It’s the SHOES-ZAH!

It’s the SHOES-ZAH!

Everybody here commutes in Havaianas.

Ok, not everybody. (And there are also “Austrianas” — you can guess what those are.) But seriously — I find wearing Havaianas to be like slowly sawing your toes off with a plastic knife…and yet tons o’ people here walk a mile or more in ’em to get to work. You’ll see all these girls in black suits or neatly-pressed shirts and pencil skirts…and plastic flip flops.

Now, I am a huge fan of wearing supremely comfortable shoes to walk to work, and then changing to more fashionable (but still comfortable, damnit) shoes once arrived. But I just cannot understand the appeal of walking to work on a thin sheet of rubber held onto your feet by bits of a soda bottle.

There are certainly plenty of people walking in suits & sneakers, a la the classic NYC commuter. And the suited-up men seem to do fine in their normal business shoes (damn you men and your business-acceptable un-frumpy-looking comfortable shoes). And Aussies do seem to own some variety of sandals that aren’t Havaianas…but not many of ’em. (Reef? Teva? are you listening?)

I’ve alternated between my running shoes + orthodics (for the days when I skip the transit and just walk the whole way), Birkenstocks, and teva olowahus with my other pair of semi-custom orthodics stuck on ’em. At least then I’ve got some modicum of arch support.

I appreciate the temperature control that comes with wearing flipflops on the morning slog; it definitely pays to have shoes that can handle hot hot hot and the occasional downpour. And by “handle” I simply mean “will eventually dry out and be useable again,” as opposed to “melts upon contact with water” or”will never smell the same again.” Or worse yet, “with my waterproof shoes, my feet are bone dry, really! (except for the sweat)” — eeew, grossness.  Really, unless you are willing to let your feet perspire to death in rubber galoshes, you just gotta face the fact that your feet will get wet…so wear shoes that can get wet. And be OK with your wet feet — you’re not made of sugar, ya know!