Solestruck » ShoeLaLa

Patriotic Shoes. Happy 4th of July, neighbo(u)rs

Fug, online shopping, Wacky & Tacky No Responses »

Jul 042011

Shoe mecca Solestruck is carrying some crazy patriotic “stars and stripes” shoes for my neighbours south of the border. Pictured above, Irregular Choice + The Cobra Snake “Chica Chola Flag”. You know The Cobra Snake is involved when the advertising features a pantsless underage girl wearing a polar bear jacket in the middle of summer, inexplicably lounging on the pavement in front of a car.

But before you throw down your $200 for that fine piece of work, the really awesome patriotic shoes on offer are from Jeffrey Campbell. He’s put out stars and stripes in four different styles:

I think I like the pingpong best, probably because it is just so weird…and the platform sandals remind me too much of the 90s, a decade best forgotten for fashion.

Anyway neighbours, I hope you’re having an excellent party, celebrating your independence while the British monarchy tours just to the north of you. Don’t get puke on your $200 shoes.

Solestruck: Fabulous Shoes, Shipping Saga

online shopping No Responses »

Jan 122009

I’ve been meaning to write this post forever! This past summer I got an email from Danielle of Solestruck shoes, saying that they liked my blog and wanted to send me a “complementary” pair of shoes, no strings attached. This was new territory to me and I was wowed. So I chatted with her about their selection of vegetarian shoes (she was super helpful), quickly fell in love with many, and ended up picking this totally swoonworthy pair black and white polka dot Betsy Johnson shoes. (They have a flower-patterned rubber sole to make them non-slip – how awesome is that.) betsey-johnson

But oh no! No sooner had my order gone in that a wrench was thrown into the works. Danielle was told by the higher-ups that they couldn’t do the shoe blog promo outside of the US because of shipping costs. She was so, SO apologetic, and I was a little bummed. But I thought hey, maybe there’s a way to make this work. So we figured out a plan where I bought another fabulous pair of shoes from their site, and paid shipping on both pairs. The international shipping cost $74 for two pair of shoes – yikes! (Hello, I think someone forgot cross-border shoe shopping when they negotiated NAFTA!)

Next wrench: the website says that all customs, taxes and duties are included in this cost, so you can bet I was not thrilled when I went to FedEx to pick up the shoes and had to pay them $30 in duty. I told Solestruck and they were very surprised – it was a FedEx error and it has never happened before. FedEx told them that they would refund the charges (although I never found it on my statement…but FedEx is not exactly known for not being a sucking black hole of red tape).

Anyhow, all is well that ends well. The shoes arrived, they were beautiful, they fit perfectly, and they were quite comfortable. The only thing I regret is that I can’t buy more of their fabulous shoes! With the international shipping cost and the FedEx screw up (hopefully an isolated incident), I can’t afford to shop there. (Plus, I swear I am not buying any more shoes – honest!) But if you live in the US, I would definitely recommend this place, for the following reasons:

1. Free shipping in the US.

2. HUGE selection of fabulous shoes in a well-organized website.

3. Lots of vegetarian shoe options – Danielle mentioned that shoe brands Rocket Dog, Reef, Baby Phat, Betsey Johnson, and BC Footwear tend to have more vegetarian options, and shoe materials are generally identified on the site.

4. Great customer service from super nice, friendly people.

Plus, when I was emailing with Danielle, she told me about how the company was trying to find ways to be more eco-friendly. Corporate responsibility, great shoes, nice folks – what more can a shoe lover ask for?:)