Will the Golden Age of Clunky Dad Slides Ever End?
One of the scant silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic was renewed appreciation for easy-on slides ideal for round-the-house lounging. But, while other WFH clothing trends like the sudden sweatpants craze ended nearly as quickly as they began, the slip-on sandal movement is stronger (and weirder) than ever.
People aren't just wearing the Birkenstock Boston clog, they're also reaching for tech-y Salomon mules, 3D-molded slides, and JW Anderson's Wellipets. Well, maybe not so much that last one.
Still, the truth is, never have comfy slides been more in vogue, for some reason. Move over dad shoes, here come the dad sandals.
We've tracked the quiet infiltration of cushioned sandals into the worlds of luxury fashion and sportswear alike over the past few years, as a veritable army of footwear designers issue their own iterations of what is essentially a post-workout recovery slide.
In the early days of the pandemic, shoes like Reebok's Beatnik clog and strappy Suicoke sandals were commonplace. It was pure utility: you aren't going anywhere, why lace up?
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But in the ensuing years, even as tastes turned GORP, demand for easy-on slides lingered. Crocs get more popular seemingly every month — the clogmaker notched record high revenue this year — and even tastemakers like Nike are turning out shoes that look more like your dad's pool slides.
Nearly every brand that makes running sneakers also makes a squishy slide intended to be worn after a tough jog, but you really saw them go after that inimitable YEEZY SLIDE shape in the past few years.
From ASICS to New Balance, everyone's doing it — even adidas is getting in on its own action, much to the chagrin of YEEZY founder Kanye "Ye" West.
Meanwhile, Louis Vuitton is only the latest luxury label to dip its open toes into a dad-ish sandal. The LV Pool 55 mule that released in May is a cushioned rubber slide very much akin to Balenciaga's own pool mule (a Crocs collab, natch), at least in terms of design cues and color options.
That there are a lot of sandals being released around summertime is no surprise. But that the sandals from both pricey and approachable brands alike are all taking similar, waterproof or quick-drying form is not so normal.
It makes you wonder if the deluge of zhooshed-up mules will ever slow or if, like the Y2K movement, it'll simply take a different shape. After all, the pandemic-driven demand for clogs mutated from a generalized demand for mules into Birkenstock Boston hype and then into these yassified recovery slides.
I'm not complaining either way, mind you. Who doesn't want to be comfortable?
