Flip flop type sandals are a mainstay here in south Texas.  It gets so hot here I swear even the most ventilated tennis shoes feel to0 hot.  Going barefoot, however, is just asking to get the bottoms of your feet cooked.   I, however, have several foot issues that can make wearing flip flops a painful prospect. When I was given the opportunity to test drive a pair of new custom fit Wiivv sandals I jumped at the opportunity to see if I could finally find the paradise my feet have been looking for.  Read on to see how they worked out for me.

What is it?

Wiivv custom fit sandals are flip flop type sandals that are custom built using images of your feet.  They are designed specifically for your feet and are supposed to hug and support them without compromising style.

What’s in the box?

In the pictures above you can see the shoes come in a pretty nice white box.  It is a narrow shoe box since it is only holding a pair of flip flop type sandals. When you take the lid off you are presented with the second picture.  The turquoise pamphlet describes some of the features of the sandals that I will get into later.  Under that top piece of cardboard, the sandals lie.

The Ordering Process

The ordering process for the sandals is pretty cool.  You go on to their website and pick out the men’s or women’s custom fit sandal.    From there you can pick out the strap color and the arch color.  The straps come in 3 colors: black, navy and plum.  You also have the choice of brown leather if you want something a touch more dressy.   You just need to decide how you are going to use the sandals.  If you plan using them in or near water do not order the leather.    The arch color choices are black, grey, teal or coral.  I chose black.     After your color choices are complete, you simply add to the cart and pay for your order.  When you place your order you have to give your email address.  This is very important because they will send a ‘magic’ link to your email account.  Note – if you placed the order straight through their mobile app you will not get a link as you will be right in place to start the measuring process.

If you did not place the order through the mobile app you need to download the Wiivv application to your phone.   It supports both Android and iPhone.  Then you simply check your email and click on the link on your phone.  It will take you into the app where you will start the measuring process.  Basically, you are taking 2 sets of pictures.  The top of your feet and the sides of your feet where your arches are.  The first photo below demonstrates how you take a picture of the top of your foot.  You simply get an 8 1/2 by 11-inch piece of paper and place it against the wall.  You then stand barefooted with your feet shoulder width apart.  Place one foot where the heel is on the very back edge of the paper against the wall.  You will take a picture of both of your feet.

The next step is to take a picture of the side of your foot where the arch resides.  You place the phone against the wall like the picture below shows.  They give you the outline of a foot so you can position your foot properly.  When it lines up the picture is taken automatically.  I found it worked a lot like taking the picture of a check to deposit in the bank.

Design and Features

The Wiivvs are really a nice looking pair of sandals when viewed from the top.  You can see the leather looks really nice and it is nice and soft against the skin. The footbed is also nice and soft and has grooves cut in to help your feet stay in contact with the sandal.

The next shot below is showing the side of the sandal where the arch support is.  I do have pretty high arches.  I find this is where the sandals start to look different from your normal flip-flop.  I do not think it looks bad, but I would think if you were to wear these to the beach it might be really easy to get some sand in them.  The other thing I noticed is that this arch support does tend to make a bit of noise when walking.  It has gotten better over time as they break in, but when I first wore them, I found them rather noisy.

In that picture above you can see how the toe strap attaches to the side of the sandal.  It can be popped off like in the pictures below and set further forward or back as needed.  I found this a very nice feature.  This allowed me to tighten the strap by a single notch which keeps my foot from sliding too far forward in the sandal.

Another nice feature is that you can also change out the strap completely.  So maybe you want the leather for around town, but also want one of the other colors to wear around the beach.  In the picture above to the right on the side where the arch support is you can see a small strip of metal.  This is a handy dandy tool used to remove the strap from its mounting point on the front of the shoe.  In the picture below you can see the tool outside the storage slot.  You would pick it up and insert it right where the toe strap is mounted and turn it counter clockwise to unlock the strap.

The next two images show the sandals on my feet.  I swear these things feel pretty awesome.  They are really molded to my feet and do feel wonderful.  You can see how my left foot does have an issue with toe lean which I will blame on that poor foot for having to compensate for a broken ankle on the right foot for almost 2 months.  On the second picture, you can see how the arch support is hugging my high arch very nicely.   When I compare these sandals to another brand of sandals that I will often wear after a long day of being on my feet.  I find that my old favorites have a lot more cushion but the Wiivvs have a lot more support.  I think if I were going to have to spend a full day in flip flops I would have to choose the Wiivvs for their full foot support but I would still go with my other cushy sandals for an evening sitting around the campfire after a long day’s hike.

What I like

These sandals simply hug your feet.  Even if they do get wet it would take a lot for my foot to slip out of the sandal to the side.  I know I have washed my car in other sandals and had my foot slip off to the side of the sandal when wet.  I love the adjustability of the strap and the fact that you can change them out for other colors.

What can be improved

The only minor complaint I have about the sandal itself is the amount of noise it makes when walking.  Hopefully, as time goes by they will get quieter.

Price: $129.00
Where to buy: Wiivv
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Wiivv.

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Wiivv custom fit sandals review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 9, 2018 at 10:00 am.

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