I decided to road-test a pair of Sneex for myself. From a purely aesthetic standpoint, sneaker heels are never something I would pick for myself—something I told Blakely when she asked me what I thought of the her iteration. I didn’t like sneaker heels when they were popular in the 2010s, and I don’t like them now. But, in the name of journalism, I was willing to set aside my personal tastes and give them a try to see if they were really as comfortable as advertised. I opted for the red and orange colorway with a pink Velcro strap, called the Tepper, which will be available in Sneex’s October drop. I wore them over the course of several days around the Condé Nast office, out to drinks with colleagues at the Tribeca stalwart The Odeon, and on my commute, which included a 10-minute walk to and from the train.
For the record, I am quite particular about heels, thanks in part to my own anatomy. I have extremely high arches and long toes that often get smushed in close-toed shoes. That said, I am not averse to heels: depending on the season, I will often wear a pair of open-toed mules with a 2.5-inch heel from The Row, or 3-inch block-heel Reformation boots for around the office.
While generally more comfortable than some other heels I own, I can’t say that wearing Sneex came without hiccups. The shoes are only available in whole sizing, which, for a brand with such an emphasis on comfort, seems like an oversight—especially for a shoe nine years in the making. I usually wear a size 7.5, so I tried both a 7 and an 8. In an 8, I found myself sliding around in the shoe and wobbling in the heel. To feel more secure, I tightened my Velcro strap to the point of numbness in my feet. In the 7s, my toes crowded at the toe box and I felt a lot of pressure on my heels, even when sitting down, although they were more comfortable to walk in and offered more ankle support than the 8s.
Blakely, too, has worn her Sneex on a handful of occasions. “The few times that I’ve worn it out publicly,” she says of her design, “I have people wanting to photograph it; I had to ask them not to. I had people, almost every time, want to write down the actual spelling of the brand name and the date that [they’re] coming out. I can’t think of [another] time that anybody—multiple people—stopped me and wanted to ask me what my shoe was.” Another common reaction, which took Blakely by surprise, was the commentary from men. She reports reactions ranging from “That’s the coolest shoe I’ve ever seen” to “What is that?” “There’s something about this being a sneaker vibe with the heel that men are really responding to,” she says. “They either ask me to make it for them in their size, or they say, ‘I cannot wait to give this to my wife.’ The men are very emotional about this shoe.”
