Shoe Talk: Tieks by Gavrieli

When Women You Should Know posted an article about Tieks by Gavrieli last month, my interest was piqued.  I adore shoes, but I also love the fact that the Gavrieli Foundation helps female entrepreneurs in developing countries with donations from every sale of their shoes.  When I went on the Tieks site, I was immediately enamored by the bright, sexy colors of the shoes, pictures of Oprah sporting them in her office, a lovely little portrait gallery, and of course, the pretty blue soles.  I had to have a pair.  So I added them to the list of “awesome things to buy someday when I have millions of extra dollars lying around.”  Also included on this list are Louboutins, a house on the coast, a villa in Italy, a Chloe’ bag, and Tiffany diamonds (there are many more items on this list including things like world peace, a cure for cancer and AIDS, and peace in the Middle East, but I’m just sticking to the things money can buy for now).  A girl can dream!

I literally visited the Tieks site a couple of times a week to look at the fun colors…I couldn’t stop.  And then magically, they appeared in my mailbox one day, no idea how that happened.  So let me tell you about these divine little flats that have stolen my shoe-loving heart.

They arrive in a blue box with a bling’d out flower on top.  It’s like a Tiffany box, but darker blue and in shoe form. Inside the box, the shoes are wrapped in tissue, along with the following:

• Handwritten note imploring me to love my new Romantic Blush Tieks (which I do).
• Card telling me to post pics of my new Tieks on Instagram (which I did, but I forgot the hashtag, oops).
• Card telling me how to care for my new Tieks.
• Little drawstring bag to hold my new folded Tieks when I have a swanky night out on the town and my Louboutins start to make my feet ache.
• Pretty blue compact bag for my Louboutins when I slide into my Tieks at said swanky night out on the town.
• No pant clips.  I’ve been told that pant clips are included in case you had your swanky dress pants hemmed to the length of your Louboutins, but they were mysteriously absent from my box, so maybe that was something they used to do last year or something?
• I also cannot tell where the Tieks are made.  They say they are crafted from Italian leather, and trust me, the leather is simply beautiful in every way, but I cannot find where they are actually assembled and manufactured, which I would like to know.

I have to say, these are high quality shoes that are worthy of the designer label.  I own flats by Elie Tahari, Vince Camuto, Lacoste, Betsey Johnson, and some little cheap-o brands, but not one of those pairs has a sole like the Tieks.  These actually feel like a real shoe.  There isn’t a ton of arch support because they fold, but the heel and ball of the feet are very cushioned by the blue soles.  The leather interior has that awesome new car smell and the stitching is lovely.

The shoes are quite comfortable and I’ve read other reviews online that say you don’t have to break them in, but I think you do…a little bit.  I am a 7.5 and ordered an 8 because I have chunky feet.  There is one part of my right foot that is being a bit squeezed by the elastic, but they are still comfy enough to wear all day with no problem.  I have this issue with other shoes too, so it may just be my weird feet.

I would definitely recommend these to friends even though they are pricey, with a range of $165-$295.  There are about 10 more colors, ok maybe like 14, on the Tieks site that I would love to add to my collection because they are so gorgeous and the names are really fun.  Considering the fact that I just glued another pair of old flats together, I have a feeling that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship…

P.s.  While I was out one day, a guy asked me if my shoes were real snakeskin.  Because snakes are sparkly.

Please read my follow up to this Tieks experience here.  I had to replace this pair.  I recently just ordered a pair of the electric snake.  When I pulled them out of the box, the snake “scales” were already starting to come up and they definitely did not look like the quality of a $300 pair of shoes.  I returned those and got the ballerina pink.  That pair definitely needed breaking in, and they are nowhere near as comfortable as the Starstruck replacement pair.  Basically, I think the sizes all fit differently because these shoes are handmade.  All three pairs that I tried on felt totally different, which is frustrating because it makes me hesitant to order again.  As great as these shoes are, there are a lot of flaws still to be worked out in terms of quality on some of the more pricey patterns and actual fit of the shoe.  The good thing is that if you did order and wanted to return the pair you got, the returns system seems to work well.