Why these vintage flats are worth the price
It's no secret that good quality vintage reproductions and vintage inspired shoes are not cheap. Apart from the cost of ethical labour, good quality materials, and every other part of the process that makes up the final shoe that you wear on your feet, another thing to consider is how the design of that shoe contributes to the price you're paying.
There are a lot of things we could say about this comment that we often get about our flats, but at the end of the day if you are paying a low price for a pair of vintage reproduction or vintage style shoes (when they're not on sale), we can guarantee you that they are either made with low quality materials or they are not being made ethically. Apart from ensuring our manufacturer maintains an exceedingly high quality of care and work environment for their employees and an average wage, a major factor for our shoes and the way they are priced is to do with the way they are designed and made.
Instead of using factory standard structures, we worked with our manufacturer to create a completely new flats structure to suit the needs to Samantha (Charlie Stone's creator) and her feet at the time when she was dancing lindy hop and wanted something elegant, comfortable and supportive.
So while our flats may just seem like ordinary flats on the inside, after wearing them for a while you will definitely notice the difference in weight distribution across your foot if you try to go back to wearing flat flats!
Something else that we have been very excited about is the launch of our new Petit Heels 1940's Pump Heel with a new custom insole that gives you better all-day support. Let's look at the shoes from the side so you can see the insole structure:
With a bit of light arch support and a moulded heel cup, the weight distribution is again addressed with our new Petit 1940's Pump insole. In addition to that, our new favourite feature - the metatarsal pad - helps to alleviate pressure off the ball of foot and again work on balancing the weight distribution across the foot.
We enlisted the help of podiatrist Dr Saylee Tulpule from the US to check out and try out our flats and petit 1940's pump heel. Check out what she thinks!