BROOKE | ORTHOPEDIC SANDALS

Open like a slide, held on well enough that your toes can stop working.

A slide is the easiest shoe in the world to put on and one of the hardest to actually walk in. With nothing behind the heel, the single band across the instep is the only thing keeping the sandal attached to you, which means it has to sit tight to do anything at all. On a broader instep, a band that does not give has two options and both are bad: press a line across the top of the foot, or let the foot slide forward until the toes hang over the front edge. Either way you compensate the same way — curling your toes with every step so the thing does not fly off. Do that for a day and you feel it that night, in the arch and across the top of the foot. Heat makes all of it worse. Feet swell and sweat, a band that cannot breathe gets tighter as the afternoon goes on, the footbed gets slippery underneath, and a flat hard slide sole sends every step straight back up through the heel because there is nothing between you and the pavement but a few millimetres of hard sole.

Brooke spreads that work across the whole upper instead of loading it all onto one band. A loop sits around the big toe and anchors the front of the foot to the sandal — that is the job your toes were doing, now done by the shoe, so you can walk with the foot relaxed. Behind it, a wide breathable band across the instep and a narrower crossover band beneath it split the hold between two separate points, which means neither one has to be tight to work. Both have an open, breathable weave, so air moves straight through the upper and the fabric gives in the width where a solid strap would simply press. Underneath, the footbed is moulded rather than flat, with a raised lip running around the edge and a shallow dish at the heel, so the heel sits down into the sole instead of perched on top of it, and the ribbed outsole carries a little extra height at the back so you are not standing dead flat.

Why it works

• Big-toe loop — anchors the front of the foot so you stop gripping with your toes to keep the sandal on
• Two-point hold — a wide instep band plus a crossover band share the job, so neither one has to be tight to work
• Open-weave breathable upper — air moves through it, and the fabric gives across the width instead of pressing into it
• Bound edges on every strap — the band is finished with a rolled binding, so there is no raw edge sitting against skin
• Moulded footbed with a shallow heel dish — the heel sits into the sole rather than flat on top of it
• Ribbed outsole with a slight heel rise — grip underfoot and a small lift at the back instead of standing dead flat

Fit note

There is no adjustable fastening on Brooke, so the fit is whatever the upper gives — and it gives across the width, not the length. Between sizes, take the larger one: that also leaves the toe loop sitting around the base of the big toe instead of pulling at it. If you have not worn a toe-loop sandal before, expect it to feel present for the first day or two; the loop is soft and breathable with a bound edge rather than a hard thong, and it settles. Worth knowing if your instep is high: the instep band is generous but fixed, so it is the upper that adapts, not the strap. The back is fully open, which makes these an errands-and-walking sandal rather than anything to run in. Sizes 5 (EU36) to 12 (EU43).