This giveaway has ended. Thanks to all that entered!!!

What woman doesn’t love shoes??? Well, I have to admit I didn’t develop a shoe fetish until I was 23. I wore the same pair of Birks for 10 years. Yes, 10 years- in the summer and even with socks in the winter. But when they finally wore out, I started buying tons of shoes. 4 years later I had Ella and my feet grew a 1/2 inch. So that meant all of my boots, heels and sandals had to be donated since they no longer fit. 😦 I then went back to my old ways and bought a pair of trusty Birks and just gave up on designer shoes for the time being.

Luckily for me, I came across Greenbees and they sent me a pair of sandals to review for our Fall photoshoot. I mean Birks don’t go with a dress! When I first came across Greenbees, I was drooling over their new boots.The second I saw these I forwarded them to a few friends so we all could drool together. I’m a big boot fan. But, I have to say I’m the biggest fan of the Thencha boot.

And here’s why… Greenbees is a new Eco-friendly shoe company with an amazing fashion sense! The owners of Greenbees, Irene Clancy and Janel Garcia, were at a park with their children when they saw a tire swing. They instantly had a flash back of their joyful youth spent playing on tire swings and decided to start a search to find some for their families. In their search, they discovered mountains of old discarded tires and found out how disastrous this was for our environment. Millions of tires are discarded annually to sit in landfills while mosquitoes and other disease infested pests breed in standing water. Did you know it takes half a barrel of crude oil just to make one tire? Think about all of that waste. There is an estimated 2-3 billion tires sitting in US landfills right now! So, Greenbees decided to make something out of these used tires and thought recycled shoe soles were genius. Well, I think that part is genius. Another genius idea was to only use the finest grained leather that is treated using a formaldehyde-free method and sourced from local materials. How much more Eco-friendly can they get? The owner Irene said, “It was important for us to design a shoe that is not only eco-conscious, but fashion-conscious as well.” For every 1 tire that sits in a landfill, Greenbees is able to produce 4 pairs of shoes.

I was sent the Estephania Sandals for review and it has its own special story that I must share. The shoe was named after Stephanie Olvera, a 12 year old little girl who lost her life to a 8 month battle with Osteo Sarcoma. Greenbees has partnered with Padres Rally for Kids With Cancer to help join their fight. Padres helps bring children and families together to promote comprehensive understanding of childhood cancer and other blood disorders and effective methods for their treatment. Again, I love companies who give back and support such needed organizations. OK, back to my sandals. The Estephania Sandals are Grecian inspired and modeled after a style that transcends decades and trends. I have to say I was a little bit nervous about the strap between the toes. I haven’t worn any other sandals in the past 3 years and knew my feet would go into shock with something different. I was more than impressed after 3 hours of walking around uptown and my feet didn’t hurt at all! The ankle straps allow your feet to slide back instead of forward while walking so there is no chaffing between your toes. I will say that after wearing them for 5 hours on a 95 degree day while power walking wasn’t such a great idea. I wasn’t expecting to walk that much, otherwise I wouldn’t have worn them- especially in the heat. But every other time I’ve worn them, they’ve felt great. The Estephania Sandals are very stylish and can go with a dress or jeans. The quality is amazing and I never would have guessed the soles were made of recycled tires. They come in 4 different colors and retail at $75.

The Giveaway: Greenbees would like to offer 1 LUCKY winner a pair of Estephania Sandals!!
Rules: You have until 11:59 p.m. EST October 15, 2009 to enter. The winner will be chosen by random.org and announced after they respond to the winning email. The winner has 48 hours to respond to the winning email, or a new winner will be chosen. You must leave your email address! This contest is open to EVERYONE!!

2. Become a fan of Mkokopelli on FB, Mkokopelli on Twitter, or Follow my blog
3. Subscribe to my blog by email (on the right sidebar) You must verify and be active at the time of the giveaway- those who are unverified will become disqualified

5. Enter another giveaway I have going on and tell me which one or leave a comment on a non-giveaway post (1 extra entry total)
6. Tell me where you can purchase a pair of Greenbees
7. Find a tire fact found on Greenbees, follow them on Twitter and Tweet the fact while leaving a link back on here

A big thank you to Greenbees on your outstanding effort to help the environment while bringing us great shoe fashion.