The Perfect Shoe Is So Soft It Becomes a Slipper
Nothing is anywhere near as immodestly indulgent as a shoe so soft that it molds to your foot.. This is what makes a well-worn espadrille or Turkish slipper, lithe silhouettes all but crushed into shape, so inherently debonair. Sockless unstructured ease.
Of all makers, upstart Japanese fashion line and Midorikawa sandal-maker Suicoke have come correct with a two-piece set of perfectly slipper-fied shoes.
You may remember Midorikawa for its Suicoke yeti toe shoes.
You ought to know the LVMH Prize-nominated imprint for its artful pajama-wear, menswear that's been rumpled and ripped up into genderfluid gowns, tunics, and sleeveless shirts fitted with far too many buttons and dangling tassels.
Fun stuff. Advanced stuff, even. But Midorikawa's Suicoke shoes are simply stylish stuff.
For Spring/Summer 2025, Midorikawa and Suicoke created what they call "coin loafers" and "tassel oxfords." These flatted variants of ordinary lace-ups are so wafer thin that their forms can hardly support their own weight, with pre-curled toes and and pre-collapsed suede uppers.
They're really cool. Both shoes' near-shapeless forms epitomize unbothered ease, more slipper than dress shoe. The "coin" and fluffy fringe accoutrement are just visual candy.
And somehow both the coin loafer and tassel oxfords are still available from Japanese stockists, albeit in smaller sizes and for ¥42,000 (around $280).
Midorikawa's Suicokes aren't just riding a wave. Sure, with basically every aspect of footwear caught up in the great flattening, from tennis sneakers to Birkenstocks, there's never been a better time to serve up pre-squished shoes.
Simply render a normally stiff shoe soft to make it instantly suave, regardless of trend.
It does help that even the boat shoes are bearing crushable heels, to be fair: there's a hunger for newly squashed shoes. Thanks to Suicoke's impressively far-reaching design chops, Midorikawa happened to hit the right way at the right time.
Turns out, a footwear brand once best known for technical sandals alone actually has a finger on the pulse.
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