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Today is my first, most sentient day after leaving Glastonbury for the sixth time. I have spent the last six—yes, six—days averaging between 40-50,000 steps a day on the Worthy Farm site, dancing perilously close to Olivia Rodrigo balanced on Louis Partridge’s shoulders at Pulp’s surprise set, raving in the vicinity of Harry Styles in the festival’s slick and sweaty nightclub NYC Downlow, and jumping up and down to see Gracie Abrams as the Apple Girl. I marched miles to Lorde’s secret show, to Skepta’s set that slid into Charli xcx’s headline performance, and back to Charli as she cheered on fiancé George Daniel’s DJ set. Glastonbury is not just a festival, but a marathon, and an endurance test of the body and mind. For such a feat of human resilience, one needs some solid festival shoes.
It’s been a few years now since we’ve had any truly disastrous weather, though. Across Glastonbury 2025, we survived a few morning showers and enjoyed what were actually quite welcome, refreshing sprinklings of rain when night fell and the late-night dance area known as Block9 started kicking off. Otherwise, it was hot, and a little dusty. No more, are the years where we saw Glasto style veterans like Alexa Chung and Kate Moss donning their Hunter wellies to brave the festival’s muddy trenches. (Though in 2013, Moss famously stomped across the damp site in a pair of heeled boots). No, now the wardrobes of their Winnebagos have the floor space for footwear altogether more interesting. Yet year on year, I’ve found good, solid festival shoes evade me.
At previous Glastos, I’ve tested out various styles of sneakers and sandals—most ended up being too flat and uncomfortable on the arches after the first 20,000 steps, and showed up dust and dirt after just one day’s wear. And a lot of festival shoes won’t survive the weekend—hard-soled sneakers, aesthetically chunky but uncomfortable boots, plasticky wellies. They’re going to rub your knees and make your arches ache, cramp your toes, and give you blisters upon blisters. When you want to rave until dawn and traipse up to the Stone Circle for sunrise, bad footwear isn’t going to cut it.
After eyeing a particular style of sandal-sneaker hybrids around London and local city festivals that just kept appearing, I picked up two pairs of Keen UNEEKS: The original sandal and the Astoria sandal. They contour to the shape of your foot to fit snugly, and tie together with a bungee cord and lace-lock toggle to keep secure. (No slipping off in the mosh pit). The razored sole makes it adaptable to different terrains, so I wasn’t struggling along the sun-scorched earth or sliding on the wet club floors. A la Glastonbury’s eco sensibilities too, they’re made from recycled P.E.T. plastic, and with eco-odor control, I wasn’t even worried five days in. Maybe half-way through, a considered scrub with a cold and damp cloth brought them back to life.
I saw these mutant sandal-sneakers a lot across the week at Worthy Farm, in various forms: Lots of Keens, but also this cushiony mountain sandal by Hoka and barefoot hiking footwear by Vivobarefoot. I had one pair in pink and another in black to mix and match with my outfits—the pink, higher platformed pair went well with my diaphanous day dresses via Fruity Booty and Cawley Studio silk hat and shorts combo, and the black Keens paired with colored socks finished off my sportier evening looks that revolved around the sleek and hardy Veilance barrel leg pants and waterproofs. For the rest of my accessories, I stuck to a trusty, fits-everything Topologie bag.
I’m always conscious of mindlessly consuming amid the tumult of festival season, but I’m comforted to know I’ve actually augmented my collection of freaky shoes. While the rest of my body and my brain gently ache, my feet feel just fine.
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