This post is long overdue. 2019 was the year that I ordered bespoke footwear from two brands as part of a new limited bespoke series here at Specialty Shoe Lover. Those of us in the shoe world know how hard it is to achieve scale for custom shoes. We see a lot of companies just don’t make it.

I have previous reviewed a Greek leather sandal brand Ananias. You can check out that post, Bespoke Leather Sandals With Ananias Sandals , if you haven’t already. I am giving an honest review my experience with Margaux NY, a game-changing shoe brand that specializes in all things ballerina flats. I had learned about them early on. I actually initially featured the brand in a previous post, Let’s Get Your Shoes, Style, AND Summer In-sync . I knew they offered handmade-in-Spain shoes, and was very curious to see if their bespoke service could work their magic on my US 11 AAAA Narrow feet. While you can purchase Margaux NY’s shoes in standard sizes, I recently tried their bespoke services to finally get a pair of chic ballet flats in my specialty size. And for those of you wondering, this post and review is not sponsored whatsoever. I sought out to conduct my own primary research with my own coins (nearly $250.00 for one pair of ballet flats–additional fees applied for the bespoke service).

I want to first begin by saying that Margaux NY has HANDS DOWN the Best customer service. (*Shoutout to Molly in Customer Support) When I tell you, Molly did an AWESOME job in responding to allll of my emails in a decent amount of time, providing much-needed comfort for my disease. I want to remind you all that I’m so new to this virtual shoe shopping thing. Add on top of that, the fact that these measurements were taken by me at home. You could imagine my queasiness as I imagined this experience going completely South. What gave me comfort was a little disclaimer I noticed before I purchase basically saying that they’d try to offer fit support if the shoes didn’t fit.

Long story short, they didn’t fit, despite all the details about my size and providing information on a shoe brand/style/last that offered great fit. I sent my shoes back twice during 2019. For reference, I placed my order in March of 2019; received the shoes the first time and sent them back in May; sent them back in August 2019 for resizing; received them a third  time in November 2019. You can see the last iteration above.

By November, I still experienced one shoe that seemed too big that it flopped off as I walked while the other shoe seemed really tight. You can see space near my ankles in the photo. Each time I sent the shoes back for refitting, it took several weeks to receive the shoes. I got too distracted between work, home life, and preparing for law school. By the time 2020 rolled around, my goal was to make a trip to the Margaux NY atelier by the summer of 2020 to get refitted. Then, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and of course, I didn’t want to feel like a bother when I know many retail brands took a hit initially. I also didn’t travel at all last years, so there’s that.

Overall, I still believe the brand is one of quality, and the shoes appear to be well made. The flats are quite beautiful, actually. I hated that they didn’t fit after so many months of trying. I think for such a unique size like mine, I really needed to be present with the shoe maker during the fittings.

My recommendation is that those interested in trying the brand should try their shoes in their standard sizes first, if possible, and maybe trying out the bespoke service after visiting one of their stores for a fitting by their representatives. I still hope to visit their NY store for a fitting to see if they can get this shoes to properly fit.