Arizona Exquisite Leather Slide Sandal (Women)

I bought these in black a few months ago and was thrilled to see them in this fabulous new color. They're as comfortable as they are good-looking thanks to the leather footbed. It's a nice finishing touch. I haven't experienced any squeeking or straps irritating my toes like some have. I wear a 5.5 or 6, and the size 36 fits perfectly. No break-in time necessary.

Sadly I loved the look of the leather-wrapped cork sole (sides as well as where you foot rests on) because it looks so much polished. But, oh that top strap near your toes! It needs to be made out of much softer leather. This one made bloody blisters across my toes in just one short walk. Once healed, I tried them again with socks and that helped somewhat, but I didn’t buy them with the intent to use them all the time with socks. This is certainly not the usual Birkenstock experience. I hope that Birkenstock tweaks this model just a little by switching out the strap near the the toes to a soft Napa leather rather than the steel-belted razor wire leather that they used now. Then it would be a perfect Birkenstock for both casual and sliding into slightly dressier occasions for those of us who don’t like toes squeezed into silly shoes.

I have several pairs of Birks—wore them in college and 25 years later, my podiatrist said they’re good for my high arches. But these feel strangely narrow though the width is a B. However, the nubuck leather is super soft and great, and I love that they’re monochromatic vs the usual brown cork.