I wear my leather Birks to the beach. I just wear them to walk across the sand, take them off, and then am barefoot the whole time until I leave, when I put my shoes back on in the way back to the car. I also wear them to the pool sometimes, same thing. It's not like I'm wearing them to a water park. |
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My mother wore Birks - still do
Sisters and I hated them .. Called them Jesus shoes 😩 |
How much does getting them resoled and repaired cost? My most used pair lasted about 2 years of near-constant wear spring through fall. I just replaced them, as I've found a lot of shoe repair to be so expensive and a new pair of Birks not wildly so. |
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My ortho recommended the Milano when I was trying to get over broken toes.
I've tried both softened and regular and I prefer regular. I have a lot of foot and ankle and back issues. Not sure why I dont prefer softbed. |
Nobody is talking about the beach. We don't spend all summer at the beach, you freak. |
Pay attention to what people are wearing this summer, why don't you? The Mayaris have been everywhere for at least 10 years. |
Can anyone weigh in on the break in process? I returned the ones I bought last summer because I could not get comfortable. The toe things gave me blisters even if I only wore for an hour or two every day at home. |
I put moleskin between my toes for the first few days of wearing mine. Now I love them and wear them for hours, walking for miles. |
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I wear my Birks an hour or so each day to break them in, and it takes a few weeks.
I will say that I have had problems with straps rubbing/irritating only with the synthetic (Birkoflor) Birks. The real leather ones are fine after the break-in period. The Birkoflors are eventually wearable for me, but it takes a long time and I get blisters or rub marks on the tops of my feet in the process. My black Birkoflor Mayaris I got last summer had straps that somehow itched, and they left red marks for a long time. So my advice is to go all leather, not Birkoflor, if you want the fastest breaking-in period. |
| Thank you all for inspiring me two new pairs of birks! |
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I posted earlier about preferring soft footbeds after decades of wearing Birks. But I will say that I’ve had a pair of non-soft for maybe four years that are incredibly comfortable. I think fit and finding the right style are most important.
With fit, that means making sure you figure out your size (for me that’s a 36, not a 37, even though in US sizes I’m a 6 or 6.5) and getting “medium/narrow” if you have narrow feet (like I do). This limits the styles that will be available—for example, they don’t make Gizehs in narrow anymore, and the one pair I bought in regular just isn’t as comfortable—but if you want real comfort, that’s what you need to do. With style, I have found that I really prefer Arizonas, so I have multiple pairs in that style and order them knowing they will be comfortable. Like I said, Gizehs aren’t comfortable for me in regular width, and I find the toe cage in Mayaris uncomfortable. I also agree that leather is more comfortable than synthetic. I wear my five pairs of Arizonas pretty much non-stop from April through September. Figuring out the fit/style equation has made my spring/summer shoe situation so much easier. |
I actually have the plastic Birks for the pool and beach only. Don’t wear them outside of that space. |
| I have the Mayari, Gizeh and a new pair of Franca's. I gave my Arizona's to my sister because the wide straps didn't look good on me. I've never had a problem with the footbed, but the stiff leather on my new ones is taking a longer break in period,. Once they're broken in, they'll be comfortable like the others. |
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Have any of you tried the Sydney?
I am wondering if they really look much different from Arizonas when on your feet. |
| The corkbeds on mine always crack and then start looking bad. Unlike any other shoes mine always wear out. I do wear them a lot but is it to much to expcet a pair of shoes to last more than a year or two? |