Tevas… I was first introduced to them when my Mom and stepfather moved to Telluride in the late ’80’s. Created by a river guide in the Grand Canyon, they were incredibly comfortable sandals that had enough arch support for hiking, but that you could also get wet. Sounds great, right? Here’s the catch: They were also incredibly ugly. Like granola eating, prairie skirt wearing, likes to live in a yurt ugly.
As a bit of a fashionista and a definite shoe fanatic, I just couldn’t do it. I mean I love a comfortable shoe. I wear my Mephisto Helens with pride. But the old style Tevas were way too crunchy for me. However, I am happy to report that that’s no longer the case. Tevas have gone high style. Not only are there really cute “flatforms” like this one:
But they’ve also got a line of their original styles reinterpreted by some of the coolest artists out there with 10% of the proceeds going to kids art programs (check out the Artists Series here).
And their influence doesn’t stop there. Every fashion magazine that I’ve opened for the past month (which is quite a few, I must confess) has had someone’s take on the comfortable sandal from Tommy Hilfiger’s crocheted version:
To Bottega Veneta’s fabulous riff:
Bottom line, this is the year of the comfortable sandal. And though the ones above are trés cher, the Teva platforms are just $60. Oh, how your feet will thank you…..
