I had an experience with Simple Shoes recently that you must know about. Specifically, it was an awesome experience with the D-Kay shoes for women. A shoe perfect for skateboarding and, as it turns out, walking around a trade show floor for long periods of time.
The place? The Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt Lake City early this month. I thought I was being all smart when I wore my most comfy travel/trade show shoes to the event. I won’t tell you which shoes because I think what happened to my feet in them was an anomaly and I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.
Usually I wear these (insert brand name here) shoes to all trade shows. I wear them when I think I’m going to be on my feet for a long time because I know my dogs won’t ache at the end of the day. But in SLC, I think there was a perfect storm of issues. I was staying at the youth hostel which was located about a mile from the Salt Palace, so I had to walk a long way. It was also about 95 degrees out, so I was sweating. This resulted in the straps rubbing on my tender feet and by the end of Day One, I had blisters on my little toes, big toes and on the bottoms of my feet. They were NOT pretty but these shoes were the only ones I had.
On Day Two I trudged back to the Salt Palace and slowly made my way around the show floor. I popped into the Simple Shoes booth for a pre-scheduled meeting and during the course of chatting with the rep, I mentioned that I recently began skateboarding. She said, “Oh, you have to try these out.” And I was handed a pair of D-Kay shoes in black suede with green. I left the booth, headed to my next meeting and, with feet hurting, started to think about the new shoes that were in my bag. I stopped and put them on.
The relief was immediate. There’s a reason these shoes are great for skateboarding. Lots of cushioning for the beating that your feet and legs take while ‘boarding. Unbeknownst to the Cushe rep, she saved my life (OK, she saved my show). I wore them for the rest of the day. They actually matched my outift, too: green capris and black top. They went so well with my clothes that I received numerous complements on them during the remainder of the show, as if I had packed them with me from Seattle!
Not only did the shoes win me over because of the comfort factor, but Simple Shoes is committed to creating sustainable shoes. They’ve got a line of vegan-friendly shoes bags and they use organic materials where possible. They freely admit to not being perfect, but they are constantly striving to improve upon their shoes and manufacturing methods.
Sizes are true to fit with a variety of styles available. You’ll be able to find something for your feet – whether you’re traveling, skateboarding or just looking for everyday wear.
A variety of Simple Shoes are available on Amazon and the D-Kays can be found at Shoes.com for about $60.