The Tory Burch Eddie Ballet Flats may not look like much, but that’s probably because you’ve never had a pair on your feet. When I first tried these shoes on at Intermix, I immediately bought both colors that the store stocked. It wasn’t even a conscious decision; I found myself groaning in happiness and gesticulating wildly toward the sample shoe still left on the shelf. Apparently lots of customers have that reaction to the Eddie flats, because the salesgirl knew exactly what to do – bring out the other color in my size and ring up my new pairs. This weekend, though, I put my black Eddie flats to the ultimate test – the sidewalks of New York City.
And ladies, the Eddies passed with flying colors. The bottoms of my feet hurt a little bit toward the end of the trip because of the inherent challenges in padding such a slender shoe, but Tory appears to have stuffed as much padding in the soles as possible without making them look bulky. And not only were they comfortable to stand on, but they were comfortable to walk in – although the shoes rubbed a tiny raw spot on my right pinky toe the first time I wore them a few weeks ago, since then, I’ve had absolutely no discomfort. No rubbing, no raw spots, no blisters, no problems! Because the raw spot was on my larger foot, I suspect that it happened because my feet are a bit wide across the toes; if your feet are normal or narrow, I doubt you’ll find any problems at all with these.
The construction is another thing that I have to mention for several reasons. First, you’ll notice that these shoes don’t have a giant logo medallion like Burch’s more famous flats, the Revas. And not only are these more comfortable than the Revas, but they’re also more subtle – other than a relatively small embossed logo on the back that I find hardly noticeable, there’s no visible branding at all.
What is noticeable is the amazingly soft leather – at first, I thought it might even be lamb. Because it’s pliable but still quite thick, the leather doesn’t require much break-in time but it seems to be quite durable; my flats still look basically new after several weeks of abuse, one vacation with lots of walking and four trips through two different airports. I just added the pink color pictured above to my black and nude pairs yesterday, and I strongly doubt that I’ll be stopping there. These flats already come in a rainbow of colors, and Burch is adding more every season. For me, they’re like Lay’s potato chips – I can’t have just one. Considering the price point, that’s not such a bad thing. Buy through Neiman Marcus for $178, or you can get the black or tan versions through ShopBop for the same price.
