Slides that aren’t Birkenstock – An Edit

Let’s face it: those easy on / easy off sandals aren’t going anywhere. Last Summer saw the triumphant return of the dreaded Birkenstock, which put the – unsure and slightly disgusted –  “umph” in “triumphant“. They were on all the fashionable feet but also in all the discount supermarkets around Europe. I am all for comfortable, lazy shoes but I am also a little irked by Birks. So what if Céline had a shoe that looked vaguely like a pair of Birks? As my mum used to say to me: “if Céline jumped in the river, would you do it too?“. And now we have “normcore“, so soon everyone will be wearing Teva sandals. What happened to looking nice?

Now this is out of the way, let me tell you something about slides / mules / whatever you want to call those sandals: they are damn comfortable and perfect for chic poolside action or if you need to artfully drag your swollen Summer feet from your house to the beach. That’s IT though. Pool slides belong by the pool. That doesn’t mean they can’t be stylish, but they definitely don’t belong in the city. A bit like flip flops. I put together a little selection for you, which includes bog-standard pool slides that will actually keep you from sliding by the pool but also high-end turbo slides that are actually verging on Jesus sandals but shhh.

The shoes in the main image are my own pool slides from Zara – these are unfortunately out of stock now, but there are many equivalents around. So don’t be a sheep and join the sane crew: no Birkenstock for us!

A bit of a treat