This year you’re just as likely to spot the latest It Shoe in the bread section of your local Waitrose as it is lining the catwalks of Paris Fashion Week. Another dad classic just got the high-fashion treatment: distressed boat shoes. Gen Z is starting to dress like chino-clad retirees on the Isle of Wight, while influencers and fashion editors are currently swapping their ballet flats for classic lace-up deck shoes.
When it comes to trends, no one can create a viral product like Miuccia Prada. Its Miu Miu label was named the most powerful brand of 2023 by Lyst, and this year it is using this influence to usher in a sloppy, chic boy aesthetic. Think of a grandson on the coast with a trust fund.
On the spring runway, models dressed as extras in Emerald Fennell’s Salt burn, with baggy board shorts, polos over striped shirts and collegiate navy blazers. An integral part of Miu Miu’s preppy capsule are the £660 brown suede platform shoes, which, thanks to deliberately faded patches, look exactly like the scruffy slip-ons found on verandas up and down the country.
“I like that the current revival of boat shoes is dusting off a peculiar middle-class shoe style that has long been considered quite old-fashioned,” says Julia Hobbs, acting director of European fashion at the British Fashion.” It breathes new life into the piece and makes fun of it ever so slightly.”
In a Fashion article declared Hobbs 2024 the “year of the boat shoe” and took her own styling advice by wearing these It flats like a true prepster with striped socks and miniskirts. “The Miu Miu deck shoe is very streamlined,” she says of how the brand has put its own spin on the Ivy League classic. Dupes ahoy – Mango is already on the case with a £110 pair.
A friend who’s nicknamed “Boat Shoe Benny” because he wore them with suits at his office job tells me that Timberlands are the best thanks to their sleek silhouette and extensive color offering. The Princess of Wales buys her deck shoes from American heritage brand Sebago, which is currently building a new Gen Z customer base in a similar way to hiking brands like Tevas and North Face.
“Geographically, we are seeing a shift from sales from coastal areas to major cities (particularly London and Manchester),” says Daniel Richmond, head of marketing at the Maine-based brand. “The average age is falling and our fastest growing segment is now 18-24 years old, with female customers increasing from 22 percent to 39 percent.” The Dockside Portland shoe has been the brand’s best-selling model since its launch in 1970, with sales of the shoe up by a whopping 62 percent compared to the same period last year.
Hannah Lewis, fashion director at luxury personal shopping service Threads, reiterates that this is a trend that appeals to a younger customer. “For us, it’s our Gen Z customers who are more likely to buy into this boat shoe trend,” she explains. “Comfort-oriented footwear is something that is growing and our top performers are dad sandals and ballet flats.”
When Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson gets behind a trend you know it’s going to make a big impression and he’s just included souped-up boat shoes in his Fall/Winter 2024 menswear collection. With a wide toe box and an autumnal color palette, he’s also surprising them practically made for the winter months.
In womenswear, the remixed deck shoe functions more like a flowing slipper, while Matches menswear buyer Joel Atkin notes that his customers prefer a more formal approach. “Boat shoes, highlighted by Prada and Loewe on the runway, are an accessible way to access the spring 2024 preppy trend,” he explains. “At Matches, we have seen double-digit growth in deck shoes since this time last year.” In addition to the classic customers who will buy them again as soon as the sole splits, he says they are also attractive to “a more contemporary man, who plays with the new formal way of dressing”.
Perhaps it’s not so surprising that the natural progression of the quiet luxury movement is to dress like you grew up sailing on your dad’s yacht. Miu Miu’s It Girl stylist Lotta Volkova may quite literally style the boat shoes with loops of aqua-nautical rope, but that doesn’t mean you have to dress like you’re auditioning for Below deck Mediterranean. Unless you want to look like a public school boy on holiday in Salcombe, it’s safest to limit the other preppy items. Instead of a rugby shirt and chinos, pair pumps with casual clothes without the Sloane Ranger energy. Hobbs advises you to “temporarily retire your Adidas Gazelles” and simply wear them as a “sneaker alternative this summer.”
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Leather lug sole, £225, Aimé Leon Dore x Timberland; Faded suede, £660, Miu Miu; The Row Sailor leather loafers, £950, My Theresa
Clarks Suede Boat Shoes, £160, Matches with fashion
Leather Boat Shoes, £109.99, Mango; Lug sole leather with crocodile effect, £180, Duke & Dexter; Oiled Waxy Leather Docksides, £140, Sebago
Suede, £650, Bally; Hybrid Leather Loafers, £175, Russell & Bromley
Two-eye boat shoes, £130, Timberland; Tommy Hilfiger Suede Boat Shoes, £110, Asos