There was something in the water backstage at the Spring 2024 runway shows. How else would you explain how three highly influential European fashion brands would both endorse a divisive shoe style most associated with white men summering in Cape Cod?

Jonathan Anderson planted the seeds at JW Anderson with a series of slouchy boat shoes with exaggerated vamps in an array of colors, alongside fisherman sandals and nautical rope flats. Then, at his debut for Bally, Simone Bellotti (now of Jil Sander) established a soon-to-be-editor-favorite vision focused on refined wardrobe staples that didn’t feel stuffy, dressed down with baseball caps, smart layering, an occasional pop of color, and flat footwear—which included black leather boat shoes, styled with a fitted black leather shorts suit over a white T-shirt and light blue button-down. Not long after, the divisive silhouette would get the Miuccia Prada stamp of approval at Miu Miu (on one Troye Sivan, no less), and there was no going back.

“What Mrs. Prada and the Miu Miu brand have done so well is reinvigorate the classic and familiar, really understanding that the styling and the combinations are what make a hero item trend,” says Linda Cui Zhang, associate fashion director at Nordstrom. “It certainly made me notice.”

Zhang has been a champion of the boat shoe revival. She grew up in North Carolina, where she was very much embedded in the coastal lifestyle many associate with the silhouette. “It was very much part of the preppy uniform,” she says. “I don't think I'm alone—so many of my peers have said the same thing, like, ‘I understand it as the popped-collar polo, the khakis, the twin set cardigans, the Vineyard Vines.’”

Indeed, boat shoes have historically been linked to being out on the water. That’s what Paul A. Sperry had in mind when he designed a deck shoe with a non-slip rubber sole in 1935, with grooves inspired by the cracks on a dog’s foot pads so you wouldn’t fall overboard. (Because, yes, that happened to him. Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say.) The original was made of canvas, but two years later, he created a leather version that would become his namesake brand’s signature, the Authentic Original Top-Sider. Two years after that, he got a patent for them. At the beginning of World War II, they were named the standard-issue shoe for the U.S. Navy’s casual uniform.

The company’s ownership changed hands over the years. (Sperry sold it to U.S. Rubber Co. in 1940. It’s since been owned by Stride Rite Corporation, Collective Brands, and Wolverine World Wide. It’s now part of Authentic Brands Group.) But its hallmark style proved so popular that the brand name “Sperrys” is now interchangeable with “boat shoes”—much like "Kleenex" and tissues or "Chapstick" and lip moisturizer.

“In the 1960s, anybody who was considered a ‘preptile’ or a preppy person wore them,” says Ellen R. Lynch, a professor of footwear and accessories design at FIT. The look was especially prevalent among members of yacht clubs and Madison Avenue ad men, who saw it as both a status symbol and a more comfortable, less stuffy footwear option for everyday use. “Nobody wanted to wear a tie-up shoe—that’s what their fathers wore,” she explains. “They wanted something that could designate the fact that they have made a success of themselves, but that it wasn't so staid. That was the boat shoe.”

Famous figures ranging from JFK and Martin Luther King, Jr. to Paul Newman and Sal Mineo to members of the folk generation only boosted their popularity as an off-duty shoe, especially among young people. (Lisa Birnbach went on to immortalize them in her seminal book, “The Preppy Handbook,” in 1980.) And while Sperry was the original, it was no longer the only player in the game: “Everybody had some form of boat shoe, including people like Kenneth Cole and Ralph Lauren; his advertising campaign and entire look was that straddling between what should be a suit and tie and lace shoe [with] a suit and tie and boat shoe, a suit and tie and loafer,” Lynch says. 

The dawn of “Casual Friday” turned boat shoes into a staple of a corporate bro’s uniform—a more comfortable, but still dress-code-abiding, work-appropriate alternative to stiff lace-up shoes and loafers. It’s what gives it enduring appeal, according to Lynch: “It’s a universal, generic, totally comfortable, casual yet semi-dressy shoe.” 

It’s odd to brandish an item that’s been around for almost a century as a “trend,” but this recent boat shoe revival has been different. For one, it’s stuck around longer than other trends from Spring 2024. Shopping data platform Lyst says demand for boat shoes has gone up 19% year-on-year, trending among both men's and womenswear. What makes this moment different—and very current—is an emphasis on personalization. 

“When we think about runway-to-real-way, there's this tension of taking the boat shoe and making it your own,” Zhang says. “That was something I really resonated with—this almost discordant or surprise in the styling, like wearing your boat shoe with a sequin cocktail dress or your floral Dries pants.” It’s also become more season-agnostic: Whereas sandals are still primarily a spring/summer item, boat shoes can be “winterized,” as Zhang puts it, with chunky socks. (Despite launching the collaboration in “the dead of winter,” she says the Nordstrom customer has embraced them as something they can wear year-round.)

At a time when bag charms are a personality trait, this also means customizing your boat shoes. When she bought a pair of Sperrys at the beginning of 2024, Zhang sat on them for a while, contemplating how they might fit into her wardrobe. Then, she restrung the laces with beads from Don’t Let Disco and wore them to Copenhagen Fashion Week. 

“It spurred a conversation of, ‘I'm seeing the boat shoe in a new light,’” she remembers. “So many people asked, ‘Where did you get those from?’ That also spurred a conversation with the brand, which turned into a collaboration of beaded styles we now sell at Nordstrom.”

The retailer introduced a boat shoe capsule in February. Sperry, for its part, has maintained a presence in fashion: It provided shoes for Monse’s Spring 2025 and Fall 2025 shows, as well as for Collina Strada’s Spring 2025 runway, where designer Hillary Taymour covered them in glass clippings. It’s also collaborated with brands like Beams Plus, Todd Snyder, and, most recently, Aritzia. The latter collection went so viral that it sold out in five hours, according to the brand. But never fear, a restock is coming to aritzia.com on April 26.

More broadly, the boat shoe’s current moment fits into a larger trend of accessories “becoming more relaxed and softer,” Zhang argues. “We've seen it in bags with these rounded, unstructured shapes. In shoes, it’s the prevalence of that soft, squishy, unstructured ballet flat and now boat shoe becoming, toeing the line between [something] that they can get away with wearing to work and then also not bearing the pain of a sharp, polished loafer. There's this nice in-between that the boat shoe can now slide into.” 

Another position it slides into: the neutral shoe of your footwear rotation. It’s the go-to for any outfit and any occasion where you want to be comfortable—think of it as a sporty alternative to a ballet flat or a broken-in loafer. You’ll be surprised by how seamless a swap it is, whether it’s adding a touch of prep to a voluminous tea-length skirt or a sequined slip dress or amping up the Americana feel of your blue jeans and white tee. The boat shoe's runway precedent offers a jumping-off point for outfit brainstorming, showcasing its versatility. Now it’s in our hands—or rather, on our feet.