The Story Behind Meghan Markle's Favorite Slipper Shoe

Meghan Markle loves a good designer shoe—and who can blame her? The duchess and mom-to-be has a cool, edgy footwear style, most recently rocking the PVC and cow-print trends. One of the shoe brands she wore during her Australia and New Zealand tour, Birdies, has particularly felt the "duchess effect." Birdies saw a massive surge in their sales for their "The Starling" flat—a modern take on the slipper in velvet. People got the chance to talk to Birdies' president, Marisa Sharkey, who explained the backstory of Meghan's love for the brand. Even better, you can still order the slipper in select sizes and colors—for $120 to $140. 

Apparently, Meghan was one of the first celebrities to wear Birdies after the brand debuted four years ago—way back when she was just Meghan Markle, activist and Suits actress.

Birdies sent Meghan free shoes initially, but she apparently loved them so much that she started buying them for herself as well. Once the now-royal was spotted in public with them, the waitlist for the style grew to 15,000 people. "We sold out very quickly of our classic black style and we had people emailing every day to ask, ‘When are they coming back?’ We couldn’t have imagined anything like this."

Even though Meghan hasn't shied away from high, high heels during her pregnancy, the flats are perfect in case she wants to give her feet a rest while she's been making her most recent royal patronage visits.

Here's a look at Meghan wearing the shoes during a visit to the Rotorua's Redwoods Treewalk in New Zealand, for example:

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