When I saw promo photos of the Everlane V Heel, I have to say, I felt kind of giddy. As much as I love Everlane, I don’t own any of their shoes. They’ve never worked out for me. The Street Shoe? Too narrow. The Modern Point Flat and Editor Heel? Uncomfortable. The Day Heel got close. It was the first Everlane shoe that felt comfortable on. But I didn’t love the way it looked.

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I very much love the way the V Heel looks though, with its sexy V-cut vamp and almond toe. (Pointed but not too pointy.) It’s got a vintage vibe that I adore.

And it looks like it has the same stable block heel as the Day Heel, which means that it might be comfortable too. We’re lucky to have an Everlane store here in San Francisco, so I stopped by to investigate.

The V Heel is only available in suede and it comes in four colors: black, mustard, light blue, and light pink. I’d love to see Everlane make this shoe in regular leather too. It has a 1.5″ heel, which is half an inch shorter than the Day Heel.

I tried on a pair of these Italian-made babies and damn, if it didn’t transform my wide-ish, not particularly attractive platypus feet into lovely, dainty feet.

You might be wondering how the V Heel compares to the V Slingback, a flat which Everlane released earlier this year. The vamp and almond toe are pretty much the same. (Looks like they’re made in the same Santa Maria a Monte factory in Italy as the slingbacks.) Slingbacks are not really my thing, though. (I don’t really like the look of slingbacks, plus they rarely stay put on my feet.)

In the V Heel, I tried my usual size and a half size up and they fit true to size. Even with my wide-ish feet, I felt my usual size fit best. It was tight in the toe box, but will probably stretch. I walked around a bit and … my feet didn’t hurt. They felt fine. The footbed feels more cushioned than the slingback version (though I wouldn’t describe it as particularly cushioned, if that makes sense) and the heel is very walkable. To me, it felt more comfortable than the Day Heel — and without the pesky elasticized back.

Could this possibly be true? Has Everlane finally made a pair of shoes that work for me? Hooray!

Even though I’m in love with this shoe, I didn’t buy these right there on the spot because well, I’ve made a rule for myself. In my ongoing attempt to buy less, back away from fast fashion, and be a better consumer, I now make myself go home and really think something over for a while before I buy it. (One exception to the rule is if I’m shopping at a place like Nordstrom Rack where there’s only one of an item and you have to snag it before someone else does. But even then, I think it over when I take the item home.)

Also, I already own quite a few shoes, so I told myself I had to take a shoe inventory first.

I have a feeling that I will be buying a pair though. (When I do, I will update this review.) What color should I get? Decisions, decisions.

UPDATE 10/14/18 — Well, I spent a few weeks thinking it over, decided that I still liked the V Heel, and felt that it would work well in my wardrobe, so I ordered the mustard. Shipping took a reasonable week or so.

The shoes arrived with a sticker and plastic layer on the bottom to protect it. They’re ethically made in a 45-person factory in Santa Maria a Monte, Italy, where they also make the V Slingback and the new Boss Flat, Boss Mule, and Square Toe Slingback.

I put them on, and boy, they were tight, especially in the toebox — at least for my slightly wide feet. So the first thing I did was put shoe stretchers in them overnight. I have two kinds and prefer the wooden one on the left, similar to this stretcher, for the simplicity. The other kind has an additional piece to stretch the shoe length wise, but I never have that problem with shoes. They I sprayed a suede protector on them to protect them from stains.

If you, like me, have wondered if suede protector actually does anything, the answer is yes, I think so. I was a bit nervous buying the mustard because I’m hard on my shoes and was afraid that I’d scuff them up badly. On a color like mustard yellow, that would show up easily.

Sure enough, I got a scuff within a few days of wearing them. I rubbed a little soapy water on the spot and poof, it went away! (I’m not sure if that’s what you’re supposed to do, but it worked for me. You can also remove dirt by gently brushing the shoe.) This is not definite proof, of course. I didn’t have a similar untreated shoe with the same scuff to test against, but I think the suede protector helped to make the scuff easier to remove.

Upon wearing the V Heel out for the first time post-stretching, they were still tight, though not as tight as when they first arrived. The first 30 minutes or so of wearing them, they were weirdly making my feet itch. (I think that was due to the tightness.) They also felt stiff, but they relaxed and loosened up a bit with wear.

I’ve been wearing them for about two weeks now. They did require some break in time. While they didn’t give me blisters, they came awfully close. One evening, when my feet were swollen as feet tend to be at the end of the day, I could feel my big toe on my left foot rubbing against the side. Luckily, I was close to home, so I averted a potential blister situation.

As public transit is my main mode of transit, I walk a fair amount. The heel height is quite walkable. I even ran half a block to catch a bus in them no problem. I love how they look and the yellow is surprisingly easy to wear with many colors. They look really cute with jeans and pants. They go with skirts and dresses too, but a version that was three-quarters of an inch to a full inch taller would be even better for that.

Some downsides: the sole on the V Heel is stiff (and makes a crisp clicking sound against the pavement) and that hasn’t really changed over time. It also doesn’t have great arch support, and I wonder if the stiffness of the sole has anything to do with that. This shoe is not an outlier for me in that way — lots of shoes feel like they lack arch support. So I’d say they’re average in that way. But if arch support is a big issue for you, these may not work for you. I added adhesive arch supports to them, but honestly, I don’t think it helps that much.

Still, I’m glad I got them. I really love the look. I’m able to wear them most of the day, though my arches are tired at the end of the day, so I wouldn’t wear them two days in a row. These would not be the shoes I’d pack for a week-long vacation where I had to walk a lot. But they’re a stylish option for a typical day around town and I find them fine for a light amount of walking.

I like them so much I might buy them in another color. Everlane probably won’t make these in an animal print — that’s not really their thing — but I’d love to see that.

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