Every traveller understands the need for good walking shoes. Whether your walking over cobbled streets, climbing steps or pounding the pavement getting from one side of the city to the other.
Wearing comfortable shoes that provide durability, support for feet, ankles and legs are critical. This is one of the reasons I decided to check out Vionic Shoes. Born with flat feet – back and leg aches have always been an issue. Stumbling across a posting about Vionic shoes on social media, I decided to review the Tide II sandal.
The Test
On a trip to Barcelona, Spain, I covered a good part of the city on food and by the end of the day from walking miles on paved and cobbled streets my feet and legs paid the price. I had good German shoes for covering the city but they didn’t protect my back or legs. Now while I’m preparing for a trip to Israel where the terrain will be varied from deserts to ancient cobbled cities, I decided to give the Vionic Sandal a test run and see if they are travel worthy.
— Walking: Wearing the shoes and walking 1-2 kilometres in a park setting.
— Post Gym Workout: After an intense workout wearing the shoes post work out to see how feet, back feel.
— Daytime Wear: Wearing shoes while attending events, walking, driving over a 12 hour period.
Pricing: $75.00 (In Canada).
Conclusion:
The Tide II sandal met all of testing criteria. Walking in the shoe is comfortable and provides good support when pounding the pavement. Post gym workouts I noticed a big improvement in my posture and alignment when wearing the shoes. There is a break in period with these sandals, approximately 2 weeks as the website states. I was concerned the soft woven toe post would chafe the toes but luckily that didn’t happen.
Tide II Specifications from Vionic’s website:
— Materials: woven/leather uppers, padded neoprene upper liner, EVA footbed, TPR outsole.
— Motion Control footbed with a deep heel cup helps stabilize, support and realign the feet back to their natural position.
— Lightweight, flexible medium-density EVA midsole absorbs shock, reducing stress on feet, ankles and knees.
The Design
Here’s the secret – Vionic shoes are designed by founder and Podiatrist, Phillip J. Vasyli. Understanding the mechanics of how the human feet work and the need most people have for orthotics to align and support feet, Orthoheel technology was developed. What’s really innovative is the orthotic heel is built right into these smart looking shoes, so there is no need to insert an orthotic lift. That makes travellers like myself very happy.
I would highly recommend these shoes to anyone who is on their feet. The Tide II are definitely making it into my suitcase.
For information about how the Orthaheel Technology works visit: Vionic
