5.26.2008

Kitchen Shoes

My clogs
remind me
of Handel's
'Messiah'.

For years, I wore soft leather shoes at work, $40 a pair, throw them out after the cleaning solvents and grease embedded in the kitchen floor had eaten through the sole, get another pair. About once every two to three months, depending on if my toes were actually sticking out of the shoe yet, or if there was any duct tape available....come on now, you know you've duct taped your work shoes when you were only making $8/hour. You would look at your boss like they were crazy every time they hung up those Shoes For Crews pamphlets on the employee bulletin board. Well, me too.

Then one day, just last year, after 18 years in the business....a revelation. Okay, yes, this is late breaking news for most of you...I'm a little slow. My chef bought a $120 pair of Dansko Professional clogs and didn't like them. I tried them, and can I just say the angels broke out with "Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallel-u-jah."

Here's the thing with Dansko Professionals. They are stapled clogs that are hand machined. Therefore, no pair, no single shoe for that matter is going to be exactly alike. The reason my chef didn't like them, is he had gone to a shoe store and said, "I'd like these in a size 8", paid for them and walked away. That will cause blisters or ill fitting shoes.

It's highly recommended that you do not buy them online or in a store that doesn't know about Dansko. If you walk into a shoe dept and ask for a size 10, the salesperson, if they are knowledgeable, will bring you out no less than 3 pair of size 10s. Try them all on. Mix and match the pairs. Find ones that are snug but not uncomfortable in the toes, and slightly lose in the heel. The leather will stretch in the toe area. And they need to be lose in the heel for the rocker style sole to work properly. Your foot should shift forward slightly when you walk, putting proper pressure on your feet as you step.

These will be the most comfortable shoes you wear to work, home, gardening, hanging out, etc. And like Uggs, they are paintable, if you desire to create your own unique style of clog with some acrylics and shoe wax.

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