A Comfortable Shoe You Actually Want To Look At

The soft, cushioned feel of your favourite everyday shoe — in a bohemian print with real character, so you never have to choose between comfortable and good-looking again.

For as long as I can remember, comfortable shoes have come in one plain, clinical-looking shade — beige, grey, the colour of a waiting room. I'd been trading how a shoe looked for how it felt for years, and quietly resenting it every time.

So my closet had the sensible pairs I could stand in all day but hoped no one was looking at, and the nicer pairs I couldn't wait to get off my feet. Nothing that was genuinely comfortable and worth looking at both.

It was my daughter Sarah, up in Boston, who told me to stop settling and try a pair from a small family boutique here in South Carolina. Before I tell you what they did for my feet — and my mood — I think you should read the Clarke family's letter first.

The Clarke family runs a small boutique here in South Carolina, family-run since 1986 — three generations, mother to daughter. The shoe is called the Celeste, and their letter walks through the handful of things they refused to compromise on. I am going to let their words carry it, because they say it better than I could.

1A fit you set to your own foot

The lace-up front lets you set the shoe to your own foot — a touch more room across the top where you want it, held where you don't — instead of taking whatever a fixed shoe decides for you. Once they're set the way you like, they stay that way, so day to day you simply loosen them a little and step in.

2Cushion under every step

Underneath the print it is properly cushioned — a soft footbed and a sole with give, so each step lands on padding instead of straight onto the pavement. It carries you through a long day on your feet.

3Soft from the first wear, no breaking in

The upper is soft fabric with no hard edges to bite, so there is nothing to break in and nothing to rub. You can wear them out of the box for a whole day and come home without a single sore spot.

4Goes with a whole summer of outfits

The print carries enough colours that it sits happily with almost anything — jeans, a plain top, the trousers you already own. One shoe that goes with a whole summer's worth of outfits instead of fighting them.

5The pair people ask you about

The print has real personality, and people notice it. It is the pair a stranger stops you about in the grocery line — which, for a shoe this comfortable, is not something most of us are used to hearing.

6Every size from a 5 to a 12

It comes in a full range, from a 5 all the way up, so you get the size that actually fits rather than the closest one still in stock. A comfortable shoe is only comfortable if it is the right size.

The Celeste, against the comfortable shoes you've been buying

	Typical comfortable shoe	The Celeste
The fit	Take it or leave it — no way to adjust	Lace-up front you set to your own foot
Underfoot	Thin, flat, aching by evening	Cushioned footbed and a sole with real give
First wear	Blisters and sore spots until broken in	Soft upper — no breaking in, wear it out of the box
The look	One plain, clinical shade	A bohemian print with real character
Where it goes	Clashes with everything but one outfit	A mixed print that goes with most of your closet

Why they're clearing it now

They priced the Celeste at $219.95 when it launched, and it sold at that price all season. But for America's 250th, the Clarke family wanted to give something back to the women who have kept their doors open since 1986 — so every pair is going out for less than a quarter of that.

Mine arrived in a box with tissue paper and a little handwritten note on top. I set the laces to my foot once, and they've barely come off since.

I don't usually write things like this. But the Celeste is the first comfortable shoe in years that I actually like looking at — soft and easy on my feet, and pretty enough that people ask me about them. If you've been settling for sensible-and-dull the way I had, this is the one I'd tell you to try, while the sale is still on.

— Margaret Ellison · Mount Pleasant, SC

See the Celeste — $49.95 →

This is a personal account from a Clarke Family customer. Margaret was not paid to write it. · The Clarke Family · Family Fashion · South Carolina, since 1986 · Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee.