Dainty Leather Footwear
Little lads who love sandals (and cream)
Welcome to Neverrong. Read along here for any and all juicy tidbits and links you may have missed along the way. Listen to the FULL EPISODE HERE.
Men used to go to war – now they wear fancy little sandals… which is totally cool with us by the way. We’re all just wondering, “where the hell did all these little shoes come from?” Clogs, sandals, mules – who better to walk the group through this than our resident dainty shoe wearer - Reed Nelson!
Dainty Leather Footwear: The Episode
“Driven by a subconscious desire to be embarrassed by our mothers.”
Reed, who happens to be next to an active construction site as he records, (thank David for the clarity of sound!) gets us rolling. But before we get into it — a brief pause, we’re not entirely sure how best to classify this admittedly broad selection of footwear (great start!). But for clarity, it’s not sneakers, not loafers, not boots – and mostly all leather. Think Birks, clogs, sandals, Mary Janes, mules. Basically, if it used to be a punchline, or maybe still is, and it doesn’t look like a brunch boot*. Hope that helps 👍. We’re calling it dainty footwear. This mostly makes sense.
And though these dainty shoes may not have necessarily hit the mainstream in your area, they are appearing more and more on the discover page and in the fit-pics of notable fashion taste-makers. These little (and often breathable) shoes are taking the places of some of more standard fare like Vans and Converse.
David sums it up nicely: shoes without laces, usually with a slight gender-bending twist. Many of these were more female-coded (in less enlightened times), but now are being worn by all genders. See? We’re narrowing it down.
It began with the most recent wave of Birkenstock Bostons, which led to a main-streaming of Mules, and now a watershed moment: ALD is making a fisherman’s sandal!! We have arrived!
Reed points out that almost all the sandals/shoes on this list were (and some still are, this is the bleeding edge, after all) the butt of various jokes. But many other now-staples were that way not too long ago. Pleated pants, mesh shirts, and bucket hats have all had periods of mockery - but all of these (if worn correctly) are pretty much in the clear nowadays.
Brands Doing Dainty Leather Shoes
Solovair Mary Jane - $199
Comes in their shiny patent leather and their Black Greasy (matte leather).
David points out if you’re doing this, might as well go full gloss.
Paraboot Pacific - €290
French foot-exoskeleton.
Ripple sole kinda rocks.
Chamula Cancun - $132
20% off at No Man Walks Alone
Buy a full size down from your sneaker size.
Sooooo much better sockless than a loafer.
Great semi-formal warm weather piece.
Beige Round-toe textured suede sandals from Jacques Solovière - $308
Unclear if they’re clogs or Mary Janes.
Probably not sandals tho.
Definitely could wear them in fancy situations.
Or if you’re categorically Fancy, in non-fancy situations.
Prada Mary Jane - $1,200
Reed says the branding is too subtle.
He doesn’t think they’re bad.
Just that if you’re paying $1,200 for Pradas, he doesn’t think people should have to lean to figure that out.
Black Orfeas leather sandals from Ancient Greek Sandals: $63
Black tie Tevas.
Marni Dada - $995
Off-road birks that you wouldn’t actually take off-road.
Birkenstock Boston - $158
Don’t overthink these.
But also if you haven’t indulged, do think about the choices you’ve made.
3sixteen Mule Petrol Suede - $240
A suede that’s anything but dainty, but the juxtaposition is sick af.
Same with that white sole.
Saint Laurent Culver sandal - $745
On some Gladiator shit, but like the part where they’re doing some bonding underground, not the part where he’s yelling one of the darkest CV’s of all time to an enraptured audience.
Lemaire IDK 1s - $ 655
Calling these nice Plasticanas is probably rude to both parties, but what’s done is done.
Maybe the daintiest of the bunch, IDK.
History
Sandals:
This is too long to really abridge so a summary is all you get: Sandals are estimated to be nearly 11,000 years old, which means that they’re probably the oldest form of footwear — at least that we still wear — and also that almost all of the recorded civilizations took a crack at the design (shoutout those in the chilly parts, no idea if you were running them too and pushing seasons). In other words, lots of sandals to explore.
Fishermans:
It’ll be interesting to see which is more polarizing, these or Mary Janes. Our money is on the MJs, considering some mainstream normalization of fishermans, but Reed also just came back from Vegas and his money isn’t really a barometer of anything, it turns out. Anyways. Fishermans are in the zeitgeist, swirling around like one of those giant fucking cleavers in Twister (1996)*. One of the most historically rugged sandals, fisherman sandals can trace some components back thousands of years to the Roman Empire, but more recent iterations felt it prudent to provide fishermen some underfoot protection while keeping the vamp porous (trench foot). Our current median is a burly-ish model that exists somewhere between gladiators, Mary Janes and a jelly that requires exactly zero fishing to appreciate. Onward.
*This movie received a PG-13 rating for scary weather, apparently? Or rather “intense depiction of very bad weather”? This is not made up. Reed couldn’t find any others with this rating justification, but he did note that The Day After Tomorrow (2004) received a PG-13 rating for “intense situations of peril,” which could mean one of a few things. Some of those include: that the MPA had a change of heart in the intervening eight years and needed to up the ante; that we got used to insane weather and that was no longer something that scared us; that they chose to consider weather “an intense situation of peril” by 2004, which probably wouldn’t be inaccurate; they just forgot about the weather thing because how often do they need to remember that, which is more of a commentary on the overall blockbuster industry than anything else, probably.
Huaraches:
Huaraches can be traced back to pre-Columbian Mexico, when the standard method of construction was to take thin strips of leather and strap them to a leather sole in kind of an exo-skeleton like manner. That was the norm until the 1930s, when huarache-makers started putting rubber from tires on the soles — while most aren’t ripping up old tires for outsoles anymore, the rubber part stuck and so did the leather strap part.
David’s relationship with his pair is kind of like that one Netflix show about the guy who tried to break the horse and went through a whole range of emotions regarding his relationship with the horse but ultimately both respects and loves it. (Editor’s Note: Reed actually doesn’t know what this show is really about, he fell asleep during the first episode and rode it out that way, this is entirely his presumption.) To be clear, it doesn’t have to be this way and there are plenty of comfortable options on the market.
Mary Janes:
Mary Janes came around in the late 1800s, originally called “bar shoes” and primarily worn by children — more boys than girls, actually.
By the early 1900s, the main characters in the Buster Brown comics — Buster and Mary Jane — were drawn wearing them, which led the Brown Shoe Company (a boy and a dog and a foot in a shoe) to license the name from comic strip author Richard Felton Outcault — "Father of the Sunday Comic Strip." They existed as dainty children’s footwear for years, before getting embraced by women in the 80s and 90s. Men were decades behind, but we’ve arrived. And they just might be the daintiest of the category. Shoutout friend of the show Gerald for crushing Mary Janes of all materials, not just leather ones.
Birkenstocks:
So that 1774 date is the actual date — older than the Declaration of Independence but not as old as the Boston Tea Party for those of you that care about those kinds of things. Are they related? Who’s to say. We’re not saying they are, we’re not saying they’re not. Just be aware that in the historical order of things, it goes Boston Tea Party, Birkenstocks, Revolutionary War, America. Does make you think. Anyways.
Despite centuries in the industry, the company (which is its own genre of footwear idk it’s like kleenex or whatever and now it’s a publicly traded company) didn’t really start commercially manufacturing entire shoes until 1962, and for most of its existence, Birkenstock was an unapologetic purveyor of orthopedic shoes — for literal centuries, the brand positioned itself as a maker of health products rather than pieces of fashion, primarily selling them next to literal granola in places that billed themselves as ‘health food’ stores. They used to roast themselves in their old ads, calling them “Funny looking Birkenstock sandals” because why not.
Anyways, they started with sandals — the Madrid in 1962, the Zurich (RIP) and the Arizona in 1971 — before releasing the Boston in 1979, for a year-round orthopedic option. The rest wasn’t *really* history — the Boston has had some waves outside of its granola-gilded box — but the most recent, sold-out-fucking-everywhere wave is unequivocally the peak.
How Would we Wear It:
Reed: When it comes to Boston’s, I wear them with everything. I understand that I’m probably pushing their limits, but simply do not care. They’re fucking comfortable and I’m visually addicted to that toe box, fully fucking Birk-pilled. Half the shoes I wear that aren’t Bostons kind of look like Bostons — my Bedrock Sandals Mountain Clogs, my 3sixteen mules, my ALD Garden Clogs, my Chillbies. As far as the others go, I’d run huaraches like loafers in the summertime, this picture of Tyler in Mary Janes goes hard, and with sandals, wear them like formal shoes in weather that would allow for it? Think that all checks.
Albert: I don’t have much interest in wearing most of these, but I do like my huaraches. Especially in the summer with a wide trouser (and no socks) they’re perfect. But even then, I prefer the more close-toed versions than the ones with all your toes poked right out the front. Clogs and mules and maybe Mary Janes are pretty cool to me in theory (even if I don’t have interest in wearing them), but I think some of these fisherman sandals are nasty as hell.
How Would We Rate It:
Reed: 9/10, only deduction for potential staying power.
David: 7/10 The Marnis I can’t justify to myself or get over, but I like the huaraches and maybe once I’ve witnessed a few more traumatizing life events, I can wear the fisherman sandals. I like seeing the range of what’s possible being pushed out a bit more.
Albert: Probably 6.5/10, skewing somewhat higher for the kinds I like more. But to be clear, I think it’s really cool when people wear dainty leather shoes! I like the initiative and the intentionality!