Barely a day's gone by in the last ten years that I haven't worn Teva Sandals. The workhorse of the sandal world has gotten me up mountains, across deserts and rivers, through cities, and from parking lots to beaches from coast-to-coast.
Tevas come in a wide variety of styles and colors. My favorites have a soft rubber sole, a slightly raised arch, and quick-dry uppers. (The only pair I ever tossed were fancy leather disasters.) The basic models are adjustable at the toe, top of the foot and, on some, the heel. And they're held on firmly by a clip and/or velcro fastener. They fit so tightly, I can even swing dance in them without having them fall off.
The deeply grooved Teva tread grips the smooth angled side of a granite boulder like glue. Yet the soles are just flexible enough that I never feel like I'm wearing 2x4 boards.
The only feature I question in Teva Sandals is the company's claim that an "anti-microbial material protects your foot from odor-causing bacteria." I must have anti-anti-microbial bacteria on my feet. If I don't rinse my Tevas at least once a week, they end up smelling like German potato salad that's been left in the sun a week too long.
The only complaint I have is that Teva sews painfully abbrasive labels on the upper straps of too many models. It takes me a half hour to cut them off when I buy a new pair. I wonder how many buyers have given up on the shoe because they don't want to take the time to cut the tags off or even know they're the source of discomfort to begin with.
I have to confess I'm such a big fan of Tevas, I've even worn them, gulp, with black athletic socks in winter. Why should the Birkenstocks have all the fun?
Living in Florida means living in my Teva Sandals. This model has adjustable velcro straps at the ankle and toes, soft rubber, not hard plastic, bottoms and a rise at the arch. Those are the features I look for when I need a new pair.
The tread is designed to grip onto road and trail. After a couple of years, I wore the tread near the balls of my feet. Fortunately, the world never runs out of Tevas, so I picked up a new pair.
