Most girls stress tremendously about what they wear to school, and rightfully so. It is extremely stressful to stay on trend when the world of fashion is constantly changing around you. New styles and fashion trends rise and fall constantly. As a full-time student who is involved in extracurriculars and sports, it’s hard to find the time (and money) to buy new clothes, accessories, and shoes.

Sophomore Maggie Clink thinks that she has come up with a partial solution to this problem and it involves a single pair of shoes: Tevas.

Some may think that Clink’s decision to wear Tevas every day for a year straight is a strange, impractical and pointless idea, but the truth is, Clink was not the first person to think of this.

“I had the idea when I watched the movie Before I Fall,” Clink said. “There was this one character that said, ‘I once wore Crocs for 365 days straight, so now I don’t think anything’s weird,’ and that made me realize that I wanted to be able to say an iconic line like that, so I decided to start wearing Tevas for an entire year to see if I still thought if anything was weird after.”

Clink has worn one of her two pairs of Tevas for over 250 days straight with all of her outfits in every type of weather. At first, it seemed normal to most when she decided to start wearing her Tevas every day in the heat of summer, but as summer transitioned to fall and fall to the brutal Chicago winter and Clink was continuing to wear her sandals, people started taking notice.

“I think I noticed that she wore them every day at the beginning of the school year,” sophomore Ayesha Siddiqi said. “I initially just thought she wore them every day because they were comfy and they were just her go-to shoes, but now that I know the reasoning behind it, I think it is such a fun and cool idea.”

Despite what many fashion bloggers or influencers may say, obscure and ironic fashion statements are in. Trends usually declared “unfashionable” by many experts have recently been appearing on high fashion runways, such as Balenciaga’s “high fashion crocs” and the bags of Flaming Hot Cheetos held by models in Chromat’s show. If these high fashion designers have declared these trends to be fashionable, it shouldn’t be so hard to fathom including a pair of Tevas as a part of your everyday outfit.

“It takes so much commitment and determination to do what she’s doing,” junior Sarah May said. “I give her so much credit for not giving up. When it got cold outside, Maggie started wearing socks with her Tevas to adapt to the weather and I think that shows how determined she is to her mission of wearing them for a year straight.”

Clink doesn’t mind and even encourages others to join her in wearing Tevas or whatever type of obscure shoes they hold near and dear to their heart every single day. Whether it’s a pair of crocs completely filled with your favorite ‘jibbetz’, a worn out pair of ‘Arizona’ style Birkenstocks or a pair of Tevas, Clink preaches that you shouldn’t be afraid to style your outfits with ‘unfashionable’, yet extremely comfortable footwear.

“At first it will seem really hard,” Clink said. “After the first month of wearing your shoes, the newness of the whole situation will be gone. It can be pretty sad to not be able to wear a different pair of shoes to match your outfit, but as the year progresses, it gets easier and easier. You’ll realize how easy it is to grab the same shoes every day without thinking and you’ll question  yourself as to why you haven’t done this sooner.”

As she nears her 365th day straight of wearing her Tevas, Clink has looked back upon the past year and the impact her sandals have had on her life so far. Although the future is still unclear, Clink is planning on continuing to wear her Tevas when she can.

“I’m not really sure what I’m going to do at 365 days,” Clink said. “I think I’ll start wearing other shoes but I will still wear my Tevas because I love them, but just not constantly. I also don’t think I’ll embark on a 365-day journey with another shoe just yet, but maybe I’ll consider it sometime in the future.”