Alright, so I finally got around to trying out those J. Crew suede flats. Been seeing them around, hearing bits and pieces, and you know how it is, curiosity gets the better of you. My old pair of run-around shoes were, well, let’s just say they’d seen better millennia, not just days. So, I figured, why not give these a whirl?
Getting them was straightforward enough. Popped online, found my size – or what I thought was my size, more on that later – and clicked buy. The waiting game began. When they finally arrived, the unboxing was, you know, an unboxing. Nice tissue paper, the smell of new suede, all that jazz. They looked pretty good, I’ll give them that. The color was spot on to what I saw online, which is always a bit of a dice roll, isn’t it?
First Wear and Uh-Ohs
So, I slipped them on. First impression? A bit snug. Like, really snug. I usually wear a solid 8, but these felt more like a 7 and a half trying to masquerade as an 8. I thought, “Okay, suede, it’ll stretch. It always stretches.” Famous last words, maybe.
I decided to take them for a proper test drive – a trip to the grocery store and a few errands. Nothing too strenuous. Let me tell you, by the end of hour one, my pinky toes were staging a protest. Not a full-blown riot, but definitely a sternly worded letter of complaint. The suede itself felt nice, soft even, but the structure around the toe box was less forgiving than I’d hoped for an initial wear.
And then, disaster struck. Or, well, a minor coffee spill. My fault, totally. Juggling keys, phone, and a hot latte is a recipe for… well, a stained suede flat. Suede, man. It’s like it attracts disasters. I did the frantic dabbing thing, but you know how it is. A faint mark remained, a battle scar from its first real outing.
You know, this whole shoe drama, it got me thinking. It’s funny the things we fuss over now. I remember years ago, I had this job, my first “real” office job after a string of part-time gigs. The dress code was “business casual,” which back then felt so grown-up and intimidating. I had this one pair of heels I wore almost every day because I thought they made me look professional. They were murder on my feet. Absolutely brutal. I’d be hobbling by lunchtime. My feet would be aching, throbbing, you name it. I’d dream of the moment I could kick them off under my desk.
The office itself was one of those old-school places. Fluorescent lights, cubicles that felt like tiny beige prisons. And the work? Stacks and stacks of paperwork. This was before everything was super digitized, or at least, that company hadn’t caught on yet. I’d be running around, delivering files, standing at the copier for what felt like hours. All in those awful, awful shoes. My manager, bless her heart, she was nice enough, but she was old school too. “Appearance is everything,” she’d say. I guess my aching feet didn’t count as part of the appearance.
I stuck it out for a couple of years, mostly because I didn’t know what else to do. The pay was barely enough to cover rent and my cheap, painful shoes. Looking back, it’s wild. We put up with so much, don’t we? Just to make ends meet or climb some imaginary ladder.
And now here I am, able to choose shoes for comfort and style, and I’m still getting it slightly wrong with the sizing, and spilling coffee on them. Life, eh? It’s a learning curve, even with something as simple as flats.
So, About These J. Crew Flats…
Anyway, back to the J. Crew situation. After that initial wear and the coffee incident, I did a bit of work on them. Used a suede brush, tried a stretcher for the toe box. It helped. A bit.
Here’s the lowdown as I see it:
- The Good: They do look smart. The suede quality, despite the stain magnet tendencies, feels decent for the price. The sole is flexible enough.
- The Not-So-Good: Sizing is definitely on the small side. If you’re between sizes, size UP. Seriously. They needed a proper breaking-in period, which wasn’t the cloud-like comfort I’d half-expected from some reviews. And yeah, suede is just high maintenance. No getting around that.
Would I buy them again? Hmm, tough one. If I got the sizing right, maybe. But I’d go in with my eyes wide open about the break-in and the delicate nature of suede. They’re not miracle shoes, but they’re not terrible either. Just… shoes. Another pair of shoes in a life filled with them, each with its own little story, I guess. Just like those awful heels from my first office job. At least these J. Crew ones won’t be giving me nightmares, just maybe a slight pinch if I wear them for too long before they fully surrender.
