Recently, while I was slogging through a big end-of-term paper for my grad course, my good friend Val of in such a world sent me a lovely diversion: an article from swanky veg with a bunch of reasonably-priced cute office shoes she liked from Vegetarian Shoes and Bags, which I hadn’t stumbled upon before.

I was simultaneously thrilled and cursing; thrilled as always to peruse lovely shoes, and cursing my friend because she knows my weakness for shoes! My credit cards were already smoking from holiday shopping (you can bet that one of my new year’s resolutions was to create a budget and rein in my spending).

As I often do, I filled the virtual shopping cart with every pair of shoes I would love to have, then waited about a week while trying to forget about them. During this time, I had a very helpful email exchange with Chris of Vegetarian Shoes and Bags to determine if a cute boot that looked so clearly designed for the fall season might be tweaked with waterproofing and extra socks to withstand a Canadian winter. I knew it was a false hope, but I loved them and wanted to find a way to justify the purchase. Heck, it was a struggle not to order them in both brown and green. I’m such a sucker for anything with corduroy or buttons.

One day, after a particularly rough day at work, I flung open my laptop, went to the site, picked out those same ten pairs, whittled them down to the ones I absolute had to have (none of which were practical for winter wear), and…ordered them. In addition to the boot above, this included a pair of super cute denim vegan flats and, dare I admit it, the vegan patent pleather pump in both black (staple) and red (fun). Behold:

I’m so picky about pumps and heel shape, and these ones have a nice curvature to them. Plus, you’ll notice they have an elastic strap. I don’t like the look of it so much on the red unless I were wearing dark tights, but it looks fabulous on the black and makes it really stay on your foot, making for a huge comfort increase. Also, the strap on the denim flats affixes with velcro, not that button, so it makes them much more adjustable.

I’m noticing a trend here: I ordered all three of these shoes in part because they’re made with interesting fabrics. The boot, corduroy; the flat, denim; the pumps, lined with plaid. I confess, my other love is fabric )

Bottom line: I am always so wary of online shoe shopping because of the sizing and comfort issues, and over the years I’ve ended up with a few ill-fitting pairs. But to my delight, every pair in this order was a perfect fit, thanks to this store offering so many half-sizes for my weird little feet. This was definitely a great shopping experience, and I would shop there again in a heartbeat…if I hadn’t made that new year’s resolution regarding budgeting…umm…