Nate Gallant: Once it is too hot and humid for socks, which happened exceedingly early this year in DC, I am usually a big fan of the classic, light suede Birkenstock. They last forever (my last pair, almost ten years), take a relatively short time to mold completely to your specific foot shape, and are extremely forgiving on various shapes and states of foot health. They are also conveniently trendy again thanks to several, overlapping normcore revivals in the past five years. This has multiplied the styles, options, and availability of what was previously a pretty standard array of clogs and sandals, which also inevitably means sales and relatively decent dupes. While accessibility shouldn’t require wasteful and often ugly excess, here we are. The same could be said of Tevas and the many leather iterations from Doc Martin. We’re living through something of a sandal renaissance.
However, the espadrille is an equally flexible but bolder choice for light summer footwear. Espadrilles are generally defined by a laceless, canvas slipper with a straw or straw-looking flat sole. The upper is often squared clean across the top of the foot, and thus offers a very clean silhouette. They are traditional footwear in the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking world, and thus redolent of continental vacations. (Esparto is a kind of Spanish grass used to make the sole.) But as with most reliable clothing or footwear options around the world, the design was taken on by North American shoe manufacturers and high-end European designers. The espadrille has globalized; now buyers have access to either crappier low-end versions or overpriced luxury ones.
The espadrille’s advantage as summer footwear is a good balance between a clean look and light feel. Aesthetically, they cut a nice sort of triangle shape over the foot with the contrast between the fabric upper and the sole — I like a dark color of fabric lined with a light straw or synthetic taupe on the sole, personally. They look nice with both the high ankle cut of trousers and the trendy loose and low, drapey taper. This might also help you avoid picking sides in the generational fashion argument du jour, the now Times verified sock-length wars. They will also prevent you from looking like you’re in a Ferragamo ad by wearing the much more bro-y and quite finicky, overpriced leather loafers.
Still, the thing about espadrilles, even at high price points, is that they’re even more ephemeral than your normal daily shoe — as Kyle wrote of Uniqlo linen shirts, they are essentially the disposable summer napkin of footwear. Espadrilles rarely last more than one season. They are both timeless and totally temporary, whether you go for trendy fast-fashion purveyors or upmarket brands. Tom’s or Diegos are fine, but it would be hard to distinguish them in disposability or aesthetics from a fast-fashion pair, so I suggest just buying whichever pair strikes your fancy at a comfortable price point, then maybe add an insole, which will also inevitably get gross. Pick a color; it is often easier to get shoes in an earthly color lighter in tone than the pants you normally wear, though a light green is also more flexible than you might think. To enjoy the aesthetic of espadrilles, you have to embrace decay, and put up with even a bit more waste than usual.
For those who want to try an upgrade, generally anything in the $50-$100 price point on an online fashion retailer will offer an extra year or two of use, and they're often on sale. Mr. Porter is having a fairly dramatic one right now, though if you wait until August, they'll be even more discounted. I would recommend staying away from leather and suede uppers. Wearing a more weather or grime sensitive shoe somewhat defeats the purpose of the espadrille’s use and aesthetic value: a no-thought, just throw it on and still look intentionally dressed footwear option.
The brands are nearly irrelevant, in my experience, although I personally have had good luck with the canvas Castañer models, and I think the Todd Snyder ones look nice as well. By the end of the summer most of the mid-range designer brand versions land at around $80, down from around $150-$200 in the spring. Some of the slightly nicer ones are also repairable at your local shoe-repair or leather-repair shop, and made from less synthetic materials, which makes their eventual disintegration more palatable. Think a little bit about what you’re buying, but not too much. The point is the ease.
Previously on One Thing: Why you should buy bulk tanks of this family-owned Greek olive oil to keep in your kitchen.
espadrilles ftw! one brand i can't recommend enough being Angarde. the adding value being in the sole they use which makes the whole thing (a) a bit more durable [2 whole seasons instead of one let's say] but also (b) you can still wear them under the rain [which is fairly impossible with old school-classical espadrilles]. this was my pair last year [before/ after pic]: https://objet.cc/kev/espadrille-summer-22 -- i'll start wearing my new one in a few days ✌️