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?

Have any of you tried the Sydney?

I am wondering if they really look much different from Arizonas when on your feet.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Birks are quickly turning into the Spring/Summer Ugg

Sweetie, are you 16? Birks have been popular for at least 60 years. They've never gone out of style.

No Gradma

LOL. DD and her friends, who are all UES/UWS/Tribeca NYers, wear their Birks a ton, especially pre/post sports practice or to the beach.

IYKYK.

Post sports I get, but wouldn’t you want to wear waterproof shoes at the beach?

I actually have the plastic Birks for the pool and beach only.
Don’t wear them outside of that space.

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.

Thank you all for inspiring me two new pairs of birks!

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I could not get past the break in period on Birkenstocks - I had a pair for a month and they hurt just as much as the day I got them. They were so painful. How long does it normally take people to break them in??

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.

Anonymous wrote:I could not get past the break in period on Birkenstocks - I had a pair for a month and they hurt just as much as the day I got them. They were so painful. How long does it normally take people to break them in??

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Birks are quickly turning into the Spring/Summer Ugg

Sweetie, are you 16? Birks have been popular for at least 60 years. They've never gone out of style.

Yeah, because they've never been in style...

Pay attention to what people are wearing this summer, why don't you? The Mayaris have been everywhere for at least 10 years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Birks are quickly turning into the Spring/Summer Ugg

Sweetie, are you 16? Birks have been popular for at least 60 years. They've never gone out of style.

No Gradma

LOL. DD and her friends, who are all UES/UWS/Tribeca NYers, wear their Birks a ton, especially pre/post sports practice or to the beach.

IYKYK.

Post sports I get, but wouldn’t you want to wear waterproof shoes at the beach?

Nobody is talking about the beach. We don't spend all summer at the beach, you freak.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many years do your birkenstocks last usually?

I’ve had one pair for at least 15 years. If you take care of the cork and footbed, getting them resoled or repaired otherwise can help them last for what seems like forever.

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.

My mother wore Birks - still do
Sisters and I hated them .. Called them Jesus shoes 😩

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Birks are quickly turning into the Spring/Summer Ugg

Sweetie, are you 16? Birks have been popular for at least 60 years. They've never gone out of style.

No Gradma

LOL. DD and her friends, who are all UES/UWS/Tribeca NYers, wear their Birks a ton, especially pre/post sports practice or to the beach.

IYKYK.

Post sports I get, but wouldn’t you want to wear waterproof shoes at the beach?

Many of these folks are not even getting in the water. Or if they do, then their feet are dry by the time they schlep back to the car. Lots just leave their beach shoes in a big pile at the beach entrance and grab them on the way out.

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.