A Letter From June · Co-Founder of Dorothy & June

Charleston, South Carolina · July 2026

I am June, and my partner Dorothy and I started this little Charleston shop 22 years ago, a few streets back from the harbour. In all that time we have made a great many summer shoes. The Classic Summer Sandal is the one I reach for every single morning, and forget I have on by lunchtime.

It is the sandal I put on when I want to be comfortable and still look like myself, the pair women stop each other about in the grocery car park. And of everything we are clearing as we close the shop and move online, it is the one I most wanted to write to you about.

For years I watched the same thing happen to women our age. The summer sandals made for us came in two kinds. The first looked lovely and was thin and hard as a church pew, aching the ball of your foot by noon. The second was comfortable and wide and beige and announced to the whole room that you had given up. I never accepted that a woman had to choose. The Classic Summer Sandal is my answer, and I argued for six things when we made it, usually with a supplier who wanted me to do the cheaper thing instead.

3

A low, steady wedge — lift without the wobble.

Just enough height to feel dressed and lengthen the leg, set on a base wide and steady enough that you never think twice on brick or cobblestones.

★★★★★

"Enough of a heel to feel put together, but I feel completely steady walking on our uneven paths."

Diane M., James Island

The Classic Summer Sandal, against the pairs you have been buying

You can find a summer sandal for sixty dollars almost anywhere. I know, because before we made ours I bought a great many of them. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.

I refuse to make a sandal that asks a woman to choose between looking like herself and being able to stand up in it. That is the whole reason this pair exists.

Why they are clearing now

We are closing the Charleston shop after twenty-two years and moving Dorothy & June online, so the whole summer collection is clearing, these sandals with it. They are now $59.95, from $199.83, and when you take more than one pair the discount stacks further, up to 30 percent on top.

I will be plain about it. At this price we are barely covering our costs on them. I am telling you because it is true, and because once we hand back the keys, this price goes with the shop. There is no plan to bring it back.

If twenty-two years of running this little shop has taught me anything, it is that a woman who tries this pair once usually comes back for a second. That is the quiet bet I am placing in writing you this letter at $59.95.

Boxed and wrapped by hand, the way every order has left this shop for 22 years.

It is the pair I am proudest of in 22 years. I would rather they go to women who will wear them than sit in a box.

The reviews say the same things I have, over and over. 4.8 stars across 896 women. If you have ever wanted a sandal that keeps you comfortable all day and still looks like something you would choose, this is the pair I would put in your hands myself, while the sizes are still in stock.

— June