Comfort-led American shoes — once part of the Nine West stable, now its own house.
For years the label sat within Nine West Holdings — the New York company formerly known as the Jones Group and Jones Apparel Group. In 2014, when the group was reshaped, Easy Spirit was split into its own operating company, and in December 2016 it was sold to Marc Fisher Footwear, setting the brand on an independent path.
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If your priority is everyday comfort over the latest trend, they tend to deliver. Easy Spirit is the brand behind the famous "looks like a pump, feels like a sneaker" idea, and its strength is cushioned, easy-on shoes you can wear all day. Heroes like the Traveltime slip-on and the Romy walking shoe have huge, loyal followings. The honest trade-off is styling that leans practical rather than fashion-forward.
Walking comfort is the brand's home turf. The Romy is its long-running walking shoe, with a roomy toe box, sturdy sole and removable insole, while the AP1 lace-up is a lighter classic. Across the line you get cushioned footbeds, built-in arch support and flexible outsoles meant to move with the foot. For travel and on-your-feet days, those are the models most people point to first.
The Traveltime slip-on mule is the brand's flagship staple, with the company citing well over twelve million pairs sold. It has a contoured molded footbed, built-in arch support and a removable sock liner, so you can swap in orthotics if you prefer. Most owners praise the out-of-the-box comfort and easy on-and-off; the main things to check are the fit at the heel and whether the slip-on style suits your day.
Several models come up often for plantar fasciitis, especially the Traveltime and the Romy, thanks to their cushioned footbeds, arch support and sturdier soles. The removable insoles also mean you can drop in custom orthotics if your podiatrist recommends them. They are supportive everyday shoes rather than medical devices, so for a serious or persistent condition, treat them as one part of a plan your foot specialist signs off on.
Both are comfort-first brands, but they sit slightly differently. Clarks leans on a heritage casual and dress look, while Easy Spirit is squarely an American women's comfort brand with a strong walking-shoe and slip-on lineup and a wide range of widths. If you want roomy, cushioned, easy-on shoes with arch support and width options, Easy Spirit is very competitive; for certain dressier silhouettes, shoppers often cross-shop the two.
Yes, width range is one of the brand's selling points. Easy Spirit offers up to around five widths, from narrow (including AA) through medium, wide and extra-wide, across walking shoes, sandals, flats and pumps. That makes it a go-to for shoppers with wide feet, bunions or hard-to-fit feet. Because styles vary, check the specific model's width options before buying.
Most are designed for comfort out of the box, which is exactly the promise behind the brand's "feels like a sneaker" heritage. Cushioned footbeds, flexible soles and slip-on construction mean many owners report little to no break-in on staples like the Traveltime. As always, fit matters most, so if a pair pinches at the heel or toe, sizing or width, not break-in time, is usually the issue.
That slogan defined Easy Spirit through the 1980s and 1990s, and its most memorable execution showed women playing a competitive game of basketball while wearing dress pumps, proving the heels were comfortable enough for sport. The line captured the whole idea of the brand: shoes that look polished but feel like athletic footwear. The phrase has stuck with the brand ever since and shaped later relaunches.
Easy Spirit dates to around 1980, with an origin story tied to a New York City transit strike, when an executive at then-parent U.S. Shoe Corporation noticed women commuting in sneakers while carrying their dress shoes. The brand later passed through the Nine West and Jones Group orbit, and since 2016 it has been owned by Marc Fisher Footwear, a homecoming of sorts given the Fisher family's Nine West roots.
Rather than one gimmick, Easy Spirit spreads comfort features across its line: cushioned footbeds, built-in arch support, flexible outsoles meant to flex with your stride, and easy slip-on designs. You will see in-house names like e360 and eFlex on some collections, and the brand's removable sock liners are a quiet but useful feature because they let you fit your own orthotics. The common thread is all-day, low-fuss comfort.