of tennis shoes and a dress before it was cool (which makes me feel quite snazzy), it is no fun being limited to only three shoe options.
Life is full of special occasions that call for special shoes and you can’t miss out on them just because you have don’t have the perfect pair to wear! But now I've got everything I've ever wanted right at my fingertips…all the hard work has been done and so many beautiful styles are awaiting me all on one website! I can now browse effortlessly from my living room with no excuse to be shoe-less! I love online shopping and to at last have a place with such an array of options in my size is amazing. Even on my travels overseas I haven’t seen anything close to the choice I’ve seen on Willow Shoes website.
I’m beginning to feel a little less desperate about my shoe situation and I may be starting to believe that I don’t need to settle for second rate style or a tight fit on my feet anymore. It actually feels like I may be able to be fussy! I just know there are more shoe adventures to come!
In a nutshell...there is no longer any good reason to wear tight sandals, have heal hang-over or toes spilling out the front...all of us can wear the right sandal size now...no excuses!
