Get ready!  Here’s another shoe review.  I had this lined up for a while and finally got around to posting:

From a purely aesthetic point of view, the Everlane Day Flat is perfect.  The simple design begs to be worn every day.  The subtle details elevate them within the basic category.  Modest, sophisticated, are words that come to mind.  I love the buttery matte leather and the barely noticeable monotone stitching that reinforces the edge.  A strong shoe never looks cheap.  The soles are surprisingly thick too.  You wouldn’t know because the soles are inverted into the shoe;  they look paper thin from the outside but theres actually a 1/2 inch rise. 

The main reason I bought these:  I wanted a flat that rises high on the forefoot, which is not an entirely new idea, but the thickness and structure sets these apart from the floppy “glove” flats you might have seen elsewhere.  And the price was right.  I wasn’t sure how I felt about the elastic heel, but wasn’t deterred when the folds flattened out when worn.

I wore these around the Everlane show room and they felt a tiny bit snug along the sides, but I figured they’d stretch out like the reviews had suggested.  When I actually put these babies on the road, my feet felt strangled, and I have skinny feet so if you have even medium wide feet, do not even bother with these. Then the blisters came along the heel!  And even with skin tape, my achilles tendon was sore from the pressure.  The elastic is much too constricting and after a few steps, the elastic propels your foot forward within the shoe causing the toes to get smushed.  Painful!

I went down a youtube rabbit hole on how to properly stretch leather shoes and decided to bring them to the cobbler to get them widened.  It took two treatments and 4 days, and still they feel snug!  Not as bad as before, but still annoyingly tight.  The cobbler put a layer of vibram along the entire length of the sole.  It’s thin so you can’t see it from the side.  This made a big difference in how stable I felt walking in these.  I’d highly recommend you do this with any shoe you plan on wearing out a lot.  The elastic heel is still a problem.  When I’m not wearing them I stuff the shoes with socks to gradually loosen the elastic.  A proper shoe tree would probably work better, but I didn’t want to shell out $20 at Nordstroms…  In the meantime, I’m using moleskin to protect my heels.

This sounds like a whole lot of fuss over a pair of shoes doesn’t it?  It looks effortless, but has required a whole lot of effort to get a tolerable fit.  Maybe I’m crazy, but I still love them and determined to break them in!

[outfit:  eileen fisher linen top*, levi’s 501 ct, everlane day flat (US 9)]

UPDATE:  After cutting the elastic band at the heels with a tiny pair of scissors, these shoes feel perfect!  The elastic band was much too constricting and pushed the foot forward.  When the band is cut, the shoe maintains its structure and does not fall off the foot.