In the early 80's, these shoes were the rage for us in Hawaii. Some of them also had colorful embroidery on the tops and sides of the shoe. You're right the silver buckle was useless becasue you always had to re-tighten them.

I wore china flats. They were cheap and actually made in China! They gave kinda an ethnic feel to the user. They were hard on your feet, though. No support for the arches! The flexy plastic sole could be skid inducing on smooth surfaces. Great for poor college students.

I have to admit that I still wear these on occasion. I think they look cute with sundresses in the summer, especially if the dress has a sorta ethnic or hippie feel. I started wearing them in 1990 and have ALWAYS owned a pair since then (two in my closet right now). They were considered cool among the "artsy" crowd in my high school and college during the 90's too. I don't care for the ones with designs or extra embroidery, but the classic black canvas ones are awesome in my opinion!

I loved china flats. The buckle WAS totally useless. We used to get the strap just right and then pin the strap in place with a medium silver safety pin. The pin was in the inside so only a little of it would show on the side of the shoe. A dangerous fix for a dangerous shoe...they were so cute though!

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I had friends who wore these all the time in the late 80s/early 90s. They looked really cool, somehow both minimalist and bohemian.

I have found these in health food stores and on Amazon as recently as 2009. Definitely had their heyday in the 80's of course, but you can still find them now.

I love these shoes. I usually pair them with jeans and white or pink anklets. They remind me of the maryjanes I wore when I was young.

We called these Chinese Slippers, they were cute and $5 a pair in downtown Flushing NY. Also got my Chinese Jacks downtown too.