Anne™ | Women's Breathable Platform Sandals

Enough sole to stand on, and nothing you have to buckle.

Summer sandals go wrong at the same three points. The first is the buckle: a strap is punched with a fixed set of holes, and once your instep needs more than the last one, the strap is set tighter than your foot and presses a line straight across the top of it. The second is the sole. A flat sandal has almost nothing between you and the pavement, so the heel and the ball of the foot take the whole load with no cushioning in between, and standing — in a queue, at a counter, around a market — is what ends the day early rather than walking. The third is that feet change size through the day. Heat and hours upright swell them, so a sandal that closed comfortably at nine in the morning is cutting in by four in the afternoon: the strap stays exactly where you set it while the foot does not. On a broader foot all three arrive sooner, because a rigid upper is drawn tight before it has covered the width it needs to cover.

Anne does away with straps altogether. The upper is made in one piece — a wide band across the forefoot, an open cut-out at the side, and a stretch band that runs behind the heel — so there is no buckle, no last hole to run out of and no strap edge to dig in. The band stretches over the instep and holds across its full width instead of one narrow line, and it keeps stretching as the foot swells rather than staying at the setting you chose that morning. Under the foot sits a thick white midsole, deeper at the heel and tapering towards the toe, with a contoured footbed moulded into the top of it, so the weight of standing goes into the sole rather than straight through your heel. The upper has open perforations across the whole band, which lets air through the top of the foot on the days you need it. And because the heel band holds the sandal on, your toes are not gripping to keep it there — which is the hidden work of wearing an open slide all day.

Why it works

• Stretch upper with no buckle or strap: it shapes to your instep and your width instead of asking you to find a hole that fits.
• One wide band across the forefoot: the hold is spread over the full width of the band rather than concentrated on a narrow strap edge.
• Thick cushioned midsole, deeper at the heel: takes the impact of standing and walking that a flat sandal passes straight into the foot.
• Contoured footbed with a raised rim around the heel: the foot sits down into the sole instead of sliding around on a flat surface.
• Stretch heel band: keeps the sandal on the foot, so your toes aren't doing the gripping a backless slide asks of them.
• Open perforated upper, open toe and a side cut-out: nothing encloses the foot at its widest points, and air moves through as you wear them.

Fit note

These are a slip-on with no adjustment, so the fit is whatever the upper gives — which is generous. On a broad forefoot the band sits comfortably wide; on a narrower foot it holds closer. Stretch uppers of this kind tend to relax with wear, so if you are between sizes the smaller of the two usually keeps the heel band snug rather than slipping. The sole has a low wedge, higher at the heel than at the toe, and it walks flatter than the side profile suggests. Six colourways, each with the footbed colour-matched to the upper and the same white midsole. Sizes 5 to 12.