Sometimes the fashion world ruins things.
It happened to Chuck Taylors. It happened to the espadrille. And now, it’s happening to the slipper.
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The work boot craze left a lot of guys yearning for a lighter kind of winter footwear. Our answer has always been Portland’s Danner, designed for marathon-length hikes through the Oregon woods. And as of now, you’ll have five new designs to choose from, arriving online today. (They’re the ones at the bottom of the page.) The biggest update is a Vibram 2060 outsole, making them even lighter than the ones you’re used to.
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Here’s your experimental footwear of the week, courtesy of our old friend George Esquivel. It’s a quasi-brogue made from a single sheet of unbroken leather. (The pattern comes from a selective sun-dyeing.) One more reason to remember your sunscreen.
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Berluti’s one of the best Italian shoemakers you’re likely to find, but as of this year they’re busting into full-scale menswear, with chalk-stripe suits, subtle homburgs and enough louche style to shut down Tumblr. We got our first look at Paris Fashion Week, and there’s plenty more where that came from. Of course, the Fashion Week hustle means you won’t get your hands on any of it until a year from August… but it can’t hurt to look.
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ONIA’s already a go-to brand for high-end swim trunks, but they just put all that quick-dry fabric to a new use: shoes.
The result is a low-key beach lace-up they’re calling the Montrose, which lands somewhere between a flip-flop and an espadrille. Of course, we might have preferred a rope sole to the foam version they’ve got, but in the “shoes to wear into the ocean” category, these are near the top. They’re both light enough to swim in and thick enough to ward off any sharp shells.
Now all you need is a ticket to a tropical island. And possibly a swimsuit.
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Consider this the most summery shoe that’s ever gone on sale in December.
The shoe started life as a Tretorn Nylite (we’ve gushed about them before), then got a fluorescent dye job from Atlanta trad guru Sid Mashburn to become the glorious creature you see before you. The technical name is Optical Bright Fluorescent Yellow GN—but that’s a fancy way of saying they’re going to be the brightest shoes you own, ideal for the next time you need to out-blare some madras pants.
Or the next time you’re jogging at night.
Today’s dose of shoe porn comes courtesy of Hypebeast, who logged some lens time with Loake’s Jack Sand brogue. This is how it’s supposed to look, gentlemen.
We don’t venture into the haute realm too much, but we know a good idea when we see one. In this case, the good idea is printing a leaf-pattern desert camo across the rubber sole of a Chelsea boot, courtesy of YSL. Someone get McNairy on this.
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We try to steer clear of anything that isn’t hitting stores in the near future—but there’s more impressive gear on the docket for Spring/Summer ’12 than we could keep to ourselves, so we’ve put together some detail shots and some well-chosen info to whet your appetite. The bad news: you won’t be able to get your mitts on any of it until February. The good news: you’re in for quite a February.
It’s Noel Gallagher, promoting his Adidas collaboration. He seems quite excited about it.
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We stopped by the Alfred Sargent trunk show at Leffot this afternoon and, as you might expect, we saw some pretty spectacular shoes. But rather than go on about welting, lasts and skin stitching, we’ll just let you see it for yourself. Behold, some of the best British cobbling has to offer.
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Here’s a new secret weapon for your weekender bag: a pair of leather slippers. This pair comes from Portegna—a Spanish leather company more accustomed to handbags and card holders—with a little design help from Monocle. It’s designed to sub in for the flimsy hotel slippers you usually find alongside your terrycloth bathrobe. But instead of cotton and cardboard, these are glove-soft leather—and the kind of thing you might actually want to wear around the house.
The chukka’s already one of the more grit-resistant shoes out there (hence its affinity with the sandproof desert boot), but it can always get more impenetrable. Case in point: this seamless chukka from Band of Outsiders. It’s a long-lost cousin to the Chelsea boot, placing the emphasis on the handsome suede and away from anything so flashy as laces. You can also pick up a pair in raw wool if you’re feeling industrial; just try to keep it out of the rain.
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via Out in the Street: BoF tackles a question so large, we’d completely forgotten about it: why do we take pictures of clothes? [Business of Fashion]
Open Season: In honor of the U.S. Open, Grantland republishes David Foster Wallace’s piece on Roger Federer, one of the best pieces of sportswriting ever written. Clear your Sunday afternoon. [Grantland]
The Peacock Parade: Tommy Ton does his thing at New York Fashion Week. [GQ]
McFly Returns: The dream sneaker from Back to the Future II is now a reality. Do you believe in miracles? [Hypebeast]
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“Alligator” doesn’t always mean alligator. In the case of this pair of laceups from Australia’s Horse Shoes, it means a woven pattern that’s one of the cooler leatherworking tricks we’ve seen all year. The bad news: they aren’t shipping for another three weeks—giving you time to find a sufficiently forward-thinking pair of white jeans.
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Anyone in New York should take heed: Alfred Sargent’s going to be stopping through town on September 22nd for a trunk show at Leffot, and the goods we’ve seen are looking extremely tempting. Specifically, this half-polished longwing-monkstrap-brogue concoction known as the Benson. It’s one of the stranger shoes we’ve seen out of the tradsphere all year. Well played, Mr. Sargent.
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We’re not immune to a bit of shoe lust here at Kempt, and this pair of mocassins from Oak Street Bootmakers is easily our favorite of the summer. It splits the difference between our beloved Sebagos and something a bit more adventurous—and since the suede in question is from Horween, it’s likely to be one of the more durable items in your closet. Do your worst.
Swims has come a long way since their days as galosh-makers. These colorful boat shoes are from their ’12, on display at the Compass Show. The uppers are mesh and the rest is all rubber, so there’s nothing here that won’t survive a dunk or two. If you’re planning an afternoon by the pool, they’re one of the more playful options out there, but you’ll have to wait until February to get your hands on them. In the meantime, here’s a less colorful alternative to tide you over.
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Let’s talk shoelaces.
They’re one of the most customizable parts of your wardrobe, and swapping in some more colorful ones is one of the quickest paths to a more personalized style. But naturally, there are a few things to know before you get started…
We’re a big fan of light canvas sneakers in any season, but it’s near-pointless to recommend any particular brand because there are just so many good ones: your Chucks, your Jack Purcells, your endless parade of plimsolls. As long as it’s white, canvas and around $50, it’s hard to go wrong.
In that vein, we’d like to draw your attention to one of the more overlooked options, the Tretorn Nylite. It’s been a favorite since the Preppy Handbook days (no, the original Preppy Handbook), and the split-toe construction still looks pretty sharp set against a sea of shell-toes. Just don’t be afraid to get a little dirt on them.
One of the perks of the blogging life is that we occasionally get to sit down with brilliant designers. Now is one of those times.
The gentleman in question is Tim Little, the Creative Director at Grenson, a mastermind of broguing who happens to have a few exclusive vibram-soled items available exclusively from our friends at UrbanDaddy Perks. We sat down with Mr. Little to talk boots, heritage, and the intersection of British and American workwear.
What’s your philosophy for designing these boots?
We try to take the essence of what the company is—the heritage, the history, everything we’re good at—and make that relevant for today. Everything comes from a very long line of what weÂąve done over the years. We use all the same styling from the past 100 years of Grenson, but we updated it, changed the materials slightly, to bring it up to date.
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Nowness managed to talk their way inside John Lobb’s Northampton factory for a brace of behind-the-scenes photos. This one’s our favorite, showing the cellophane-wrapped brogues in almost-finished form. Score one for British shoes.
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We’re in favor of secret weapons, both sartorial and otherwise. Take these tricolor Docksides, for example. From the outside, they’re cream-white with almost invisible spots of blue and red. But once you take them off—either at a fastidious friend’s house or at the close of a long day—you’ll unveil the most interesting feature, the powerfully blue-and-red insoles. It’s one of our favorite tricks, also at play in paisley jacket linings and intricate socks. The most important rule: tell no one.
Ladies and gentlemen, your rainy-day sneaker. Currently on sale at Tres Bien, this is the best example of the waterproofed sneaker we’ve come across so far—and probably your best bet the next time you’re dodging through puddles. It’s the classic snub-nosed Jack Purcell with one important difference: instead of the standard cotton canvas, they use Mackintosh’s own rubberized cotton, giving each of your feet its own raincoat. If you’re lucky, you might even have a coat to match.
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Blackbird just launched the online part of their seasonal warehouse sale, and it makes for pretty good browsing. For starters, these gray chukkas manage to match the season just about perfectly. We’d also direct you to the in-house ties, going for around $30 a pop, and this denim jacket… but really, you’ll want to explore for yourself.
