My New Favorite Summertime Shoe

In the colder months, a man’s got plenty of footwear options: sneakers for casual occasions, dress boots for classier events, leather moccasins for hanging around the house.

Summertime footwear is trickier. Optimally, you want something that’s cool (that you can ideally wear without socks), comfortable, and decent-looking. But the options that hit this combo are few and far between.

A lot of dudes opt for sandals or flip-flops as their go-to summertime footwear. They’re easy to slip on, and they’re supremely breathable. While I sported sandals regularly during my high school days, as I’ve gotten older, they’ve lost their appeal. Except for going to the beach or wearing Chacos while rafting, I don’t think sandals look that good or seem very dignified in most situations. That’s just my personal taste; I don’t feel my centaur feet make a great impression.

For many years, the boat shoe was my own go-to summer shoe. They’re closed-toe, slip on quickly, and because they’re kind of dressy looking, extremely versatile. I could wear boat shoes while I schlepped around the house in my gym shorts and t-shirt or pair them with khakis and a polo to go out for a date night dinner.

But the problem I had with boat shoes is that they’re not very breathable. My feet would get awfully hot and sweaty while wearing them during the hot and humid Oklahoma summers. And then the shoes would get kind of stinky.

So at the start of the season, I was on the lookout for a new summertime shoe. My criteria were: 1) it had to be slip-on, 2) it had to be breathable without exposing toes, and 3) it had to have some class. Basically, I didn’t want to wear Crocs. 

Thankfully, I’ve found a shoe that fits all those criteria: the City Slipper from Mohinders. 

The Backstory of the City Slipper

Mohinders was founded by a fella named Michael Paratore. When Michael was on a trip in Mumbai, India, he came across a pair of handwoven leather slip-ons. He liked the shoes so much that he decided to track down the craftsmen who designed them and start a company to sell them to the masses. 

He and Indian craftsmen from the city of Athani, India, modified the design of the original slip-on to make them a bit more stylish, durable, and comfortable. The City Slipper was born.

Instead of taking this design and then manufacturing the City Slipper in a big factory, Mohinders works with families of 3rd-and 4th-generation shoemakers and leather tanners in Athani. They’re made with an eye towards both quality and minimal environmental impact; the sole is crafted from natural crepe rubber and the upper from full-grain water buffalo leather tanned with natural ingredients.

Why the City Slipper Is the Perfect Summertime Shoe

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