Athleisure shoes – the popular “Not Quite” shoes

Athleisure shoes have become a staple of many women’s wardrobes. These fresh, sporty “not quite sneakers, not quite dress shoes” are comfortable and casual without looking silly with a skirt or shorts.

In researching this new style, I first wondered how they came into existence. Then, I thought back on bus rides downtown to work after college, and all of the women running for buses in their Nikes and short white socks, and remembered how dorky I felt dressed that way. This is so much nicer an alternative!

As our population ages, comfort is paramount. Also, realize how many more women are in the job market than in years past, and it’s no wonder than manufacturers are coming up with stylish shoes for women to wear in place of the standard pumps. Nowadays, women refuse to walk long distances in uncomfortable high heeled shoes. But, they can throw on a pair of athleisure shoes and still look professional and put together, but will be comfortable.

To date, the most popular athleisure shoe style seems to be the Mary Jane style first made popular by Skechers. Almost every shoe brand now has a version of this shoe, it seems, and they are getting cuter all the time.

If you Google “athleisure shoes” it takes you directly to Zappos.com, where you can browse through the 1806 styles for men, and 1594 styles for women that Zappos considers in this category.

Browsing through the women’s selections, you will find “throwback” sneakers and awesome, very open sandal- like shoes with comfort built in. There are also stylish looking flats that are really athletic shoes in disguise, and open back mules for ease and convenience. Nike is even making Mary Jane and gladiator styles that are so stylish you would never guess they were comfortable. Ballet flats with extensive athletic inspirations and comfort systems are being made by Asics, Puma, Gola, and Reebok. Click here to browse the wide selection at the Zappos website, where you will find pages and pages of styles to choose from.

For men, athleisure shoes can best be summed up as shoes that are comfortable yet stylish. They often have a lot of athletic styling built-in to the shoes, but the actual shoes themselves can be any style, even dress shoes and boots. In men’s shoes as well, “throwback” shoes are very popular. These are immensely popular styles from the past, updated with new comfort features so that they feel much better than in the past. The net effect is your old favorites updated for your new lifestyle of comfort. There are also ankle height boots and oxford shoes with athletic “suspensions” but classic styling.

Even for children, there are smaller versions of athletic inspired and comfortable shoes being made by many of the top manufacturers.

Clearly, this is a trend that is not going to go away anytime soon. Now that we know manufacturers can make shoes feel as good as they look, we certainly will demand they keep coming up with fresh styles in the same genre.

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