Loafers as we know them have existed for the better part of a century. And they’re simple, really. A heeled leather sole, a two-piece leather upper, maybe a slim strap for showcasing a penny. And now, loafers are evolving.
The virality of the mutant sneaker-loafer is the loudest manifestation of this change. But a quieter revolution is happening. The more unstructured scrunched loafer is the antithesis of the sporty sneaker-loafer, and yet is becoming increasingly prevalent. This is a shoe whose allure comes from the satisfying crumpling of its leather toe box, like a loafer collapsing in on itself.
These two separate extremes — sneaker-loafer and scrunched loafer — represent the new possibilities for the form.
“There’s always a market for classic loafers, but we’ve seen momentum build [for others] over the past couple of seasons,” says David Morris, buying manager at MR PORTER. “We’ve seen softer and unlined, almost dainty iterations. Proportions are slimmer, soles are flatter, and there has been a shift to more interesting upper construction with rouched forefoots. The Row’s eel loafer… we can’t keep in stock.”
Of course, the ever-prescient The Row creates the prime example of this very modern loafer. Harry Styles owns several pairs.
The Row’s loafer is made from a shiny eel-skin leather that gets progressively more crinkled the closer it gets to the pointed toe, causing the shoe’s structure to dissipate. Where there is normally a rigid boxy-shaped front end, comes soft tactile ruching. Suddenly, an otherwise formal shoe is rendered more casual, slipper-like in form.
“I think [the scrunched leather] adds a subtle point of interest to what’s traditionally a very classic silhouette,” says Morris. “It really showcases the craftsmanship and adaptability of leather.” He also points toward a Saint Laurent loafer that’s currently got TikTok buzzing, with cheap dupes trailing behind. The French house's scrunch loafer variant comprises a paper-thin heel beneath leather uppers gathered in a neat line of little pleats.
“The classic loafer has definitely slowed down in sales,” says Leon Behnke, buyer at Berlin boutique Voo Store, a contrast to what Morris says is happening at MR PORTER. However, Behnke is stocking his shelves with a trio of similarly scrunched-up shoes. Voo Store’s selection includes Dries Van Noten loafers whose grainy leather buckles around a sharp toebox, Jil Sander’s similarly squared-off and ruched penny loafers, and sleek patent leather loafers from Prada, defined by a suddenly crumpled toe box.
“We’ve seen a crazy response to the new sneaker-loafers from New Balance and HOKA,” says Behnke.
Sneaker-loafers are everything a scrunched loafer isn’t. They have bulky cushioned soles, trade leather for high-performance materials, and have a thick boxy shape. Yet the sneaker-loafers' success is linked to that of the scrunched loafer, it’s evidence of a wider appetite for far-from-traditional loafers.
These are two sides of the same coin.
Both have risen to prominence against a backdrop of a broader loafer resurgence, spurred on by a swelling of prep-inspired streetwear labels and menswear’s shift toward more traditional shoes. And both offer an offbeat alternative to the ordinary form of a leather slip-on.
Sneaker-loafers like the trail running-infused HOKA Speed model give the dress shoe an unprecedented level of utility, while squashed slip-ons designed by folks like Bianca Saunders forge something surprisingly delicate.
“The contrast of tension, softness, and flexibility is what I wanted to encapsulate with the footwear,” says Saunders, who enlisted the services of Portuguese shoemaker Valuni to create her shoes, aptly named the Scrunched Loafer. It is, she says, a more effeminate take on the style so often co-opted by yuppie bros.
Saunders’ shoes, with their canoe-like thin shape and ruffled texture, strip the loafer archetype of its stuffy formality. And to different extremes, so do every pair of scrunched loafers. This is the indulgent, tactile side of loaferism.
While the sneaker-loafer provides loafers new function, the scrunch loafer is new elegance.
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