A few days into wearing my new Privos and I can safely say that I'm totally in love with them! They might not be the prettiest shoes on the block, but my feet love them completely.
Bare feet, socks...either's perfect. So, they now have become my new best friend!

A suggestion for sweaty or smelly feet....get a tin of Gewohl Foot Powder. Trust me, it's great. I worked for years as an aesthetician, pedicures being my specialty, and Gewohl products are the creme de la creme of footcare. The Gewohl powder has a disinfectant property and it keeps feet dry and odour-free. I shake a little inside of each shoe, take a moment to swipe it around the inside of the shoe with my hand and then slip feet into great-feeling, silky-dry shoes!

Check out the butt-ugly HIGH heels at the beginning of the Shoe Diva blog!

“Is it time to go home yet? I keep clicking these damn shoes, but nothing happens." ~ Robin Hecht
Brenda

I'm with Cheryl, in her post above. I have a neuroma plus an old ankle injury that sometimes flares up, but I walk a lot, so I'm pretty picky about shoes. I don't think the MBTs are for everyone, but they certainly improve my posture--I tend to slouch and they seem to align one to discourage that. My back feels better if I wear them for a few hours--I put them on in the AM when the budding arthritis is the worst, and it is a tremendous relief for my back. I haven't worn them more than 4-5 hours at a stretch yet, so I can't yet speak to the "end of the day" feeling. I've only used them on forgiving flat terrain--wooden and tile floors, concrete, grass, dirt, gravel. I do notice going uphill or down requires more effort. There is a sense that you are getting a mild workout on some muscles in the thighs and calves--nothing major for me, just a pleasant warmth. But for that reason I'm not sure if they'd do for the amount of serious walking one would do on a day seeing sites in, say, Rome. I think the cobbles might be a challenge, but then, I haven't yet found footwear that likes them (yup, Chris, with you on that--made me laugh). I'm thinking about taking them to Copenhagen in a couple of months for the cobble test.

Brenda, thanks for the tip on the foot powder. Is it available everywhere? US and France? And OMG!!! The shoes on the Shoe Diva blog are hideous!! What's the point? Ballerina walks the streets of Amsterdam in stilettos?

Trish, I appreciate your detailed feedback. Once upon a time I bought a pair of Mephistos...I did love them, but not sure if I loved them as much as their price tag! Knowing you've worn them on tile and that it helps your posture is great info.

Laura

Laura,
Gehwol Foot and Hand Care is a German brand of foot care and additional hand care. It began with Med cream, a thick medicated cream for blister prevention when walking or hiking. Gehwol means 'walk well.'

I love the products. I used the foot bath for all pre-pedicure treatments, because it smells heavenly, softens calluses and makes the feet feel amazingly soft. The website I posted above is a Canadian site in Vancouver and I'm sure they'll ship.

I'd call a few spas and aesthetics salons in your area and ask if they stock the products. If they don't carry them, can they at least get them in for you?

And, yes, those shoes on the DivaShoe blog are tortuous! Ghastly! Yikes...where would you wear them?

"And your shoes are hurting your back
But boy, don’t you look gorgeous!" ~ Alanis Morrisette, 'Gorgeous'
Brenda

I think one should wear those shoes while six shapely young men are hauling one around on a Cleopatra-like litter.

And totally apart from the thread subject, one could be sipping wine out of one of these:

Deadly Sin Glasses

For the price of those, you could have about 3 great Italian vacations.

quote:

Originally posted by gopika:
To MBT wearers, how does this brand in general feel for side stability/ankle stability support when walking on uneven surfaces like cobblestones? Do you find you have to be more careful when you walk to prevent stepping wrong and twisting an ankle b/c of what seems to be the higher/thicker sole?

Well, on the strength of various recommendations I've received I've just bought a pair last week and I find them fine. That said, it seems that everyone has different issues with their feet and so what suits me might not suit you.

I need some degree of spring to protect my metatarsals from hitting hard ground and the strap provides stability at the ankle. Perhaps most important is that I can easily slip my orthotic in for arch support. I have a pair of Merrels that are great for walking for miles and that I can wear very happily with trousers but they look awful with skirts. I also have a few pairs of sandals that a perfectly ok to wear with skirts but I wouldn't walk all day in them. I'd love to be able to wear slip on shoes but generally speaking no longer suitable for my foot. These Kaya MBTs look ok with a skirt and I think I could walk for miles in them. They're not exactly beautiful but I think they're a big step forward in shoe design. It's not taken me too long to get used to them either.

Beebee,

Those are pretty cute! Thanks for the feedback. I think I'm interested in general. It's too close now for the trip, and I'd want to walk around home in them first.

Laura

A revived shoe thread - be still my heart!

Just back from 5 weeks in Italy/France and
wore my Keen sandals (closed-in heel) almost
exclusively. They were hands(!)down the most
comfortable shoes I've ever worn even w/my
neroma and malformed toes!

They had been in the back-of-the-closet for
two years b/c the squeeking drove me bats;
finally figured out that a stick of cheap
lipgloss smeared onto the bottom and top of
the inner sole brought blissful silence (esp.
in museums!).

Also enjoyed wearing my Aravan sandals and
a metallic Areosoles for 'dress-up'.

Saw quite a few Areosole shoe stores in
both countries. Guess the lethal mix of
stilettos, cobblestones and age is causing
women to look for some comfort!

As an unrepentant shoeholic I was looking
forward to a little shopping spree but I
balked at the prices - everything seemed
to be well upwards of 100 euros for basic
shoes - the sandals I liked were 165! In
fact, prices seemed to have escalated by
quite a bit in 18 months! And in France
the same shoes that I've bought over the
past ten years are still being shown in
the windows - I love the fact that they
really do 'classics' instead of fads -
mind you, the cool shoes in France are
loooong and narrow with chopped-off up-turned
toes usually with some kind of ankle strap.
Yeah, that'll look good in suburban Vancouver!

Update:
After walking my little feet down to tiny little nubs in the last couple of days, flying from home to Toronto, staying for a couple of days at a great airport hotel and walking and shopping the whole day today, I am happy to share with you that my Privo Floats are the bees' knees.

No discomfort, no sore bits and bobs on my feet and totally comfy while flying, walking, shopping...10 out of 10, for me!

London, here we come! I'll let you know how they are once we've walked steadily for a few days there!

Brenda's Rules for Shoes #35:
If the shoe fits, buy one in every colour!
Brenda

I've been looking at Skechers Raleigh and Step-Up Mary Jane style shoes to wear on our trip to Amsterdam and Brugge next month. They seem comfortable and real cute too, worn without socks. However, I'm wondering if I'd look too juvenile and silly wearing them with socks? Do you wear them only without socks?

SHOE REVIEW

I mentioned at the beginning of summer I'd report back with my shoe findings after 6 weeks in France. I hope others will as well, I know Brenda did some extensive walking too, and I hope she'll let us know about those Privos. I'm also interested in knowing how many pairs most of you pack. I am an orthotic wearer and these worked for me:

I took 3 pairs for 6 weeks in France. We do all kinds of things so I had to consider mild hiking, lots of walking, casual and nice dining. For the mild hiking and whenever we did a lot of walking (especially on uneven ground) I wore my Keens and found myself longing for them when I didn't because a "shoe" style offers stability a sandal just doesn't. I have the "Napa" style www.onlineshoes.com/productpage.asp?gen=w&pcid=88030 in a brick red color and my orthotic worked perfectly in these.

For a lot of walking and casual clothes I wore my Wolky Lianas www.doddsshoe.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/product1962.html. These were incredibly comfortable, no orthotic. This is the second time I've travelled for 6 weeks with them and I'll choose them again in the future.

My last pair was a Dansko Lolita www.onlineshoes.com/productpage.asp?gen=w&pcid=12991 in black. Not fancy by any means, especially for the French, but comfortable for a long wear and walk.

Whoever suggested the blister bandaids, thank you! I didn't have any on this trip but right before I left I had one and wow! those little things work well. The blister stick (a little rub-on balm) was also a life-saver and prevented the blisters I didn't have. Whenever my feet felt like they were sticking to the sandal/shoe I just rubbed a little bit on my foot and voila! no more sticking. Tiny enough to fit in anyone's bag of any size!

Anyone else up for offering summer shoe reviews? I think the let-down of returning from a long trip makes me want to avoid chores and just think about packing for another one!

Laura

I bought these to wear in Italy in October. I've been wearing them around locally and the fit is marvelous. The leather is soooo soft and the innersole molds itself to your foot. I'll have to take another pair for more dressy dining, but this is the pair I'm wearing for travel.

http://clarks.zappos.com/n/bs?q=UN.LOOP


JVP
Deep in the Heart of Texas

Okay, my experience with Chacos Wrapsody.

First off, the adjustable straps proved to be extremely practical as my left foot still is a bit swollen after the surgery I had in May.

However... I am not entirely happy with these sandals. I *love* the sole with its great arch support, but the straps.. no, not so much. I have to wear the straps looser than I'd like because otherwise they don't stay in place and the shoe falls off. When I wear the straps loose enough, I can't walk as freely as with sandals that have heel straps.
They are comfortable as slip-in sandals, but not as easy to slip into as Birkenstocks or my trustworthy €5 rubber flipflops that I ended up wearing most of the time in Italy.

So. I am a bit disappointed.

Tomorrow I'm probably going to buy a pair of MBT shoes... that should be interesting!

Love, love, love my Privo Floats! I wore them on the flights from Edmonton - Toronto - London and Paris - Toronto - Edmonton, walked for miles in London with nothing but delicious comfort. I also walked miles every day in Paris every single day and no ill effects at all. I also took my Privo Tequini and they were a perfect alternative.
I have a high arch, narrow feet...size 9 - 10, or size 40 in Clark's sizing...and both pairs of these darned shoes fit like slippers! Fantastic arch support, total comfort for me and no sore feet at all in 3 weeks of walking forever each day!

Of course, the summer sales were on in Paris, so I couldn't pass by a Clark's shoe store on rue de Bac with a 50% SOLDES in the window! So, 2 new pairs of Clark's slides came home with me as well as one for my granddarling...she found a gorgeous pair of vanilla coloured, super-soft leather Mary Jane's from Clark's! At 50% off, no less.

It's interesting how my priorities for shoe shopping have changed since I fell in the spring and sprained my ankle. Now, I look for stable, secure-feeling shoes, where as before I'd look for great-looking funky shoes in fun colours. Why, oh why does a shoe maker not combine the two, I ask ya?

Speaking of those Johnson and Johnson blister pads...
I tried one on the side of my foot where I had a bug bite that was itchy and irritated by the shoe on that foot...the darned thing kept coming off and rolling itself up into a little cylinder! I tried 3 of them and all of them did the same thing.
At 6 blister pads for $7.00, it's certainly a costly little sucker! Did anyone else have this problem? I wasn't impressed at all, and truly, I thought they were quite a waste of cashola. Nice idea, but it didn't work for me...

Brenda's Rules for Shoes #36:
If the shoe fits, it's too expensive.
Brenda

Brenda, I never had that problem with the blister pads. My problem is that I haven't been able to find them here for the last few years. I wonder if the original ones are no longer made, and you stumbled upon (oops, poor choice of words) an inferior brand?

Oh, Brenda! What a waste of money - I hate that! But mine stuck so well, even swimming, and when I finally yanked it off all my toenail polish that was under part of the bandaid came off with it! I mean, mine were STICKY!

Here's a link to the kind I bought.

Marg,
...yep, stumbled is a good choice of words!!!
I'd have understood it if I had bought a cheaper brand or a generic brand, but Johnson and Johnson? Sheeesh!
I usually don't buy a cheaper brand of anything...my grandfather's admonishment rings in my ears every time I consider it! He always told me that the cheapest is often the most expensive in the long run. Old habits die hard!

chachalaca,
What brand did you use?
I didn't need them at all this time, but it would be good to know what kind to take on another trip!

This was such a great trip, with perfectly comfortable feet, compared to my first trip to Italy, when I wore Aerosoles that I'd just bought! They made my feet incredibly sore and blistered. Live and learn!
Better yet, listen to the wisdom of the Slowtrav community...comfortable walking shoes means shoes you've worn before, for starters!

“Is it time to go home yet? I keep clicking these damn shoes, but nothing happens.”
~ Robin Hecht
Brenda

I'm not sure, but I think the ones I used to get were Dr Scholl's. They came in a little blue plastic box.

Okay, I just searched and found this
The packaging looks different, but I think these are the ones.

Chachalaca...can you tell me where you got a blister stick and what the name of it was...thanks

also what a great thread about shoes...

Those Privos look great. The Privo Tequini may only be available in Medium. Often, this is okay for me, although I tend towards wide feet. But Brenda, you say above you have narrow feet, which suggests to me that Medium actually runs narrow? How about the Privo Floats? What width did you get for them? I'm also about a 9.5 - 41 in European sizes.

Right now, I am wearing Keen's that are so ugly (I can't figure out their exact name, though). But they are working out very well, and have wonderful cushiony insoles, I have to say. After years of happily wearing Merrell Jungle Mocs, they just weren't working well for me.