<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1u7dBS_0wPFreD600" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1u7dBS_0wPFreD600" width="960" height="960" ></figure>Every autumn, like clockwork, there emerges a new It-shoe. For the last couple of years it’s probably been some variation on the Adidas Samba (when will everyone get tired of that trainer? Probably never, let’s be honest). But there have been some other significant contenders more recently. The Clarks Originals Wallabees. The eternal loafer. The classic Y2K Ugg boot. And now, we have a new aspirant in town: the boat shoe, which I wasn’t able to escape this weekend on the leaf-strewn streets of Peckham, Dalston and Soho in London.While you might associate boat shoes with American dads and camp counsellors in beige shorts, or else mega-wealthy yacht-y types at Wimbledon, don’t be fooled. This isn’t that sort of boat shoe. The one I kept clocking around town was more often than not a blockier kind worn by Gen Z – the unisex sort you can get from Kickers or Timbaland – and nobody, absolutely nobody, was wearing them without socks or with a too-tight cropped trouser like they do in Nantucket. Consider them the style Pokémon evolution of the Clarks Wallabee, only even daddy-er. And they’re just as often – if not more so – worn by the girls as they are the guys.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=06vTF9_0wPFreD600" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=06vTF9_0wPFreD600" width="1600" height="1065" ><figcaption>Jeremy Moeller/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Most PopularIt makes sense that people would be tapping into this brown utilitarian shoe now that we’re entering the colder months. “Ugly” flat shoes have been knocking around for a while. From Wallabees to Crocs to Birkenstocks, it was only a matter of time before the ultimate ugly shoe became a street style staple. But unlike some of the aforementioned, the boat shoe has the propensity to actually smarten up a look as well as casualise it. They work just as well at your local lunch spot as they do in the office or at a formal work event. I’d hold back on wearing them to the club, but that’s just me. I’m sure some people do wear them to the club?It’s also worth pointing out here that the boat shoe was originally invented in the 1930s by an American sailor called Paul A Sperry as a way to stop people slipping on ice and to provide grip while on wet ground (or boat decks). And while there aren’t a whole load of boats in London other than the ones lining the canal, it definitely gets very, very drizzly come autumn. So there you have it: stylish and practical.</div></body>

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It Feels Like Everyone In London Is Wearing These Dad Shoes For Autumn

Every autumn, like clockwork, there emerges a new It-shoe. For the last couple of years it’s probably been some variation on the Adidas Samba (when will everyone get tired of that trainer? Probably never, let’s be honest). But there have been some other significant contenders more recently. The Clarks Originals Wallabees. The eternal loafer. The classic Y2K Ugg boot. And now, we have a new aspirant in town: the boat shoe, which I wasn’t able to escape this weekend on the leaf-strewn streets of Peckham, Dalston and Soho in London.