Steal Grandpa's Shoes
I've said it before and I'll say it again: You don't gotta be your grandparents' age to swipe their swag. Elderly people have been dressing better than the rest of since before we were even born — literally! — and any style-curious individual ought to take notes from their unaffected ease.
But let's say you're not advanced enough to imitate grandpa's suspenders and sensible khakis. Fine — just steal his shoes.
Whereas the cultural glass ceiling above elderly shoes once relegated anything pudgier than a retro New Balance runner to old folks' homes, we've finally smashed through. And I'm not merely talking faddish fixations on "dad shoes" but a true golden age of young people wearing extremely old-person shoes.
Part of the hurdle for most, I assume, was (and is) the looks. These are kicks designed for arches, not aesthetics. But you can have it both ways. Oldsters already knew this. It's time you whippersnappers wised up.
First, though, a distinction. While the term "Dad shoes" typically refers to thicker-than-average running shoes, grandpa shoes can get quite chunky but they're rarely runners. These are walking shoes meant for a slower pace and defined by quality and heritage. They often cost as much, if not more, than hyped trainers because they're patiently crafted to cradle your dogs.
They're finally getting their moment because not so long ago, Birkenstock sandals were still considered irredeemably ugly and New Balance dad shoes were primarily worn by actual dads (and Steve Jobs).
Heck, maybe we aren't even through the looking glass. Plenty of outlets continue to marvel at the "surprising" redemption of ugly shoes as signifiers of taste, as if it's news that — get this — tastes change! Perceptions shift! Last year's stigma is this year's sauce.
And, now, with flat sneakers ubiquitous and ordinary dad shoes a luxury, grandpa's walking shoes are genuinely stylish.
Earlier this year, fashion mudslinger Lauren Sherman incidentally mentioned venerable French shoemaker Mephisto among the various shoemakers currently repped by Los Angeles' hot youngs, one of several recent write-ups touching on newfound Mephisto adoption.
In Japan, where precious clothes are deservingly celebrated beyond trend cycles, French footwear imprints like Mephisto and Paraboot — one of Q1 2025's hottest shoes, according to search data compiled by LYST — have long been appreciated for blending form and craft, epitomizing a taste more concerned with comfort than trend. Good taste, in other words (for what it's worth, Japan was way ahead of everyone on Birkenstock, too).
Pioneering French brand Futur's Japan-only Mephisto collabs predated, by many years, the footwear company's recent partnerships with casual-leaning makers like Californian youth-culture imprint Madhappy, Canadian sportswear line Body of Work, and New York craft-meets-skate label 18 East, who both revamped Mephisto's Rainbow shoe. Not that the upswell of attention has much affected Mephisto's mindset.
"When we said we wanted to do something based on the Rainbow, [Mephisto] tried to talk us out of doing that," 18 East founder Antonio Ciongoli says. "They went out of their way to say that the Rainbow has never worked in America, it's way too expensive, we should do the Match instead."
Look where we are now. All the collaborative Mephisto shoes sold out immediately.
This is the elderly trickledown, where Mikey Madison wears Mephisto in a recent magazine cover, Mephisto pop-ups touring Japan, and New Balance biting the look of the archetypal Mephisto Match shoe with a familiar-looking and similarly premium-priced walking sneaker. It's veritable Mephisto mania.
But all of Grandpa's comfort shoes are fashion, now.
What's next? Straight-up orthopedics.
Mere weeks after Balenciaga and Scholl collaborated on actual old-person sandals, Dev Hynes departed his Met Gala hotel wearing Merrell Jungle Mocs. Brands as buzzy as Our Legacy are slinging riveted clogs of the Swedish variety, recalling the collaborative Troentorp slip-ons that Japanese brand NEEDLES simply cannot ever keep in stock despite ample restocks.
And, speaking of NEEDLES, parent company Nepenthes is such a fan of young Finnish footwear maker Tarvas' elderly good looks that its Engineered Garments imprint tapped in for a couple collaborative models.
Crunchier menswear minds have come around to the modest good looks and good ol' American craft of Aurora's Middle English, a shoe so good that tailoring-adjacent British imprint Drake's consistently restocks its exclusive iteration.
Comfortable, not cool. That's what's happening here. A brand like Mephisto, long worn by non-fashion gods like Steven Spielberg and an actual Pope (speaking of God!), has the good fortune to be pretty easy on the eyes but even more successful at balancing look and feel.
There's a sort of self-indulgence at play, a rejection of broader footwear culture for something with arch support, something that can be resoled and worn forever as trends flare up and burn out.
Good style is selfish. Grandpa knew it all along.
"One of the main things people ask themselves when they buy something: ‘Is it comfortable? Is it going to last? Is it timeless?’" Fursac creative director and menswear influencer Gauthier Borsarello said of his label's recent Mephisto partnership. "To me, this is real luxury."
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