For months I’ve had my eye on a pair of Buttermilk suede Jeffrey Campbell Litas, but every time I’ve looked online they’ve been completely out of stock. Thankfully I’m not a girl who gives up easily and about a month ago my patience was rewarded by US shoe site, Solestruck, who proudly proclaimed the shoe of my dreams was back in stock. Predictably this occured just as I was thinking pay day was impossibly far away, but after misunderstanding the pre-order process the shoes were mine and my bank account was missing $159 eeek!
Being typically impulsive I then had a minor panic (thanks google images!) that I’d ordered the wrong colour and that this had all been a horrible mistake. The team over at Solestruck were amazing at helping me through my indecision, helpfully offering advice as I spammed their inbox with numerous google images specifying that I wanted shoes the exact same colour as this image. Not once did they get annoyed as I chopped and changed colours, finally deciding on the colour I’d only gone and ordered in the first place. Thanks Becky and Carson for all your help!
Luckily I made it through to pay day without having to resort to beans on toast or even worse…6p* noodles (*I have a feeling these may have gone up in price since my student days)! And after an agonising 2 and a bit week wait my litas arrived at a Parcelforce depot in Aldershot.
Solestruck were great at letting me know where in the world my shoes were, but there were a few questions I’d had from the moment I’d placed my order. I googled frantically, trying to ensure I’d chosen the right size and desperately hoping I wasn’t going to get a nasty surprise in the form of a large customs charge. I’m guessing/hoping I’m not the only one whose had these queries so I wanted to cover them off in my review to help others.
My first concern was sizes. I knew it would be too costly to send the shoes back once they’d arrived which meant I had to make sure I got it right first time. I ordered a US 7 which is a UK 4/EU 37 and they fit perfectly. A lot of people have said to go up a size as the toe area is quite tight which worried me at first, but I’m happy to say they were a true to size fit and I’m glad I didn’t order anything bigger than my actual size. As a rule of thumb add 3 to whatever UK size you are and you should have your US size.
Having drawn around my foot and measured it with a ruler (yes I really did!) I was content that the size 7s would fit, giving me ample time to ponder more queries. How would I know when to pay my customs fees and more importantly how much would they be? I warn you now, google is not your friend when trying to answer that one, unless you really enjoy reading horror stories about that one women who was charged £96 for $30 worth of cosmetics, I kid you not!
When it came to finding out when to pay my customs fees, I just rang the depot when I saw my shoes had arrived and asked if I could pay when I collected the shoes. Having spoken to the guy behind the counter at the depot I now know that had I not done that they would have sent me a letter requesting payment and once paid for they’d have arranged a delivery date…..talk about long winded!
Which finally leads me to what I’m guessing is the biggest question when ordering shoes, or anything for that matter, from the US. How much will customs charge me? Having read some of the reviews on Solestruck, I was expecting to pay between £25 and £37 in charges. So when I was told my charge was £27, I was pleasantly surprised. This included an £8 admin charge from Parcelforce, which I feel was a little excessive, but not enough for me to kick up a fuss about.
This brings the grand total of my Litas up to £129. Of course, you can buy Litas from £105 upwards at Office, Oxygen Boutique and Harvey Nichols in the UK, so I’d check whether they have the colour you’re after first before ordering from the US. However if like me, a non-UK colour has caught your eye I’d highly recommend Solestruck.
As for the shoes, I LOVE them and can’t wait to wear them properly once the British Sunshine finally arrives for good.
Below are a few snaps of my lovely litas.
Aren’t they beautiful?
According To Gem 
Gem forgot to mention , mummy and daddy winged her all the way to Aldershot to get said shoes – and being the patient girlie she is she put them on without socks to walk into Guildford with us, grabbing socks as she went – after walking around longer than a new pair of shoes requires resulted in a Lita blister lol – but she did look gorgeous in them and very very tall – and negotiating cobbles was hysterical in them – well done sweetie x