Reviewed: SOLE flips

I dream of a house with its own shoe room, one day. Even when my pregnant feet have puffed up so much that a puffer fish would have been jealous, I still found myself checking out the shoe sales online.

For now, I’m a bit restricted. Not only are heels out but the aforementioned swollen feet mean that wedging myself into most of my collection isn’t doable. So I’ve been splitting my time between my comfy FitFlops and a trusty 10-year-old pair of trainers for rainy days. Until I was asked to review SOLE’s flipflops.

As your arches collapse slightly with the added weight of the bump and the effects of the hormone relaxin, you really need to be wearing something supportive during pregnancy. Basic flipflops are simply too flimsy, and won’t help protect against problems like plantar fasciitis and heel spurs, but the SOLE versions are slightly shaped, promising to give your foot a neutral base so it supports your knees, back and hips and balances your posture.

In reality, that means a foot-sized space to slide into – although without the in-built low-level toning wobble that you get from something like FitFlops – which then moulds itself even more as you break them in.

I was given two pairs from the range – the casual flips, £57, in black, which have a cork insole and come in mostly neutral colours, and the sport versions, £50, in plum, which have some brighter shades and look more, well, sporty (and unexpectedly ended up being my favourites of the two).

Even if you don’t have fatter-than-usual feet, expect to spend the first week wearing them in while the straps stretch, although you can speed the process along slightly by stretching them by hand.

Mine definitely felt very tight when I first put them on, especially the sport ones which are designed to start snug, but after a bit of judicious tugging and regularly wearing them around the house, I definitely felt a difference – just don’t plan a long walk on day one. The cork in the casual flips also softens the more you trudge around on them.

They’re getting comfier every day, and look good in an understated way. And while they don’t have the all-in-one girly glam but comfy combo of the FitFlops, I can certainly imagine throwing them into a suitcase for long walks around a city, when I’m looking for something supportive.

Now I just have to cross my fingers that after the due date, my feet will go back to their normal selves once again…