Shoe Review

My Aunt L-Rock asked me recently what my recommendation is for a good pair of shoes. I have done a lot of in-depth Shoe Research through my lifetime and was excited to share my findings with her. Then I thought, well maybe that would make a good blog post.

So this is for those of you who are looking for a good pair of shoes. I'm very picky, so the shoes I am talking about here are only those that are AWESOME, no exceptions.

What I would rate as CONSISTENTLY AWESOME shoe brands (these are a little more pricey, about $150 a pair, but well worth it):
-Birkenstock (fit well if you have high arches and/or wide feet)
-Earth (fit well if you like your heel very low, and have lower arches)
-Dansko (fit well for more narrow feet, although wide is also available, may not fit well if you have particularly high arches, these wear very well I am told)
-Naot (made in Israel, this brand fits like Birkenstock only they are cushier and prettier)

My new Naot shoes, aren't they pretty? I LOVE THEM:

What I would rate as USUALLY AWESOME ($50-$100):
- Keen (these are waterproof! they fit like slippers, can satisfy diverse feet shapes and have neat models - however some wear out sooner than the above brands, and you really need to try on the various models before you buy them because they don't all have the same fit)
- Ahnu (spinoff shoe company from Keen, they are similar)
- Montrail (this is normally a hiking boot company but I highly recommend their Molokai flip-flops for you poor souls who have plantar fascitis but still want to bust out in the summer-time with flip-flops)
- Old running shoes (if you buy your running shoes for around $100 and have them fitted by a pro at a specialty shop, they will make fabulous walking shoes after their running life is over, and they will be all broken in!)
- Ariat (used to exclusively make horse-back riding shoes, but were so famous in the horse world for being awesome that they expanded to casual shoes and have really rocked my world)
- Fluevog (Canadian shoes that are supposedly 'Satan-proof', but I mainly put them here because they have such unique styles and few truly good shoes come in such diverse and awesome choices - watch out, they are really pricey, usually $100-$200 but sometimes $400!)

A pretty pair of Fluevogs:
Don't be fooled by the following brands - they claim to be good for your feet, but they're NOT!

- Born (these are CUTE, yes, but their soles are made of cotton puffs)
- Clarks (see above)
- Doc Martens (I am a long-time fan of Docs but apparently their soles are very unforgiving and now that I have tried other brands I have to agree with this)