Back-to-Preschool Shoe-tacular Review and Reader Discount!: Sweet Shoes

My gal was the lucky one who got to test-ride some adorable metallic bronze "Sweet" Sweet Janes from Sweet Shoes. This is a mom-run company based out of Santa Cruz, CA. The founder, Mandi Dana-Panzer felt that there is a plethora of cute options for girls clothing and shoes, but felt that "boys just aren't as lucky!" So, she took matters into her own hands and designed her own line of infant shoes that incorporated her local surf/skate vibe into the hip designs. Plus, she is committed to donating part of their sales to the Save the Children organization, http://www.savethechildren.org/. Not too shabby for a mother of three!

My gal loved showing off her cool golden shoes and I'm pretty sure she thought that they were comfy because she wasn't trying to take them off throughout the day like she does with other shoes. I'm a little bummed that #2 isn't a boy so we could try out some of the great Sweet Shoes boy offerings, but luckily I have two nephews who should dig them.

On to the review (based on a 4-star scale):

Design and Ease of Use **** - This shoe had elastic velcro straps, and incorporated elastic into the top back of the heels. These two design elements made the shoes super easy to take on and off, and prevented them from slipping off. They are pretty dang cute and stylish. I love both the metallic and felt offerings of the "Sweet" Sweet Janes design.

Materials and Durability *** - They are made of genuine suede leather and feature a foam layer in the sole for extra cushioning. Thus, they are totally flexible and bendy with rubber bumps built into the bottom of the sole so she wasn't sliding everywhere. They are machine washable and can be worn indoors and outdoors. I didn't see a need to throw them in the machine and found a wet cloth rub-down worked just fine for our style. However, like all suede/leather products they do show a worn or rubbed appearance after a while, particularly on the toes.

Unfortunately, all Sweet Shoes only go up to a size 12-18 mos or 4 1/2. However, I think that they run a little big because my gal is typically in a size 5 and the 12-18 mos size fit her just fine with a little room to grow.

Cost - $$, not crazy expensive
$ - under $20
$ - $20-$30
$ - $30-$40
$ - over $40

Overall - *** 1/2

Sweet Shoes and one of their on-line retailers, Urban Baby Runway would like to offer all Kid Buy Product readers a 20% discount on all Sweet Shoes orders through 9/30/08.

Just go to http://store.urbanbabyrunway.com/sweetshoes.html and enter in the discount code UBRSS when you make the purchase.