Has laziness something to do with it?

Snoafers rising (clockwise from top left): New Balance 1906L, Hoka Speed Loafer, Converse All Star Trekwave Loafer, Paloma X Puma Nitefox and (centre) Mizuno Wave Prophecy Moc. Product photos: respective brands. Collage: Just So

By Shu Xie

After self-lacing shoes, in an era of self-stirring cups, what could be next for slip-on-and-go convenience? We now know of the inevitable—sneakers and loafers coming together to produce love children. And so popular these offsprings have become, they have their own Bennifer-style name: ‘Snoafer’, even when the former is over! The snoafer is possibly a reactive move to the re-emergence of the regular slip-ons such as the loafers and the sportier cousin, the boat shoes. There must be a counterbalance to their increasing dominance in the footwear market, with demand for your regular trainers. I mean, what do sneaker die-hards wear if they are unwilling to cross over to the preppy side?

That question popped up recently when a few of my friends and I gathered to yumcha. The answer was unanimous: the New Balanced 1906L. One problem all of us faced: it is impossible to score a pair. Personally, I have tried. Each time was online at the NB e-store and each time, I was met with five stinking words: “This item is sold out”. And even after clicking on the Notify Me button, was never informed of the availability or the next arrival of the shoes. Never! (Sadly, dupes are already available on Lazada.) As we discussed further, frustration mounting, we realised that all of us encountered the same problem with all the other snoafers we liked. They, too, were always unavailable.

…each time, I was met with five stinking words: “This item is sold out”. And even after clicking on the Notify Me button, was never informed of the availability or the next arrival of the shoes. Never!

Which means ditto for Converse All Star Trekwave Loafer, Hoka Speed Loafer, Mizuno Wave Prophecy Moc, Paloma X Puma Nitefox, the other four of the most compelling so far. We also agreed that among them all, we do love the Hoka a lot (least liked was the Vans Loafer [not pictured]). But that is only available at re-sellers, such as Novelship, where it is sold for S$3,467 in the size of one of the guys (the original price was US$185 [or about S$247]). That is more than 14 times what was asked for at launch, end of January. We may be mad for the Hoka Speed Loafer, but all of us agreed we were not crazy enough.

I have loved wearing the loafer for a long time, since I was a kid, way before I knew what a loafer was or, crucially, meant. I did not know that calling someone a loafer was terribly unkind. Yes, I was that young. When I became aware of words and the joy of using them well, I was told the shoes that could be simply slipped on were called “lazy shoes”. This came from dad, who said that it was his father who called them by that curious name. I remember asking him why the shoes were lazy and he said, it was not the footwear that was indolent, it was the wearer. I wanted to throw away my lazy shoes.

From left New Balance 1906L, Paloma X Puma Nitefox, Mizuno Wave Prophecy Moc, Hoka Speed Loafer, and Converse All Star Trekwave Loafer. Product photos: respective brands. Collage: Just So

The magazine Ivy Style stated somewhat indignantly: “Obviously because they’re for loafing. It’s not exactly a shoe that screams ruthless ambition, is it?” It is not, but it has come this far. Every brand, even the most respectable English shoe makers offer them. But who were the loafers in the past who deserved the shoes created just for them? As urban telling would have it, Norwegian fishermen wore something akin to the present-day loafer and Esquire identified them in a1932 editorial. But when the penny loafers (so called because there really was a penny inserted into the slot in the ‘saddle’ across the top of the shoe), it had nothing to do with fishing or farming, or the like. Rather, it was part of the look that was known as Ivy League. It would take Gucci loafers in 1953 to push them into the sphere of fashion.

The idea of pairing soles of sneakers to the uppers of sensible—even if they aren’t lazy—shoes is not new, of course. Prada had been one of the biggest proponents of the marriage: the brogues meet Wallabees atop a saw-tooth rubber sole to the lace-ups adhered to soles that seemed inspired by basketball kicks of a steampunk movie. When Cole Haan introduced the ZERØGRAND Oxford, the hybrid dress shoes with those distinctive bendy soles, in 2014, loafers quickly followed. I remember that, for some reason, they were especially popular with guys who love wearing linen. It was their espadrilles of the time, just as easy to slip on, perfect for those inclined to loaf.

Unlike past hybrids, usually initiated by traditional shoe makers, the opposite is true of the present breed: they are conceived by athletic brands. New Balance was one of the earliest sportswear names to consider the hybrid model in collaboration with Junya Watanabe, the 1906L first made available last October. That was so successful that NB’s own versions had to be released. The hybrids this year culminated in the excellent Mizuno Wave Prophecy Moc and the silhouette to lust after, Hoka Speed Loafer. All, I say with definite regret, are unattainable. They’re just ghosts of the sneaker hype machine.