This is kind of my favorite product review ever.
Some long time readers may remember that I used to work for a shoe company. I used to be on the Naturalizer Product Development team right after college, which was such a fun job. One of my own little projects while I was there was to start blogger reviews of our shoes. I was interested in getting into marketing, and of course loved blogs, and so arranged to have a few fashion bloggers try and giveaway a pair of shoes.
Sidewalk Ready was one of our favorites.
Later that year my company started outsourcing a lot of their marketing, which is part of the reason I left. There weren’t going to be many positions I was interested in.
FAST FORWARD TWO YEARS, A FEW MONTHS AGO:
I get an email from a PR agency asking if I want to participate in Naya and Naturalizer’s blogger review program.
I ABOUT DIED.
My program! My baby project! I just thought it was so funny that it had come full circle.
Anyway, I emailed the girl back explaining the funny situation and said that I’d love to! She said I could choose a pair of shoes from either Naturalizer’s spring line, or Naya’s. Naya is part of Naturalizer, but is it’s eco-friendly, romantic, higher-end line.
I tried on bunches of pairs of Naya when I worked there, but never bought any myself. Most are just a wee bit out of my price range because of the high quality, hand finished, eco-friendly leather. They are all very feminine, extremely comfortable, and have fine details that our other lines skipped over to reduce cost. These are really well made shoes.
So now I have my very own pair of Naya shoes, and I LOVE THEM.
The Helena.
(Fun fact: Shoe names are all based on the first letter. You design the sole (or “bottom”) of the shoe, and give it a letter. Then all “uppers” - the top of the shoe – you put on that sole have to start with that letter. We’d call the Helena an “H bottom” and might have Helena, Helga, Hillary, and Hightop all on the same type of sole. I loved naming shoes:))
These are a style I wouldn’t normally splurge on, just because it’s not quite as classic as I usually go for. However I adore the boho look and the pale leathers. They really work as a neutral and I’ve been wearing them to death.
And the COMFORT. Pretty remarkable. Not a single growing pain with these shoes. They were immediately cushy – like walking on air.
I have worn them non stop since I received them. They are my new go-to shoe when I don’t want to wear just cheap-o flip flops. I now slightly regret never spending a little more money on summer sandals before because these just feel a little more special that the other Target sandals I live in during the summer
I adore them. Even if they don’t photograph well. Or rather, I don’t photograph them well.
Naya is sold at lots of Nordstrom stores, but also in Naturalizer stores and online. You can find a store on their website. They also have a blog!
I highly recommend these shoes, as well as checking out the other Naturalizer and Naya styles. Thank you, Naya!
Disclosure: I received these sandals for free from Naturalizer/Brown Shoe Company, but all opinions are my own.
