Band of Outsiders Rethinks the Topsider for Sperry

A collaboration between one of America’s oldest companies and one of its newest yields the perfect casual shoe. 

To a certain lacrosse-stick-in-the-Benz-wagon set, the Sperry Topsider is the perfect shoe: a slip-on as comfortable as a slipper that can be worn to dinner under slacks. Young men and women in college towns in the Northeast can be spotted on sidewalks in these ostensible “boat shoes” long into the winter months. But, as an 80-year-old design, the Topsider had recently been shuffling steadily toward stodgy. Fortunately, LA-based brand Band of Outsiders has undertaken another collaboration with the venerable shoe brand. The products are great: slightly modernized shapes, novel colors, but the same traction and durability. Our favorites have no laces, only a tromp l’oeil print—anyone who was tying the laces of his Sperrys was doing it wrong anyways. Sahara leather and white soles keep the shoe grounded in its history, while a sewn-in tongue and the painted details show this pair, at least, wasn’t inherited from dad. This ultimate version of the ultimate slip-on manages to grip on the decks of history while sliding into the present and looks as LA-cool as it does Nantucket-sharp. One nation, under Sperrys.  [$150; sperrytopsider.com]

Photos by Sperry