I was cleaning out my church thrift store the other Thursday (good day to do inventory, Thursday’s the restock day when we get a big bag from the local Goodwill) and came across a pair of brand new white leather sneakers that looked like they fell out of a lowriding Jeep driven by a dude from 2023. My volunteer supervisor looks at me and says “these guys have been through here four times this year.” Like since January four times. Someone keeps donating these back. We both chuckled but hats off to whoever it is dumping these off again and again because that is more confirmation than any fashion article will give you about mens shoe trends right now.
The thing is, and I don’t want to say it out loud for fear of inspiring every white sneaker sighting in America, but the white sneaker isn’t done yet, it just stopped trending about six months ago and has quietly become furniture in your rotation. It’s become the sweatpants of shoes. Everyone has a pair and no one cares to talk about them.
The fact that they keep rolling through my thrift store on repeat proves folks bought into them while they were trendy and are now quietly disposing of them when they realize they got sucked into buying a dozen pairs from trying to keep up.
I bought a pair myself for $11 last year, wore them nine times total. Cost per wear came out to $1.22 and while that sounds awesome, I stopped wearing them because they matched every other dude in my friend group’s pair and one too many times I grabbed my lunch from the job site fridge, wrong sneakers, wrong day, everything.
The loafer vs. sneaker debate is dumb af
There is actually a debate happening rn and I mean ACTUALLY NOT JUST TO GET YOU TO CLICK TO READ between dudes who feel the loafer resurgence is truly here to stay vs dudes who think people who wear loafers think they’re too deep for sneakers. My apprentice is twenty two and has strong feelings about sneakers being “dead” (read: over) and loafers being some boutique homie’s hot take dreamed up in an Instagram post. I told him that according to some dude on Twitter sneakers have been dead every year since ‘19 and yet they are still the number one selling shoe category in the world. Might want to fact check that imaginary source of yours bud.
But here’s my takeaway after actually buying into both this year (keyword being buying, I’m not just posting hot takes about shoes I didn’t try on myself). The loafer resurgence is authentic. It’s just not new. It’s been building since young guys I know in their twenties started picking up penny loafers two years ago when they would’ve otherwise rolled past them a decade earlier. I scored a pair of burgundy leather loafers for $8 recently with zero brand markup that I can see and they’ve quickly become my go-to shoe more than anything in my closet, job site included. Sneaks just ain’t cutting it for the life I lead outside of work and that’s a hell of a realization considering I didn’t think I’d ever wear loafers on a job site, then last week I found myself over piles of concrete yelling at my guys from underneath a van. Loafers.
The cost per wear on those suckers (literally wore them yesterday) and I calculated twice because the first time came out way too high was $8 / 43 wears (I’m wearing them as we speak), equals $.18 cents per wear. 18 cents. I said that out loud to my mom yesterday and she gave me the face like I said Chinese to her. Girl isn’t wrong… most people don’t do this math but I’m hooked.
The sneaker boys aren’t wrong either. Loathe all you want but the ugly ass, confusing sneakers that look like they fit your hiking partner better than they do you are still very much trending. And yes I fought that tooth and nail for two years because they give grown men the shoe selections of teenagers at launch but fuck it I bought a pair too. Principle at work here guys, sneakers are too good to pass up even when they look like furniture and I scored a pair for $4 at my favorite thrift shop across town. Wore them exactly six times.
I get what’s hip now, not what some editor is telling you is hip. I bought too many shoes this past year and kept meticulous record of each one (yes in my head, don’t @ me) so here’s my truth:
Loafers are where its at right now because guys are wearing them wrong on purpose. No socks, with joggers, with jeans that aren’t long enough to cover your ankles, ways you probably would’ve gotten laughed at for five years ago and now will walk down the street unfazed. That’s my trend prediction, not the shoe but how they’re pairing it with absolutely nothing else on trend.
White sneakers are hanging in there but have become so common that wearing them with nothing but another bland outfit screams boredom to me. They’ll never truly die because they’re simplycheap but trendy as hell shit now.
The ugly ass sneakers aren’t going anywhere but I feel like we crested that wave. Also I bought mine for $4 at the thrift store that typically prices items higher than you’d expect them too so even the resale guys are starting to see through that trashcan.
When dudes that flip start passing on items like they used to be hot, THAT is when you know the trend is most likely over. Not when you see it on a headline or a runway, but what’s actually moving through Goodwill.
If I had to wager actual cash money on this shitplot (I track you guys) I think loafers continue to climb in popularity into next year and the sneaker conversation shifts to minimal, less inflated sneaker profiles. Not chunky dad shoe, more along the lines of what dudes were wearing before the chunky dad shoe started.
That’s my wins column for ‘23. Loafers at $.18 cents a wear. Chunky sneakers at $1.66 a wear because let’s be honest I wore those mother fuckers twice. Cheers.
Liam is a sparky from Birmingham who got into charity shopping during one very skint year and never really stopped. He works out the cost per wear on everything he buys, sometimes out loud, sometimes wrongly the first time.
