We read every review we get.
The good ones, the ones that sting a little, the ones that make us fix something we didn't know was broken.
Most of the time, a review tells us how a shoe performed. How the sizing ran. Whether the leather lived up to what we promised.
And then every once in a while, one arrives that isn't really about the shoe at all. It's about a life. And what it means to finally, after a very long time, find something that fits.
We don't make shoes for us. We make them for you. And reviews like this one remind us exactly what that means.
The following is a review left on Trustpilot by Boswell, from the United States. We are publishing it exactly as he wrote it, because we want it to live here.
"I'm 84 years old with a service dog. My major exercise is walking with my dog. That's different from "walking the dog". Think about it.
Obviously I'm not putting the miles on that most people reading this do, but over my 84 years I have done so.
I had polio back in the dark ages and ended up with a very minor foot deformity. Not enough to keep me from going to war, but enough to make it impossible to find shoes that fit for more than a few months. As a result, in my 84 years I have probably purchased more shoes and boots than most people have purchased cups of coffee. Until these VIBAe.
Back in the 40s and early 50s there were ads for shoes that looked like this in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and other newspapers. They were called custom "therapy" or "corrective" shoes. My wife calls them "elf boots". I'm going with the elf boots. They actually fit, they feel wonderful on my feet, they last and last, and I believe I've bought every version that interests me, which is probably 3 or 4 types. I have worn them nonstop for the past year or so and have no plans to change that habit.
It's slightly depressing to find them only at the end of my journey, but at least my dog and I are going out in serious comfort. And we're spending some genuinely delightful time together.
I don't know if this is a review or simply a "Thank you" to some young folks in Finland, but I guess it doesn't matter. Take it as you like."
— Boswell
Boswell, we're taking it as both.
To everyone who has ever taken the time to write a review, whether it was three words or three paragraphs, we read them all. We share them with the team. We save the ones that hit different. We argue about sizing feedback at 9am on a Monday. We fix things because of you.
You don't have to write a review. You chose to. That means something to us, more than we probably say often enough.
So. Thank you. Really.
