With the long awaited summer being upon us I wanted to do this little post about children’s sandals that are so loved in our family. One of the main reasons for this blog was to share the products for children that are non-toxic, comfortable and sustainably made. I found such items hard to find in US, unfortunately. I think it is sad that craftsmen and boutiques have hard time staying in business due to competition with big corporations that flood the market with cheap, low quality merchandise which is often toxic and was produced at great cost to our environment and people making them. So when I find yet another brand, store, maker who offers us a different choice — I’m particularly excited to get it for my children and to share it with others.
This is not a sponsored post in any way. Just sharing the good things, since they aren’t easy to find in the ocean of the internet.
Meet Pololo shoe brand
Thankfully to our favorite online store with all things organic “Little Spruce Organics” few years ago I’ve discovered this wonderful kids shoe brand from Germany – POLOLO. We own 5 pairs of their shoes at this point – 3 pairs of their “Primero” shoes for spring/fall (see this post) and 2 pairs of their “Fiesta” sandals (pictured here). We have been very happy with these two models. We also tried their “Playa” model, but found “Fiesta” to be much lighter and even more flexible. I think the “Pedro” model also would be great, as it is very similar to the “Primero” shoes, but we prefer the “Fiesta” for all the openess of that model.
What makes them great
- Lightweight!
- Very flexible soul
- Very soft leather, doesn’t require breaking in. Doesn’t cause any rubbing and blistering
- Extremely durable
- They are made of 100% vegetable tanned leather that also meets IVN Natural Lather Standard – European standard for sustainable and non-toxic leather goods.
Comparing Pololo to Salt Water sandals
Recently I had to look for sandals for Eleon, as unfortunately Little Spruce Organics doesn’t stock the smallest sizes (Eleon is 1 year old) of the ‘Fiesta’ sandals and it is becoming to warm for his Pedro shoes. I considered ordering some sandals from one of the overseas stores I like, like Mama Owl, but since it is hard to get the size right online without trying the shoes and return to England would be very pricey I decided to look again here in US. Sadly, the only thing I’m finding are the Salt Water sandals by HOY Shoe. I was very disappointed in them upon arrival due to very thick soul that doesn’t offer same flexibility as our favorite Pololo ‘Fiesta’ sandals. Also, the leather of the straps isn’t nearly as soft, so I’m concerned they’ll rub Eleon’s feet. I made few photos to compare.
Below on the left: Brand new Pololo ‘Fiesta’ in grey. Right: Salt Water in Navy and Poloo ‘Fiesta’ in red. You can see that even on the brand new ‘Fiesta’ sandals the leather is very fine and soft, without any breaking-in and sadly it is not the same for Salt Water shoes. So, I might have to get the sandals for him from Europe after all.
Thank you for reminding me about Pololo and Little Spruce! We have had great experiences with them, particularly with the baby slippers. Have you looked at Bobux sandals for your one-year-old? They have been a favorite of our small children for their leather sandals, but I just found your site when searching for sandals because our five-year-old has outgrown their leather boys’ sandals. They are much more affordable, especially for the youngest kids and they have a few sandals that work well for our extra wide toddler feet.