Kendo Straw Zori

Good quality for the price

Posted by Unknown on 27th Mar 2016

I did not purchase these for kendo practice, so I cannot comment on that. I bought them for wearing as part of a costume, but I had to wear that costume for many consecutive hours, so I got a good feel for them WITHOUT tabi socks.

First, the feel of the foot pad and the floor grip aren't bad at all, I felt no issue with the straw pattern on my feet not any slippage issues with the floor grip. Second, while there does seem to be some bias in the toe strap indicating which foot each zori should be placed on, you could reasonably switch between feet without much issue. Third, like most slip on sandals, they will start to slap the back of your heel for awhile if you aren't used to wearing them; however, I found myself forgetting about that as I walked in them. Whether that meant I learned to walk properly or just ignored the slapping, I'm not sure, but either way the problem eventually solved itself.

I wore these for about 8 straight hours walking all over a convention center, and felt no problems with the toe strap quality, any pain in my heel (so the padding is good), and not once did the thing slip off.

That said, if you are looking for the traditional aspect of having your heel be slightly off of the back of the sandal, I would suggest getting a smaller than usual shoe size, as I wear an 11 and the 11 I was sent had a longer heel than I needed. It wasn't much of a problem, but I imagine it would irritate a traditionalist.

Otherwise, a great buy for the price as far as casual wear, but maybe find a different review if you intend to use them for kendo practice.