You press the strap flat with your thumb, the hook and loop bites, and the sandal is on before the coffee finishes dripping.

Summer mornings have no patience for buckles. Two straps close this one: one across the vamp, one around the ankle, each with its own hook and loop tab. You set the width once on the first wearing and after that it is press and go. The front is cut open across the toes in a fish mouth line, and the footbed underneath is a contoured brown panel traced with a loop of pale stitching that follows the shape of the foot.

Hold the pair up to daylight and the cutwork reads clearly. Small dashes are punched straight through the strap in four point clusters, and larger triangles are cut out along the strap edges. The straps meet over the instep in a shallow crossing V. Behind them the wedge climbs in stacked ridges under a wood grain finish, solid from the back of the heel forward to the arch with no hollow underneath.

Key Benefits

• Hook and loop, not laces. The vamp strap and the ankle strap each carry their own tab, so there is nothing to thread and nothing to retie when you kick them off at the door.
• Open fish mouth toe. The front is cut away across the toes rather than closed over them, which is the whole point of reaching for these instead of a trainer in July.
• Cutwork punched right through. The dashes are real openings, not a stamped texture. On the black pair the tan footbed shows through the holes, on the white pair the same holes read dark.
• A solid wedge, not a spike. The maker puts the wedge at 3 to 5 cm and describes it as medium height. It runs unbroken from heel to arch, so your weight sits on the whole sole rather than on a post.
• Three colourways, eight sizes. Black, white and red, in EU 36 through 43. One pair per order.

Best for: anyone who wants a summer sandal with an open toe and a bit of lift, who would rather press a strap shut than fight a buckle, and who wants to know the height before ordering rather than after.

Why It Works

The lift here is honest about where it sits. All of it is at the back: the wedge tapers forward and the front of the shoe comes down onto a thin sole, so this is a wedge rather than a platform, and the maker says medium height rather than high. The upper, the sole and the lining are all listed as PU by the maker, which is why the wedge carries a wood grain look without being wood, and why nothing here is sold to you as leather.

Quick Product Facts: PU upper, PU sole, PU lining per the maker; open fish mouth toe; two hook and loop straps, vamp and ankle; crossing straps with punched dash cutwork and triangular edge cutouts; wedge stated by the maker at 3 to 5 cm, medium height; contoured brown footbed with topstitching; wood grain look wedge with stacked ridges; black, white or red; EU 36 to 43; one pair per order.

How It Fits Your Routine

First wearing is where the hook and loop earns itself. Set the ankle strap to your own ankle and press the vamp strap down over the instep, and that becomes the position for the rest of the season. After that the pair goes on standing up, one hand on the wall, which is more than you can say for anything that laces.

Through the day the open toe and the punched straps do the work a closed shoe cannot. The cutwork is not decorative in the sealed sense: the dashes are cut through, so the straps are not a solid band across the foot on a hot afternoon.

At the end of the day wipe the PU upper down with a damp cloth rather than putting the pair anywhere near a machine. The maker does not print a care instruction for these, so treat the wood grain finish on the wedge as a surface to keep dry and out of scuffing range.

FAQ

Do these lace up? No. There is no lacing and there are no eyelets anywhere on this sandal. Both straps close with hook and loop, which is what the maker specifies and what the photographs show.

Are these a high heel, and is there a platform under the front? Neither. The maker states a 3 to 5 cm wedge and calls it medium height, and the profile photographs show the front of the sole coming down thin, with the lift held at the back.

Is the wedge real wood, and is the upper leather? No to both. The maker lists PU for the upper, the sole and the lining. The wedge carries a wood grain look, which is a finish rather than a material.

Does the beaded anklet in the photos come with them? No. The packing list is one pair of sandals. The anklet, and the clothing in the styled shots, are on the model only.