If you were around in the 80’s — or if you saw Working Girl — you’ll cringe at the memory of smart, confident career women (as we called them in those days) high stepping it to work in clunky white cross-trainers and power-shoulder business suits. The 80’s got a lot of things wrong — big hair, leg warmers worn with street clothes — but the trend of wearing workout shoes with workaday clothes has to have been the sartorial catastrophe of the decade. Not that the women themselves are to blame. After all, the ballet flat hadn’t been reinvented yet. Ballet flats are ubiquitous these days, and at every price point, but these ones from Tieks make me want to time travel back to the 80’s and stand on a Manhattan street corner handing them out. They’re so Working Girl perfect it’s insane. They fold up! They come in a little pouch! They’re luxurious!

There are any number of ballets on the market that rival or exceed Tieks in the looks department, but when it comes to combining style and practicality, Tieks stands alone. Made from fine Italian leather in every color you can think of (my favorite is Sienna Brown croc), Tieks is the perfect commuter shoe, the perfect travel shoe, and the perfect shoe for when you tire of stomping around in your fabulous heels.

It also doesn’t hurt that Tieks has a great story. It was founded by designer and company president Dikla Gavrieli and her brothers Kfir and Elram Gavrieli. The siblings are also empowering women through The Gavrieli Foundation, which has committed more than a half million dollars to the empowerment of women  entrepreneurs through microloans provided through Kiva.

For more about Tieks or The Gavrielli Foundation, visit the company website at Tieks.com. For more information about Kiva, visit Kiva.org.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIEKS

Tags: Style, Style Stories, TFRL Uniform, Tieks Ballet Flat