Hiking-sandal realness
Plus summer-weight button ups, a packable linen suit, non-wack tabi sneakers & more on-demand recon
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Last month, Jonah and I (Erin) quietly celebrated 6 years spent publishing the rare miracle that is Blackbird Spyplane. Prominent among the things that make this sletter so special is the fact that we’re blessed with the greatest readership across all media. And in addition to trading Mach 3+ city tips in the Travel Chat, and posting thoughtful gems in the comments of every sletter we send out, the people of Spy Nation have also been known to ask for intel on slappers they’re seeking — and share it — in our “Classified SpyTalk Chat Room.”
Unlike other online chats, ours is focused entirely on recommendations. It is also singularly janky, because we basically hotwired a comment section into a “forum.” As a pro-friction sletter, we see this as a feature, not a bug.
Recently, several Spyfriends flowed through the chat with intel requests that inspired me to dig deep. Today I am sharing the recon here, including:
Outstanding hiking sandals, from elevated styles to swagged-out orthopedic energy to vibey vintage treasures & beyond
Unisex summer-weight button ups whose time has returned
A newly reissued non-wack tabi sneaker keeping the Tabi Wave alive
A chill, packable linen suit I wore to a friend’s birthday in NYC
Let’s get to it —
“Erin, I always love your shoe input. Any recs for elevated Teva-ish sandals? My reference point is Phoebe Philo’s Pace Runner” — Alena
Alena is referring to the new, preposterously $1400 platform “hiking” sandals from Phoebe Philo (pictured 1. below)… The antipathy I feel toward this shoe is not solely based on its price tag (although, c’mon) but, more so, because there is truly no shortage of real, performance-driven, orthopedic-vibed hiking sandals that you could wear while getting vert on dirt but which also just look sick in any context. The outdoor-footwear world is full of gems!
We are, to be clear, fans of “elevated” takes on “regs” styles. But as a fairly serious hiker, and as someone who consistently puts in 20K+ step days when I’m traveling, I know we can do so much better in terms of comfort, without sacrificing style, well below the $1k mark.
I much prefer the hiker realness of the 10+ (mostly unisex) pairs I’ve sourced below — including a couple of legit orthopedic sandals that I suspect might have been in Philo’s references: