The perfect all purpose shoe for everyday living and low impact work.

I wore them every day around my home and in my work shop, and around town weather permitting. I only took them off when I needed steel toed work boots or winter boots for outdoor winter activities, and while sleeping.

The leather uppers softened up a lot over the first month while they devloped creases. About 4 months in I felt I should add some conditioner to prevent the creases from turning into cracks. They didn't darken significantly but the toe collapsed nicely as they conformed to my foot shape. I treated them pretty rough so they got a few cuts and scrapes and stains. They are showing no signs of failure and appear as though they will last a lifetime. Because of the snug fit my feet tend to get sweaty in them if I don't wear socks so I was sure to air them out well every night and even put in front of the heater vent and on my boot dryer so the footbed didn't stay moist. When they were new they fit best barefoot but stretched out enough over the first month so I was able to wear regular thickness socks comfortably.

The barefoot lasts have too much volume for my feet, as I have used them to make previous pairs of footwear. So I lasted them without the footbeds and then when I installed the footbeds there was just barely enough volume to fit my feet comfortably. They were a bit too snug and a bit uncomfortable on the metatarsals of my left (larger) foot until they broke in. Now they fit great but I think they would probably be less sweaty if I had made them with a bit more volume to allow my feet to breathe better. Now they fit great as long as I don't wear super thick wool socks. The cork footbeds provide a lot of arch support and molded to my feet very well over the past 6 months. They are now my best fitting footwear.

I genuinely think they are the nicest looking rendition of this style of shoe I have seen. There are many others such as Viberg who make a very similar style but I think I got the cut just right for comfort and style. The cork footbeds also separate them from the others. The premium JR leather outsoles are holding up very well and should last for many years. The stitchdown construction ensures they will never fall apart or desalinate and accomodates the ability to perform a basic resole as the outsoles and heels are only cemented onto the leather midsoles. Cow lining provides a smooth interior but also acts as a second ply to reinforce and hold their shape so they are easy to insert your foot into. They don't fall off or require any effort to hold onto your feet while walking. All natural edge finishing with Tokonole and neutral wax protects the leather soles from absorbing water. There has been no splitting between any of the layers of the soles as they are stitched and well cemented. These mules are bomb proof inspite of having no nails in the construction.

I have been very hard on these soles, wearing them in every condition and they appear as though they will last forever. When they get a bit wet they burnish up when I get back onto carpet and develop a new protective outer skin. The edges maintained their nice clean finished edges a lot better than the upper and midsole leather which gets fibre-y but can easily be reburnished to make the edges look clean and shiny again. Leather soles provide a very natural and intuitive amount of slip. I have never had any traction issues.

The combo heels with the rubber on the rear was vital to these shoes not being slippery on carpet when new. The leather portion of the top lift has either compressed or worn down significantly but there is still plenty of life left in the rear rubber portion. I may need to replace the top lifts in a few years but they hardly show any uneven wear patterns compared to the heels on most of my boots. I was originally going to build these mules as flats but decided to add heels to significantly increase their elegance and I think it was effective.

I have had a few people reach out to ask me to build them a pair of these. I will need to improve my method of construction/assembly before I am ready to do that. Purchasing proper Birkenstock lasts would solve the extra technical difficulty of lasting them on modified lasts and transferring the uppers onto the footbeds, as they could be lasted directly onto proper lasts with the footbeds in place ensuring accurate fitment. Overall a very successful experiment and my favourite pair of shoes I am proud to wear and show off.