Isabooties Baby Shoes Are No Runner-Up

Guest reviewer Sylvia, last seen here with her review of Boon's feeding line, is back to size up Isabooties and give them and Robeez a competitive washing-machine test. Don't miss the Editor's Note at the end of the post for your chance to win one of ten pairs of Isabooties in PRIZEY's Great Isabooties Giveaway, plus a 20% off coupon code!

When our Isabooties arrived in the mail, our one-year-old had been wearing Robeez for a couple of months, mostly while crawling and standing. Over the next couple of months as he transitioned into full-on toddling, we alternated between the Isabooties and the Robeez as we compared their wear, design, and function.

Isabooties are made of Ultrasuede breathable fabric that is truly velvety soft. The soles are made of Toughtek, a non-skid, grip fabric. One of their superior design features is that they are machine-washable. It had never occurred to me to throw our son’s leather Robeez in the wash, even after he smashed a cereal bar into the bottoms of them like he was stomping on grapes. But after reading about the Isabooties' washability on their website, I threw both the Robeez and the Isabooties in the washing machine. I dried the Isabooties in the dryer too, but hung the Robeez to dry. Here they are after having been toddled in for about the same number of months and after getting out of the wash.

The results? The Isabooties live up to their claim of no wear, no cracking and no fading after both washing and drying. They look the same as the day we bought them. The Robeez, as you might expect from leather, acquired a more worn look from their trip through just the washing machine. They are not damaged in any way that would affect their function, but we suspect multiple washes of each would lead to even more significant differences in appearance.

Another impact of the difference in materials is that Isabooties are very thin, top and bottom. This means more sensitive foot contact with the floor for early walkers, but for outdoor excursions, we found ourselves favoring the thicker Robeez where our son would be walking on cement, stone, playground woodchips, etc. This is not to say that the Isabooties would not have performed under those circumstances, but we felt the Robeez offered a little more protection. (Robeez now offers a "sneaker" sole in its Tredz line as well.)

Lastly, Isabooties’ website boasts that they are the shoe your child will never be able to get off. However, we found that the Isabooties were sized just a bit bigger than the Robeez and at least in the earlier months our son stepped out of them on more than one occasion by stepping on the extra footprint of fabric around the side, but not so often as to be a nuisance. Keep that in mind as you're picking out Isabooties sizes for your little ones.

Overall, we think Isabooties are a great choice in footwear, with the added bonus of being vegetarian- and vegan-friendly. They cost $29 a pair and can be purchased on Isabooties' website.

Editor's Note: Isabooties has just released three gorgeous new styles of shoes, including the "Ballet Criss-Crossers" shown at left and two that are decidedly more gender-neutral. Check the three styles out in the Isabooties shop, and then enter the Great Isabooties Giveaway on PRIZEY, where you have two chances to win one of ten pairs of Isabooties up for grabs. Better still, one of the two entry methods - a one-minute online survey about Isabooties - will get you a 20% off coupon for an Isabooties purchase if you sign up for the Isabooties mailing list.

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Disclosure: Z Recommends and PRIZEY are both run by ZRecs, and Isabooties has elected to sponsor PRIZEY and host a giveaway of its products there. The company has not seen this review prior to publication and arrangements for the giveaway were made only after it was completed. Z Recommends takes its independent reviewing verrrrrrrry seriously.