This article is part of 国产吃瓜黑料鈥檚 Sandal Battle. Vote for your all-time favorite here.
There are a few things that immediately transport me back in time to my childhood summers: tie-dye shirts, a good swimming hole, and Tevas. Strapping on the Velcro in the morning during those halcyon days meant adventures lay ahead. With Tevas on my feet, I was ready for anything, from stomping through the neighborhood creek chasing crayfish to riding my BMX bike off the ramps in our driveway.
The feeling I get when wearing them now is no different than it was some 30 years ago. But today my adventures are a little different: I鈥檓 chasing my own children around the playground or biking to the farmers鈥 market. Thanks to my ($55), I still look good doing it.
These simple kicks are the best middle-of-road choice in the sport sandals category. They鈥檙e simple, not overbuilt, and鈥攁gainst all odds鈥攁re currently considered stylish by some wonderful tear in the time-space continuum of the fashion industry. I鈥檇 be lying if I said the latter didn鈥檛 matter to me. They鈥檙e classic, like above-the-knee shorts and a good push-broom mustache. Put them together and you鈥檝e got a 鈥70s dad look in all the best ways. (Teva started in the 1980s, but they just have the vibe of the previous decade鈥攑rove me wrong.)
They鈥檙e also my go-to sandal for raft trips and swimming hole hangs. The straps can be adjusted in seconds, which you have to do when they get wet and loosen up a little bit. If you get rocks or sand grains between your foot and the sandal, they鈥檙e easy to shake out. And the soles provide solid grip and are thick enough to offer protection from sharp rocks, but they鈥檙e also flexible enough to give you a solid feel of the ground beneath your feet. For someone like me with flat feet, the arch support is just enough, unlike sandals with thicker soles (ahem, Chacos, ahem), which feel like a steel bridge underneath my dogs.
To top it off, at $55, they鈥檙e a steal and about half the price of many other highly touted sport sandals鈥攏ot that you鈥檒l have to buy a new pair anytime soon鈥攎y current pair has lasted through five summers and will easily last another five. Teva tans for life!