Bleh.
I wear the socks because my feet are hot in spite of the sandles. Hot feet = sweaty feet, which stick to the sandles and sandles become quite funky after a few days of wear. Socks absorb one day worth of funkiness and can then be washed.
I loves me some ugly shoes!
“Marginally more attractive than Crocs” is a description of a festering sore, not an excuse to buy Birkenstocks. 
I and a number of other people I know have exactly the same problem at the start of every summer when we break out the Birk sandals. (I wear Birk shoes throughout the year, but I still get the early-season sandal blisters.) Just go ahead and let the blisters form, then wait till they heal most of the way and wear the Birks again. You’ll soon develop thicker skin (not necessarily calluses, though) at the points where you were blistering. Essentially, the Birks just put pressure at different spots than regular shoes, so your skin has to get used to it.
I hope to heck they’re comfortable, as ugly as they are. They are the quintessential way to say: “I don’t care how my feet look. I would wrap my feet in dog shit if it was comfy enough.”
Anybody else grow up calling Birks “Jerusalem Cruisers”?
Sure, they’re ugly, but you’ll get my Birks when you pry them off my cold, dead, stinky feet 
I wear them all the time around the house. When we go on vacation, they’re the last thing to get tossed in the bag and the first thing to be unpacked when we arrive. They are the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever worn.
While I don’t wear Birkenstocks, I do wear Teva sandals in summer, and comfortable loafers otherwise. To me, comfy shoes mean “I don’t need to torture my feet, injure my knees and back, and feel painful only in order to perform to the male fashion ideal that attractive women wear high heels. My feet have a natural shape, and my shoes have to fit them, not the other way round.”
And if you want comfy, it’s not dog shit - it’s cow shit! Fresh, of course, and you put your bare feet in, to warm them up. Of course, you can’t walk around, but that’s a minor problem…
Jesus Joggers. 
I put mine on after a week of wearing Proper Shoes for work. I couldn’t believe how good they felt.
Mmmmmmm.
But they sure are ugly as sin.
They’re ugly, but that’s not what I dislike about them. What I dislike is the fact that typically, the owners of Birkenstocks love them so much that they wear them EVERYWHERE, even (1) where they’re not really appropriate, and (2) when the wearer has feet that the rest of the world doesn’t really need to see, thank you very much.
There is a time and place for everything, but many Birk wearers profess their devotion to them on a scale that rivals Scientologists, and they can’t imagine putting their feet in anything else. Even, say, around the office, or in church, or at a wedding or funeral, for instance. They’re sandals, people. Give them a rest from time to time.
Not me. I have approximately 50 or so pairs of shoes, and I wear them with outfits I think they look good with. I wear them mostly with shorts and skirts.
Diana, do you think these are ugly? Birk Florida I have these, as well as the two-strap Arizona, but in deep wine/purple.
Sorry, but yes, I think they’re ugly. In my opinion, the closest thing that Birk makes to a not-screamingly-hideous shoe is the Madrid Birko-Flor, and that’s still pretty damned ugly.
I’m with you there, or at least, I can’t disagree with you. My mother has several pair of Birks that she wear pretty much everywhere. Now, she keeps her feet nice and pedicured, so it’s at least not a horrific sight. And the pair she wears most often is one of the more feminine styles. But still. The only time I’ve seen her out of them in the past three years is at the courthouse, where she will wear heels to go with her suit. But that’s like three days out of three years. Surely there has to be some sort of compromise?
I know that Birks are comfy; I have a pair myself and wear them when I want that “aaaah” feeling on my tootsies. But I know that I shouldn’t wear them everywhere, even in Texas, where it’s a bajillion degrees all the time.
I think this style is kinda cool. They were big on my campus the last 2 years. My friend had a pair and wore them all the time. I tried them on once but they were formed to her feet and they felt funny. I don’t dig the sandal kind, though. I’m a flip flop person.
These are the ones my Mom wears everywhere. It could be worse; they could be Arizonas.
OK, I was in a hurry. What I mean is that the brown ones are totally beat-up, and the black suede ones at least still look reasonably close to new. I do have a few pairs of dress shoes to wear for a truly dressy occasion, like with a dress (hose, slip, the works). But those are few and far between. Besides, the rest of me is cute enough to make up for my feet. 
Hey, I used to be all about the shoes. Loved heels and oxfords. Had several dozen pairs of shoes, lots of styles bought in all the available colors. Got an ingrown toenail in return for shoving my feet into those pointy toes. I tried Birks just to protect the toes and loved them so much that now I wear them 95% of the time. Hell yeah, it took getting used to. But I don’t waste time shoe shopping much anymore, or deciding what to wear. Black or brown today? That’s it. I’ve got my eye on some burgundy ones – always loved burgundy shoes.
Develop foot problems and your concern for fashion goes out the window pretty quick. Besides, I run in a sort of hippie granola tree-hugging crowd anyway.
Birkies may be on the ugly side, but they are comfy and I don’t end up with leg or back pain. I have two strap styles in black and brown, plus brown clog style, and the somewhat dressier “sparkly” style in black. I bought mine at Sam’s Club for about 35 bux per pair.
I don’t give a rat’s patootie what people think of my clothes. If you don’t like it, don’t look!
Hell yes!
I have all sorts of podiatrical problems, not the least of which is a problem with the ligament (or it might be a tendon, my memory fails me) that runs from the top of my big toe up into my leg. If it is squozed into even vaguely pointy shoes, it slips out of place and cause pain and ooginess (at the thought of a tendon/ligament snapping out of position). Birks are great because they’re shaped like feet - hardly any other shoes actually get wider at the toes, which is what your feet do.
Also, for the uninformed, I have worn Birks in court, and looked perfectly appropriate (with a pants suit - I admit, they don’t go with skirts). I don’t see them on the site now, but they are simple black leather oxford style shoes.
But the best thing is you can get Birks with custom-built orthotic footbeds - I’m just waiting for next summer, drool. When you are used to having to wear big clunky sneakers with orthotics in them, Birks seem like nirvana.
Have you lookd at the Swedish duck shoes? They are closed (for not-sandal-climate/occasions), but they do get wider at the top. Some other natural health/organic shoe makers in Europe also have extremly comfortable shoes.
I love my Birks. I’ve worn through many fake knockoffs, but there’s no substitute for the real thing. My sister got me a pair in Germany (where they are far cheaper) around 5 years ago. Since then I have worn them quite often, for the last two years nearly always. They’re still in great condition. Only snow will really faze me to wear different shoes, and I will often take my Birks with me to change into at work in those cases. My workplace is tolerant enough that I can wear them, and while I’d never wear them to a formal event or job interview, I love them. If it gets really cold or my feet are sore from something I’ll wear socks and look like a huge nerd.
Birks actually go with a lot of things. Mine are black with three straps, and look fine with black slacks (my usual work selection). They don’t make me look like I work at the head shop, though whether they make me look like a lesbian is up for debate. Probably no more so than tennis shoes or black flat-soled shoes, my back-up pairs, so eh.
I’m a big person and there has been no other shoe that can stand up to the wear I give (I’m reasonably active at work) without being uncomfortable at some point in the day. Other sandals (the knock offs) gave me comfort, but then any long-term walking would kill my feet for some reason. Lots of short distances would be fine, but if I’d try to walk more than 100 yards or so at once, I’d get pain. Not the Birks. It’s like going barefoot all year long and I loves me my Birks. If they ever fall to pieces I’ll buy another pair in a heartbeat.
I don’t have a pair but I don’t think they are that ugly either. Sure, they’re not exactly stylish but they look like a basic sandal to me. And they are a lot nicer looking than the cheap-looking flip-flops everyone else wears.