I wore a very pretty pair of gladiator style sandals around San Francisco but after 24 hours all the pretty thin straps were coming lose from the base, some broke, and I wasted hours trying to find a shoe mender and then looking in shops for a more sensible pair of shoes which were less likely to wear out.
Nowadays I like shoes which fasten with Velcro or any brand of touch and close or hook and loop. Adjustable sandals accommodate the changing shape of feet when you fly from one climate to another, or if your feet swell on an airplane. My favourite brands in the UK are Hotter and Free-step and Cushion-walk.
Clarks, Hotter
Clarks also sell a range of sandals which expand. Now the shops in the UK have summer sales. Clarks and Hotter have shops in many UK high streets and indoor shopping malls. If you are in a shopping mall, the department stores also have shoe sections.
The latest trend seems to be elasticated straps. Some of the shoes have uppers entirely made of one tow or three pieces of elastic strap, sometimes in two or three parallel lines, others in a Y or X shape.
German brands include Birkenstock.
Sandals in practical styles common all colours, from earth browns, or match everything blacks and white, or lively reds and turquoise or yellow, or glamorous gold or silver which takes you through day and evening.
Brands I noticed in a chemist (pharmacy or drug store) in London, England were Rieker and Rapisardi. What are shoes and sandals doing displayed in a chemist shop? The sandals advertise themselves as being anti-stress.
I am trying not to buy another pair of shoes.
You can find customer reviews of products on Amazon.
Websites / contacts
jdwilliams.co.uk call 0871 231 2000
www.hotter.com (75 stores nationwide, UK) call free 0800 525 893
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
