The Greta Ballet Flat (Women)

I owned a pair of the first edition Greta flats and they were made of soft, supple, gorgeous leather. So naturally I ordered another pair when mine were starting to wear out. Unfortunately, Madewell has updated their flats to use far cheaper leather and it is incredibly obvious that they were trying to cut costs by doing this. See photos that demonstrate the quality difference. Madewell has been reducing their quality for years and honestly at this point, they’re dead to me.

Really wanted to like these shoes. I have a high arch and high instep, and ballet flats without a strap (i.e. not a Mary Jane style) won’t stay on my feet. These are really cute and come in lots of nice colors, but the toe box is shallow/tapered and I can tell the tops of my toes will get blisters. The length seems a bit short also. I’ve learned the hard way with another pair of similar shoes that these areas probably won’t stretch out and get better. A Nordstrom shoe specialist explained that shoes will stretch going across the foot, but not in the length (and I’m assuming not over the top of the toes, lol). Sadly, will be returning these.

These are super cute and comfy. The leather is soft. I wore these for literally 1 hour, to and from a parking lot into an appointment and back and noticed a chunk of leather peeling. I didn’t rub up against anything so no clue how it happened and it’s never happened to a pair of shoes I’ve owned. Contacted customer service and was green lighted to return them, thank goodness. I’m so bummed!

Flats are cute but they are wrinkly out of the box? They don’t look worn but it makes me think they will just get worse as time goes on. Also wanted to love the chocolate raisin color but it had more of a purple tint than I expected. Top of toes might rub so be careful, true to size otherwise!