While the wedge was initially a fashion-over-function choice, this feature has proven to be quite advantageous in both urban and coastal contexts.
In New York City, wearing open-toed shoes is inherently risky and, for some, forbidden altogether due to the chance you could step on sharp objects, chewed gum, garbage, or something worse than all three of those combined. If your toes are exposed, there’s a higher chance you could feel all of those undesirables on your bare foot (gross), and if you wear easily penetrable shoes like traditional soft-bottom foam flip-flops, there’s also a chance those items could go through the bottom of your shoe (chilling).
So in fact, the wedge serves as a buffer, a small but mighty layer of protection from the streets (though the toes are only slightly elevated, every centimeter counts).
At the beach, the functionality continues. Walking along the sand is only relaxing if the sand isn’t burning hot and, in California (where I lived when I bought these), it often is. Flat flip-flops don’t give you much protection from lava sand, but these do. Thanks to the wedge, I walked above the sand (of course being mindful of my ankles on more treacherous areas), and the bottoms of my feet made it off the beach unscathed.
They are also slightly water-resistant, thanks to the EVA foam, the brand said. I’ve found this to be true in my own experience as they always dry quickly if I put them on wet feet, making them an even better fit for coastal occasions.
These shoes aren’t marketed to be great for long, 8-mile walks, and they shouldn’t be. However, they aren’t horribly bad for your feet, either.
I took these shoes to the office of podiatrist Paul Greenberg, who, to even my own surprise, said he would recommend this type of shoe for some people.
First, he listed people with a high arch. When your foot arch is more dramatic, that means you apply more pressure to your heel when it strikes the ground as you step. But with a wedge, some of that shock is absorbed, so you’re lighter on your heel.
Greenberg also sees benefits for people with very flat feet who struggle with issues like tendinitis or plantar fasciitis. In both cases, walking on a flat foot (or a flat shoe) can stretch one thing or another too much — either the Achilles tendon or the tissue running on the bottom of the foot (aka the plantar fascia). But when you add a wedge, you don’t stretch out those areas quite as much, which can help alleviate some of the strain.
All of that being said, Greenberg doesn’t recommend wearing these shoes for long walking days (and although they worked for my daylong 8-mile adventure, I don’t recommend this either). You should also avoid wearing these shoes on uneven terrain, as it could increase the risk of a twisted ankle, he said.
