6 december, 2000
my feet are in good hands
A few years ago, I was visiting Asheville, NC, and strolling by Lexington Avenue's ecelectic little shoppes for awhile. For those of you who have never been, Asheville is a regular hub of New Age practice, organic and vegetarian restaurants, and more...earthly pursuits. In downtown, at least, Birkenstocks are practically the uniform. Carrot juice is available from multiple corner shoppes. I don't have exact statistics, but I think it's safe to say that the ratio of massage therapists to regular citizens is pretty high. You get my drift. I dig Asheville.
So, I decide to pop into Mystic Eye, which is a creative and earth-based clothing store. They've got hemp, linen, handmade stuff -- this isn't the place to look for Levis or polyester stretch, mmkay? In front of the store, they had a shoe display that caught my eye. Now, I'm neither here nor there on Birkenstocks for other people. Unfortunately, they've never worked too well for me because I've got really skinny feet. Like, I'm punching extra holes in the Birks just to keep them on. So it always felt like I was walking around in cereal bowls.
On this rack, however, were no Birks. Instead, there were a number of smooth-grained, sturdy-looking leather jobbies that met the Big Three Kim Shoe Requirements:
1. Narrow
2. Comfy
3. Not too ugly
In particular, I noticed a pair of Mary-Jane-looking shoes. I like those a lot, always have. They're all the shoe you need, you know? I ask the nice lady for a 10, and darn if they don't feel swell. In fact, this shoe feels as if it was made to fit only my foot, with it's too-narrow heel, way-high arch, and none of that weird pointy-toe crap. Note to all you other bipeds out there: you're toes do not come to a point. Liberate your piggies! Anyway, the price tag on these was pretty high, but seemed well worth it. These shoes were handmade in Michigan, guaranteed, and I could get the shoe resoled and reconditioned for only $30 whenever it wore out. That was in 1995.
Fast-forward to nearly 2001, and I am just sending my Fernand shoes to the Southern Peninsula of Michigan to be reconditioned. Suffice it to say that these things have literally been all over the world. They are my daily shoes, my work shoes, my travelling shoes. I wear them with and without socks, dresses, slacks, and ratty old shorts. They've endured about as much wear and tear as a person can inflict on them, and it took me five years to need a new sole. The leather still looks pretty good, too, as I occasionally slap some leather lotion on there and keep them clean. But still. Five years, folks. It's a deal.
Needless to say, I've got another pair of Fernand Shoes in black, and they get the same daily treatment as the brown ones do. Over the years, I've run into a few Fernand devotees. I was walking through Greenwich Village in NYC, in fact, a couple of years ago when a lady stopped me. "Nice shoes!" she exclaimed, pointing my eye downward to her own pair. "Aren't these the best shoes you ever had? I'll never go back!" she continued. And she's right. While I certainly own my fair share of shoes, I've never actually felt loyalty to one manufacturer, until I discovered Steven Fernand.
I was lucky to have found a pair at retail. Fernand's only business now is hand-crafting shoes for individual feet. You need to either Aurora Shoe Company, but they differed on business practices and Steven sold his interest in the company. TAKE IT FROM SOMEONE WHO LEARNED THE HARD WAY (me), do not order from Aurora. The quality isn't even close. Plus, you call Fernand, chances are you'll speak with Steven or one of his crafters one-on-one.
And tell them you found out about them from lionessden.com. You want American craftsmanship, ya gotta support it. Trust me, your little piggies will thank you for not trying to thread your toes through a needle again.
Fernand Shoes
www.fernandfootwear.com
800.419.8621
Benzonia, MI