Sneak Peek of Our Newest Shoe Design

Although we’re still working on finishing the actual prototype, we’re so excited about our newest design that we want to give you a sneak peek. Here’s what Mala’s fourth pair of flats is going to look like:

Our New Snakeskin Print Leather Flats

Prior to officially launching Mala to the world, we spent a lot of time thinking about how many designs we wanted to start with. While we had a mountain of design ideas, we ultimately decided that three colors was the ideal mix.

Now that our first three colors of leather flats are out in the world and being worn by our awesome customers, we’ve gotten lots of great feedback. Based on that feedback, we decided that a design featuring a print was the perfect choice for our fourth pair.

Our new design will feature the same high-quality leather as our black, red and nude flats. But instead of a solid color, it will be a black & white snakeskin print. The luxurious snakeskin print will be accented by a black toe, as well as an elegant black border around the top.

The inside of the flats will have the same beautiful tan leather lining as our Darby nude flats. And of course, this new pair of Mala flats will feature the leather sole that makes our shoes so comfortable to wear.

Mala Makes The Best Flats for Work

In theory, flats are the perfect shoes to wear at work. But as many of us have learned the hard way, there are a lot of flats that aren’t designed with professional women in mind. From soles that fall apart after just a few months of walking to shapes that squeeze your feet for eight hours a day, there are a lot of flats that make your feet hurt just as badly as heels do.

When we started designing our Alex black flats, our goal was to create a pair of flats that felt as great as they looked. Accomplishing that goal wasn’t easy, but we did it. The cute and timeless style of all of our flats means it’s easy to match them with any outfit you want to wear to work. On top of that, here are the other reasons we have the best flats for work:

Mala’s Leather Flats Adapt to the Unique Shape of Your Feet

Our flats are fully made from high quality leather. In addition to being both very durable and surprisingly light, the trait that makes leather the perfect material for shoes is it actually adapts to the unique shape of feet. Since over half of all women have feet that differ in size or shape, having a material that can adapt to these differences is crucial.

After wearing them just a couple of times, your pair of Mala flats will be perfectly molded to every little detail of your feet. An added benefit of having your feet enveloped by leather is they’ll be able to breathe. So even if your day involves lots of walking or standing, your feet will stay cool and ventilated.

The Best Flats for Work Have the Support Your Feet Crave

When we say our flats are completely constructed from leather, we mean it. That includes leather soles. We definitely love how elegant and pretty leather soles look. Just as importantly, they provide great support. Add to that the soft insole that’s inside of our flats, and you have exactly what your feet need to feel supported throughout the entire day.

Made By Hand Means Made to Last

5 Reasons Why Women's Leather Sole Shoes Are The Best

When we set out to create the perfect flats, one of the design decisions we had to make was between rubber and leather soles. Rubber soles are found on a wide range of women’s and men’s shoes, while leather soles are generally reserved for expensive designer shoes.

After lots of research and testing, we determined that leather soles were the right option for our flats. Here are the exact reasons why we made that decision:

1. Leather Soles Are Very Durable

Quality leather is a material that lasts, and leather soles are no exception. We design and test our shoes in Brooklyn, New York to ensure they can handle the demands of a daily commute that involves lots of walking. We know from personally wearing our flats every single day that the leather soles are very durable.

2. They Look Great

Mala's flats are made to last, which is why we focus on designs that aren’t going to be out of style a season from now. Leather soles give our flats a timeless elegance and sophistication that’s simply not possible with the bulky look that a rubber sole creates.

3. Leather Sole Shoes Are Highly Breathable

Another trait that makes leather such an amazing material is it’s highly breathable. That’s just as true for the leather upper of our flats as it is for the sole. So if you’re like us and usually find that shoes make your feet sweat, you’ll be amazed by how cool and fresh your feet stay in a pair of Mala flats.

4.They’re Extremely Comfortable

We design shoes for women who want to look great without punishing their feet. When you’re at work or running errands with your kids, you don’t want to be distracted by shoes that are hurting your feet. The leather soles we use play a key role in why our flats are so comfortable.

5. Leather Soles Get Even Better With Time

Because the soles and the rest of our flats are made from leather, they will form to the unique traits of your feet. LIke your favorite pair of jeans, Mala flats are the shoes you’ll truly enjoy slipping on for years to come.

But Aren’t Women's Leather Sole Shoes Slippery?

Although leather soles are very durable, look great, are highly breathable, extremely comfortable and get even better with time, they do have one shortcoming. The shortcoming of leather soles is they’re slippery.

When we’re walking around New York, we encounter everything from sidewalk spills to sudden downpours of rain. So we knew from the beginning of our design process that Mala soles needed to handle those types of elements. Fortunately, we came up with an elegant way to make our leather soles slip-resistant.

By putting a small piece of rubber on the heel of our flats, we were able to eliminate the slippery nature of leather soles while still retaining all the other features that make these soles so great!

If you want to enjoy all the benefits that Mala's leather sole shoes have to offer, enter your email to save $10 on your first black, red, nude or snakeskin print pair:

Movie Outfits We Love

I am a cinephile at heart. Of all the movies I love, Noah Baumbach’s are at the top of my list. I am definitely not a movie critic, but if there’s something I can talk about, it’s clothes. I want to dig into the different outfits in three truly awesome movies.

Frances Ha

I love, love, absolutely love Frances’ effortless style! My favorite look in this movie is her floral dress, black tights, and the classic black leather jacket. This is a timeless outfit, she could have worn it in the 80’s, she could have worn it in the 90’s, and she most definitely could wear it now- and rock it! The only one thing that I would change? I would wear a pair of Alex black flats!

While We’re Young

Darby is the epitome of boho style. In fact, it seems like Darby is a character right out of a 60’s movie. She wears floral prints, maxi skirts, turtlenecks, knit cardigans and oversized bags. There’s so much awesomeness that it’s too much just to mention one outfit alone. And to top things off, she sells ice cream for a living!

Mistress America

What I love about Brooke’s style in Mistress America is the selection of classic pieces like white and black silk shirts and high waisted bottoms. Although the character was nowhere close to being a mature women, she definitely tried to be dressed as one. Also, this post wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the quirky teenager Tracy. She has her own take on “classic” style with lots of flannel shirts. This picture above sums it all up!

5 Amazingly Easy Uses of Baking Soda

Why spend hundreds of dollars on beauty products when you can use baking soda and get the same or even better results? In a previous post on how to prevent smelly feet, I mentioned baking soda was one of my favorite products.

The reason is I consider it a very smart product, and here you will see why! These are 5 easy uses of baking soda that deliver crazy good results.

1. You can use baking soda as a teeth whitener

Mix 2 teaspoons of hydrogen peroxide and 3 teaspoons of baking soda until you get a paste. If you want to add some  flavor to it, mix in a bit of mint toothpaste. Brush your teeth in circular motions, and let it sit for 2 minutes. Make sure to rinse and brush your teeth with your regular toothpaste afterwards.

2. Restore the tone of your underarms

I hate the dark spots that I get on my underarms! When your skin gets irritated from shaving, this is exactly what happens. It is recommended to wax or plug instead of shaving, but honestly I don’t have the time or will (it hurts!) to do this. What you can do is mix the juice of a lime with baking soda to create a paste. Apply it to your underarms and let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Rinse it thoroughly after. This works miracles!

3. Use it as shoe powder to prevent smelly feet

Simply shake baking soda into your shoes to get rid of bad odor. Leave it overnight and do this at least once or twice a week. Make sure to shake off the excess powder before wearing your shoes again.

4. Use baking soda to relieve irritated skin  

After a day of sunbathing at the beach, you might as well use some baking soda to relieve your skin. Add a cup of baking soda to your bath to soften your skin irritation and make it feel much better.

5. Use it as an exfoliating scrub

This is really easy; just mix 3 parts of baking soda to 1 part water. Gently rub your face or body in circular motions with the paste and rinse thoroughly after.