National Post (National Edition)
Sneakers at work have become the norm
Dress codes relaxed in the workplace
The news this week that Goldman Sachs has issued a decree relaxing its dress codes comes as no surprise; formal wear has taken an almighty battering in the past decade, with a huge decline in suit sales and millennials opting for casual, sportsinflected attire. Which is perhaps appropriate. Fewer of us sit behind mahogany desks these days like captains of industry; our lives are much more dynamic and fluid than those of the besuited Baby Boomers. Hotdesking, We Work cultures and a boom in tech and media industries have seen to that.
But there’s one quandary that the city boys at Goldman — along with readers and colleagues who raise the subject with me — always mull over: what to wear on their feet?
See, then, the rise of the smart sneaker, which has nothing to do with track and field or the gym and is most definitely for a citified, office-centric environment. It has been a bubbling menswear phenomenon since Lanvin created the DBB1 trainer, a glossy patent leather shoe that became a sellout cult item in the early 2010s. Men might traditionally blanch at the idea of wearing these shoes in anything but a casual setup, but the best approach is to think of it not as dressing down, but that the humble sneaker has punched up and elevated itself to new style heights.
As we segue into spring and the warmer months, this is particularly pertinent. The heavy-duty brogues and Oxfords of winter start feeling cumbersome, but the likes of espadrilles and deck shoes still fall too far into the spectrum of “holiday wardrobe.”
The smart sneaker is your saviour here; designed with the clean sophistication of a shoe but with the lightness and dynamism of a running shoe; so much so that Italian artisanal footwear brand Tod’s trademarked their own version, the “Shoeker” — a hybrid creation that traverses the two — earlier this year.
What to look for in the smart sneaker? A minimal, smart design that doesn’t come with the styling tricks and technology of a sports trainer. Look for a subtle colour palette, simple sole and also materials that will elevate it vastly. Instead of tech mesh, plastics and nylons, opt for suedes and leathers.
These are the subtle details that will make the trainer a happy partner to a suit or work-appropriate chinos and you’ll be running streaks ahead in the style stakes.