29 Tips to Find Your Summer Sandals
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Over the years, we’ve heard about a lot of sandals: sandals for sailing, rave-ready sandals, ’90s sandals, oddly chic sandals you can buy at the drugstore. So many good sandals that we can’t pick a favorite — there’s no one-size-fits-all pair, and each style has its ideal user. I’ve pulled out what’s special about each pair to guide you to your best summer sandal yet.
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Donni designer Alyssa Wasko Stein collects Locals flip-flops.
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She has “clear, red, green sole with white straps, black sole with clear green straps, and all cobalt blue. I clearly have a problem. My husband has them too,” she told Secret Strategist.
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Fashion girls love Havaianas …
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The square toe “gives them that grown-woman feel,” says journalist Devine Blacksher.
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… And Gen Z has rediscovered Rainbow.
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The latest early aughts trend to return on college campuses, reports Bella Druckman.
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But you really don’t need to get fancier than this $4 pair from Gap Factory.
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Strategist updates coordinator Najwa Jamal has bought them three summers in a row. She says they’re “the sweatpants of flip-flops.”
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Curators and stylists keep buying these drugstore slides.
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Found at CVS and Walgreens, they are made in America from recycled materials. They’re also megacomfy with a molded footbed, arch support, and massage beads in the sole.
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K.Jacques sandals break in like loafers and last for years.
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They’re “the loafer of sandals,” says Elizabeth Cardinal Tamkin, author of the Corner Booth newsletter and content director at Kule. Creative consultant Joyce Lee has been a customer for 20 years and is on her fifth or sixth pair.
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These gorp-y sandals stand up to 20,000-step days at Disneyland.
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“Based upon the world’s most sophisticated human movement science,” the brand raves. Strategist writer Kitty Guo agrees.
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For a grown-up jelly sandal, try hemp.
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The ease of a jelly sandal without the bright pastels, made from a recycled plastic-hemp material invented and produced in France.
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Shop-Pêche makes a worthy Alaïa dupe.
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Shop-Pêche Izzy
Similar silhouette as the designer’s Cube Thong Mules, one-tenth the price.
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The RealReal is full of skimpy Manolos for under $150.
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Vintage Manolo Blahnik Sandals
Strategist deputy editor Simone Kitchens and Wasko Stein, the Donni designer, have both bought several pairs.
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Birkenstocks will never go out of style …
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A favorite of fashionable people, seniors, celebrities, and cool parents. The Arizona is a consistent favorite, but don’t skip the big-buckle Madrids.
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… But for a minimalist alternative, try Message.
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Message Mullen Slide
The brand’s slides are cork-soled just like Birks with a simple elastic upper that keeps the shoe firmly on your foot. They’re “by far the best slides I’ve ever worn,” says Cuyana co-founder Shilpa Shah.
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Montbells look like a sandal and wear like a slide.
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Strategist senior writer Michael Zhao discovered these Japanese sandals in a French surf town. They are designed to be worn with or without socks and have a soft strap that won’t dig into skin.
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We spotted Sarah Jessica Parker wearing these orthopedic-adjacent slides …
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Invented in 1959 as an “exercise sandal,” they had a resurgence in the early aughts (and today).
… And Lily-Rose Depp loves these German ones.
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Wörishofer Sandals
Shop Rat writer Emilia Petrarca noticed that Depp has been wearing these cork-soled orthopedic slides for years and ID’ed them as “Sexy European Coastal Grandma” shoes.
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Keen Newports are the perfect summer shoe.
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Keen Newport H2 Closed-Toe Water Sandals
We spotted them on the Instagram of Paris boutique Rendez-Vous. Sleek enough for the city, rugged (and waterproof) enough for outdoors.
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Camper Kobarahs are the official shoe of arty weddings.
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Camper Kobarah Sandal
I’ve seen multiple pairs (all different colors) at the most fun weddings I’ve attended. (Solange is also a fan.)
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Stylist Laura Ferrara discovered these Croc slides at T.J. Maxx.
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She bought them last-minute for a shoot and ended up wearing them all summer. “People asked me, ‘Wait, is that The Row?’ Or ‘Is that a Givenchy knockoff?’ And I’m like, ‘No.’”
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For a Teva alternative, check out Arizona Love.
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They’re Bathen co-founder Hannah Zisman’s go-to vacation shoe.
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Vince makes the best jelly flats.
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Strategist writer Arielle Avila road-tested seven pairs, and these were her favorite. They have a lightly cushioned leather sole, making them more comfortable than an all-plastic pair.
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You can dance all night in spring-loaded platform sandals …
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I discovered Z-Coils, a genuine American original that came to its inventor through divine inspiration, while searching for “masc heels.”
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… And canoe in the Mary-Kate Olsen Tevas.
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Kitchens wears the shoes (also favored by Olsen) on “trips to the pool, morning walks, puttering around in the garden, sudden downpours. I wore them on a canoe trip in July, occasionally hopping out to trudge through shallow marshy water. (They dried off instantly and never got gross.)”
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There’s a rivalry between die-hard Tevas and Chacos fans.
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Chaco Lowdown Sandals
Strategist senior writers Lauren Ro and Liza Corsillo both made their case for their favorite “adventure sandals,” and our conclusion is they’re both pretty amazing.
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These leather slides come in every color of the rainbow.
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Beatrice Valenzuela Sandalias
Made of lambskin in Los Angeles. “Any color goes with any outfit, somehow,” says brand consultant Nancy Rosenbloom.
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Portland Trail Blazer Jerami Grant wore these barefoot sandals on Hajj.
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Zhao is also a fan of the closed-toe version, which are almost mary jane–esque.
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These fisherman sandals won’t destroy your feet.
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Rothy’s The Fisherman Sandal
Tested by Strategist contributor Angela Tafoya. The Labucq sandals are structured with a padded insole; the Rothy’s pair is incredibly lightweight.
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Fashionable people agree: Hereu fisherman sandals are a daily driver.
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They’re a go-to for both Petrarca and New York features writer Madeline Leung Coleman — Petrarca describes them as her “sturdiest, most comfortable sandals.”
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Pack these Spanish sandals for a walking-heavy vacation.
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Pikolinos Navia
Of Strategist senior writer Dominique Pariso’s fisherman sandal collection, she reaches for these “insanely comfortable” Pikolinos for vacations in Italy and Spain.
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Steve Madden’s still got it.
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Ro tried on 18 pairs of shoes at the brand’s Soho flagship and especially liked the black platforms everyone had in the ’90s and these pink jelly heels.
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