Breezy summer barefoot sandals for casual and low-key dressing up? Yes, please! Seaside bridges the gap with a classic design, soft cotton, and a comfortable cork footbed to work with a wide range of wardrobe options and fit your minimalist shoe needs.
Disclaimer: Seaside in black was gifted for review, but I have also bought pink myself. All thoughts about any of them are my own. I am an affiliate of Feelgrounds, so if you use any of my links to purchase you will support what I do, which is greatly appreciated.
Sections
Technical specifications
- Upper: Cotton
- Sole: Rubber
- Footbed: Cork
- Stack height: 7 mm
- Vegan
- Color – Black, with 5 additional colors available
Company
Feelgrounds arrived on the scene in 2019 with a crowdfunding campaign but hasn’t stopped to rest on their success. Rather, they have updated their soles, brought us a winter boot, released these sandals, and give us glimpses of in-progress designs on their Instagram. They are “young, dynamic, and passionate” and it shows. Read all about them here.
Appearance
These look very much like a casual Birkenstocks model, only we get the great looks from Feelgrounds without the thick sole and unnecessary arch support. Love it!
They come in 6 colors – the black you see here, plus pink, red, brown, black, grey, and olive. They go all the way up the size chart to cover both men and women and are marketed as unisex sandals. I’ve seen arguments break out about that – are they unisex? are they feminine? To me, it doesn’t matter. Buy what you like, and don’t buy what you don’t like, whatever your size or gender. Problem solved!
I went with a classic black so I could wear them with anything, but I really love 4 of the colors (not personally much for olive or grey in sandals). While the shoes are neutral, I’ve had some fun with the clothes to match.
Especially this one:
This is the first time I’ve been without my wig on my blog. Maybe the only, maybe the first of many. Who knows?
I like the contrasting footbed here, but I know some would prefer a black footbed. I think this is the best of both worlds with a bit of dressy or casual potential, but that’s up to you and your wardrobe.
Fit
Feelgrounds Seaside is designed for medium- and low-volume feet. Full stop. Don’t skip that information. It’s a hard truth. But if you’re high volume, I have sizing advice for you below. That’s me, and you can see I’m wearing them anyway. Be sure to read thoroughly to see if that’s the right advice for you.
These are very wide, which I love, but I want to be clear in case you have especially narrow feet. The length is also fairly distributed across the front and back for me so neither looks excessive.
The strapping is made of cotton and even on high-volume feet does not dig anywhere (not to say it doesn’t leave a mark if it’s tighter) because it is shaped well for feet.
The back of the strap has extra padding for comfort as a nice touch.
Don’t get hypercritical on the pictures, by the way. Foot moved a couple of mms? One area will look excessive. Phone a little too close? Lens distortion extends the front, like it did a bit on the right picture above. As I indicate, I am sized up, and there is extra length, but it is not as excessive as some pictures can lead you to believe. This is one of my longest reviews ever, so make sure to read the text too. 🙂
Sizing
Feelgrounds has awesome sizing information with full lengths and widths on every size. I personally favor using cm like this:
And I get the exact length listed, measuring from the center of the heel to the center of where the big toe sits. It’s always great when you can trust the sizing chart. So, if you don’t already know your measurements, get measuring (tips here) and compare to the chart to get your optimal size. According to some research that is 12 mm of extra space, but with these being sandals, you can go smaller if your foot shape is a good match and you know you have an average or low volume instep.
As mentioned above, the fit of these is for medium-volume feet, so if you want Seaside and you’re on the higher end of volume at the instep, then you’re going to have to size up, which is what I’ve done. Here are my specific thoughts on that:
- This means extra length, period. For me, I’m at 1.7 extra cm on my larger foot and even more on the smaller. If your toes are really short (no dissing, just saying) then you may find far too much room at the front of the shoe if you do this. If yours are long like mine, you will find the extra length fairly evenly distributed between the front and back of the shoes.
- Extra length can affect gait. I don’t find that happening because the snugness of the instep strap keeps them firmly in place. It could still happen, but it’s more likely to happen if there is droop or floppiness, which is not the case here.
- There is a portion of elastic on the inside of the upper strap, right at the instep. It’s pretty strong, so while it gives you the opportunity to flex, it’s much more about holding the strap against your foot well, than actually giving you a huge range of volume options.
- They have stretched a bit already, most likely at that elastic and probably more because I’m high volume. If your feet are low volume and you’re not exerting much force on that elastic, it’s not going to show much if any stretch. Those of us with high-volume feet have a bit of a different experience in several areas. This small amount of stretch has made it easier to get the shoes settled (less finagling, just one quick adjustment).
- Shoes must always be secured to muscle. My high volume is muscle in most areas, but I severely sprained my left foot when I was in the 8th grade and have a lot of scar tissue/puffiness right where this strap lays. It looks like it digs in there in pictures, but it’s not the least bit uncomfortable. With that said, though, if your larger feet have puffy zones (no judgment!) then expect to see evidence you wore these shoes when you take them off.
- Sizing up does mean you have to redo where the ankle strap falls and unfortunately this puts the lovely padding off-center. However, I honestly don’t even notice that. The strap itself is comfortable and while I would love for the padding to be centered as intended, it doesn’t impact my fit or enjoyment. Of note, though, the velcro does not cover even half the strap. I may be adding more myself to get a really secure lock across more velcro, but I haven’t had any incidents of it coming loose, even though I’m connecting it in a different manner than intended by design.
On the left, very hard to photograph, is the subtle padding at the back of the heel. On the right, the velcro. The bottoms are lined up to show that you get a little extra on the outer portion for adjustability. But everything below the bottom of the V has no velcro.
Here is the max tightness you can achieve and still have velcro connected. I love that it still looks good, even when so adjusted. You will need this if you size up, and you may need it if you have thin ankles.
To wrap up my longest sizing section ever, I think, in short:
- Average instep: measure and follow the chart
- Higher instep: you must size up
How do they feel?
They feel great, especially the footbed. I love the addition of cork not just for the looks, but it’s a sustainable natural material and really comfortable to walk on.
They’re a touch heavier than most barefoot dress sandals but lighter than anything but the thinnest outdoors options.
The sandals hold very firmly on me (obviously) and don’t slide. I do notice the extra length and it may be possible to trim the cork, which has a larger footprint than the sole, but I will likely never try. They’re too cute to risk hurting, to me.
At the toe post, some sandals can be quite bulky, but this is thin and I don’t even notice it. I also find it even a tad taller than I need, but that could be a function of the fact I’m in size 44.
Lastly, as we all want and need, they are fully flexible:
Cleaning and Care
Feelgrounds includes care instructions under the Details section of every product and for this one you should use a soft brush and not soak the shoes. You can spray the materials for stain/odor protection. It would not be recommended to soak them in water, and definitely not machine wash or dry them.
Purchasing and Returns
The Seaside model from Feelgrounds has been released in 2021 under a limited stock with a pre-order, and sizes are going out of stock fast. They won’t do a full restock this year, but if your color/size are out of stock, you can sign up for notifications if they do a returns restock from people who decided not to keep them after all. Otherwise, bookmark this and come back in 2022 when they should have the model available for the summer (northern hemisphere) season.
If your size is in stock, grab them now for $89 US + shipping. They do accept returns and their full policies are here.
Final thoughts
If you loved a similar Birkenstock model in the past, these are great!
If you want casual cross-over shoes for beach, shops, dining, daily wear, these are great!
I wish they had an adjustable instep. I doubt that’s possible with this exact style, and hopefully they’ll have one in the future that is more friendly to different volumes. But I’m not sad to have them in a larger size, and glad they work out well even though that does leave more sole than needed in all directions.
It makes me happy that Feelgrounds continues to expand their designs and keeps giving us cool, easy-wearing barefoot shoes. As I mentioned above, I already turned around and bought a second pair, and am only sad my size was already sold out in the gorgeous red color. Maybe next year!
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