I’ve been a huge fan of The Drifter Leather since I tried their first shoes. I like that they offer so many styles of even more formal and dress shoes that I love to wear. The quality of this handmade and completely custom made shoes is not just amazing, but breathtaking. And their new sandals are another amazing work from The Drifter Leather.
The Drifter Leather is a brand well known for their handcrafted shoes with superb quality and exquisite designs. In the last few years, they have completely focused on natural footwear and have become one of the leading barefoot brands in the world. Ordering at their website is only possible every 4-6 weeks and it almost immediately fully booked. The brand has a big reputation therefore you need to be quick to get the best shoes.
The Drifter Leather shoes are handmade and people mostly decide to get custom size of their shoes. Therefore, the shoes will fit your foot shape and volume perfectly. I have many pairs of their shoes already, all bought with my own money. The styles I own are ballet flats and Ryder styles boots.
This year The Drifter Leather released three new styles of women sandals (Safita, Aventuras and T-strap) and two of them I’m going to review here.
Disclaimer: I decided to buy Safita sandals myself and Aventuras sandals The Drifter Leather sent me for review. But as always, all opinions expressed here are my own and I don’t receive any compensation if you choose to buy some for yourself.
1. General
- Brand: The Drifter Leather
- Model: Aventuras and Safita
- Colour: Aventuras in black and Safita in white/silver colour
- Tested on: woman, medium-wide feet, 26,3 cm long and 10 cm wide, low instep, skinny ankles
2. Material characteristics
2.1 Upper
The upper in Safita and Aventuras sandals is made from luxury Vachetta leather, one of the most luxurious hides. The leather is soft with almost buttery-to-the-touch finish.
The Vachetta leather is vegetable tanned and you can choose between 7 different colours for your sandals. Neutral colour is a raw state of Vachetta leather, but you can order any other shade too.
What is great with the Vachetta leather is as the time passes the leather becomes darker (begins to develop a patina) because of the exposure to the sun and oils from the skin. Probably the best result of aging you will get with neutral, tobacco or brown shades of leather.
My Aventuras sandals are made from black Vachetta leather with an added silver metallic buckle.
The straps are made in the way that there is a loop, made from two crossed strap, for holding your big toe in the place. The added strap in the middle hold your foot from sliding to the sides and with the adjustable strap you can make them really secure around your instep.
My Safita sandals are made from white Vachetta leather with an added silver leather strap in the front. This colour is completely custom made. I wished for this colour combination for a long time and I’m really grateful to The Drifter Leather that they managed to find a white leather for my sandals.
This model is more appropriate for those who don’t like anything between their toes and still want to enjoy in the secure fit of the sandals which can be achieved with an adjustable strap around your ankles.
2.2 Sole
The sole is made from 4 mm thick Vibram (Safita sandals) and 6 mm thick Vibram (Aventuras sandals) with added 2 mm thick leather.
For me, this Vibram sole used in The Drifter Leather sandals is just excellent for walking. I love this slightly squishy feeling under my foot, but still with an excellent ground feeling.
The sole if really flexible in any directions you want.
3. Sizing information
3.1 Length
The Drifter Leather offers a full customisation of their shoes and sandals. Therefore, the sandals will fit your foot shape perfectly.
When you are making an order, choose custom size and send them your foot tracing with all the measurements provided. If you are planning to order Aventuras sandals also mark with the dot the spot between the big toe and the second toe or just make a full drawing around your toes too. So, they can know to position the toe loop at the right place.
If your feet are low volume as mine or if you have skinny ankles don’t forget to add all those measurement too. Give them all the information needed to help them. More is better here.
You can see that my toes are at the end of the sandals. And this is how it should be. You don’t need more space in front of the toes in sandals, especially not in the custom made ones, otherwise you can trip. The total length of Aventuras sandals is 27 cm and the length of Safita sandals 27,3 cm. My foot length is 26,3 cm. Therefore, both sandals are made in recommended length 7-10 cm more than your foot length is.
3.2. Toebox shape & width
As the sandals are completely custom made, they will fit your foot shape perfectly. My feet are 10 cm wide and the sandals are around 11 cm wide. They fit me as the sandals should fit my foot.
3.3. Fit around the instep, heel and ankle
In my Aventuras sandals the middle strap was quite tight when I first tried them on, but the leather always stretches with wear and soon the strap become comfortable to wear.
Also, the strap in my Safita sandals looked too short for me and I was almost sure I need to send them back. But I wore them at home and after some time the leather strap stretched, so I can wear them comfortably at the first hole now.
But if somehow happens that the sandals don’t fit you as the way you hoped, don’t worry. You can send them back and The Drifter Leather will adjust them for you. Their customer service is just excellent and my shoes from previous orders arrived back perfect.
4. Comfort
Both sandals are made from buttery soft leather and they are extremely comfortable to wear. I enjoy wearing them and I love how the feel on my foot. I was totally amazed about them from the minute I tried them on for the first time.
If you are concerned that the strap around your big toe in Aventuras sandals will bother you, I suggest you to choose models without the strap. But for me they feel so soft around my big toe that I don’t even notice anything there while wearing them.
5. How to wear them?
Both sandals are designed so well that you can wear them with a lot of different clothes for different occasions.
As the name Aventuras suggest, the sandals are more “adventurous” style and they can be worn for even more walking of hiking around. The strap around the toes ensure better lateral stability and ensure proper walking even on uneven surfaces. Therefore, sandals with a strap between my toes are always my first choice when I tend to walk more.
Both Aventuras and Safita sandals work really well with more elegant clothes. And both can be worn with jeans or with more casual clothes too.
6. How to order, price & where to buy
The Drifter Leather is opened for orders every 4-6 weeks. They usually release a notice for opening a day or two before the ordering starts. If you follow me on my Instagram, I’ll inform you about that there too. And you must be quick. They are fully booked like in a minute.
If you are planning to order a custom size, choose that from a sizing menu and put it in your cart. If you wish a custom colour add this to your cart too. After you place an order they will contact you or you contact them. You will need to send them your foot measurements and give them additional information about your order. You have to wait around 4-6 weeks for your shoes to arrive.
Full price for Safita and Aventuras sandals is 100€. Colour-texture customisation service is additional 10€. You can buy sandals directly at their website.
7. Shipping info
The Drifter Leather ships worldwide. Shipping cost are calculated during the checkout process. Regarding the returns and exchanges please read their policies.
8. Where are they made?
The Drifter Leather is a small family company from Greece with a lot of experience in shoe making. All their shoes are completely hand-crafted and you can expect nothing less than a superb quality.
9. To sum up
New Safita and Aventuras sandals are another masterpiece from The Drifter Leather. If you struggle to find best sandals for your feet shape than custom made sandals are definitely something for you.
Superb quality, attractive design, the finest materials and excellent customer service are the words that tells everything about The Drifter Leather. For custom made shoes I choose the best. Do you?
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