109. I Shopped The Flip-Flops On Your Wishlist
Reviewing The Row, Emme Parsons, A. Emery, Aeyde, and more.
Buying fashion online is harder than it should be. I spend hours on Substack chat, and I see you - post after post asking for peer reviews on the sizing and comfort of the latest viral pair of shoes. There’s no shortage of fashion content, but honest try-before-you-buy feedback is still rare. Too often, I’m also influenced into purchases that don’t feel right, wasting time scrolling and money on pieces that don’t move my wardrobe forward. That’s why I’m bringing back one of Every Body Gets Dressed's most popular columns: I Shopped Your Wishlist. Each month, I review the most talked-about brands in depth, with input from experts and industry peers, to help you cut through the noise. Past editions of the column are here.
I can’t think of anyone better to review shoes than my friend
. She’s spent nearly a decade in fashion writing and editing, and once ran her own high-end shoe brand for women with wide feet, a vastly underserved market (many of you reading this have wide feet and don’t even know it). She understands how shoes are made, why material quality matters, and what good construction can do for your foot. She says:‘Summer is the season of foot freedom—or it’s supposed to be. While it should be all about breezy, pared-back styles, many shoes feel painful and prison-like. Caging your toes, causing a worrying amount of sweat, and rustling up a few too many blisters. You likely know just how irritating it is to come back to an old rubber pair of flip-flops you hate (but find annoyingly comfortable) after giving so many chances to sandals that leave you reeling in pain’.
Dropping a flip-flop review mid-August may raise some questions. On the contrary, I find it timely with the best season just around the corner: long-pants-with-sandals season. This column is about shopping for heirlooms, not hype. The shoes in this lineup will get plenty of wear in the coming weeks and come out unscathed on the other side of winter. The fashion calendar may be skewed (Pre-Fall collections started landing 6 weeks ago), but we don’t have to let it rob us of the months we wait for all year. It’s still summer. Paint your toes. Have some watermelon.
The Row Ginza Leather Platform Flip-Flops, $970
Buy them new: leather and suede version here, leather version (reviewed below) here.
Buy them secondhand: US6, US6, US8, US9.5, US11.
Sizing
Finally, a pair of flip-flops to accommodate a wider foot, and from The Row no less. I know this wasn’t intentional, it’s just the design, but it’s always a pleasant surprise to find designer shoes that work. I went with my usual size, but they do half sizes, which is a nice perk.
The Expert Take: What’s Good
This is the first of two pairs in today’s lineup to fully captivate me. It was an interesting one to include in this review because it is the kind of shoe that needs to be seen to be believed. From the product photos, I turned my nose up. In person and on my feet? They drew an audible reaction—I did, I gasped. I don’t usually spend this type of money on shoes, and I can see why shock (and possibly a little rage) is often the reaction to The Row and its prices. That being said, it’s hard to put a number on a shoe that’s not only comfortable, but beautiful too.
The first thing I noticed (other than the pull-out box) was the smell. The leather is leathering, so to speak. It smells superb and looks good, too. Then, the impeccable quality. The contrast stitching is uniquely visible but tucked away into the insole of the shoe. The straps are thick but soft. These platform sandals give off an early aughts aesthetic. If they look a little clunky, that’s the vibe. The platform sole, although chunky, is lightweight.
The Expert Take: What’s Not So Good
At $970, I’m always going to be extremely sceptical. Flip-flops at this cost seem like an oxymoron. However, the Olsen sisters have been fashion icons for me since I was a child, and with the amount of rave reviews their brand gets, I knew to hold my opinions until I witnessed the flip-flops for myself.
The insole is sewn to the sole (high quality!), and the only downside I could find after wearing the thong was the toe post. It was sharper than I’m used to and rubbed between my big and second toe. It’s leather, so this feeling should disappear over time after breaking in.
I also want to point out that the sole is rubber. This did surprise me for the price, but it does make the shoe more lightweight. Shoes get heavy quickly! When I made platform thongs for my own shoe brand, I tried various materials for the platforms and found most were far too heavy. So the decision makes sense.
Would I Buy Them?
It surprises me a little to say this, but absolutely yes! The quality is unparalleled, and compared to the other platform flip-flops I own, these showstoppers make the other pairs on my shoe rack look like plastic.
🤎 A Few Notes On Leather 🤎
As a shopper, it’s incredibly tricky to determine the quality of leather. Grades aren’t standardized, and price doesn’t always equate to quality. If you’re spending a decent chunk of money on shoes, you want to feel confident in your decision. My recommendations:
Look for top-grain and full-grain grades, as well as leathers from sheep, goats, and cows (or nappa).
Smell your leather. It should give off a fairly pungent, earthy scent (rather than a plasticky one). Most leather will be dyed, so a little chemical odor isn’t worrisome.
Touch it. Good leather on shoes should feel soft but structured. You don’t want something that’s limp and flimsy or far too rigid.
Ask. Never be afraid to reach out to the brand’s support team about the materials. When you’re investing in a pair of shoes, you deserve to know what you’re buying.
Emme Parsons Meta Leather Flip-Flops, $495
Buy them here or here for more colors and sizes.
Sizing
The length of these flip-flops was perfect, and the width was almost good enough for me. I have wide feet, but they still managed to accommodate nearly all of my foot (always a win). But then I noticed this note on the brand website: “Fits all feet comfortably with a wide, cushioned footbed,” and I’d argue that’s a wildly bold claim. I know people with wider feet than mine whose feet wouldn’t work in these shoes, and my own were very much at the edge. That claim also doesn’t account for more voluminous insteps— the thick part between your heel/ankle and the ball of your foot. The strap was incredibly tight. Regardless, I do give Emme Parsons points for a footbed that’s wider than most.