Once idly dismissed as the preserve of flip‑flop holidaywear and practical hikers, shoes have this summer reasserted themselves as the most visible and argumentative accessory in fashion. The polarising looks range from rubber flip‑flops and neoprene water shoes to glove‑like toe pockets: Vibram’s FiveFingers and other barefoot silhouettes have migrated from the trail and the gym onto catwalks, high‑street displays and the streets outside shows. According to reporting in The Guardian, the shift has been unmistakable this season, with kayaker and barefoot‑running aesthetics as unexpected references for summer dressing. (The Row’s Dune flip‑flop also emerged as the single most searched product globally in Lyst’s Q2 2025 Index, underlining how footwear has come to dominate consumer attention.)

Lyst’s Q2 2025 Index lays out the data behind the sensation: of the ten most sought‑after items in the quarter, six were shoes. The index — which pools searches, views, sales and social activity across millions of users — frames footwear as a compact, visible investment that consumers are using to signal taste in a season of wider economic caution. Industry analysis in the report points to a broader appetite for statement and functional shoes: trainers, nostalgic loafers and sandals all registered notable surges alongside the more divisive silhouettes.

Runways and street style have reinforced the numbers. Copenhagen fashion week supplied a vivid parade of “ugly” footwear that ranged from 3D‑printed Havaianas with sculpted toe caps to orthopaedic clogs, embellished Crocs and trekking trainers reworked by luxury and street labels. Coverage of the OpéraSPORT presentation highlighted a collaboration between Havaianas and 3D‑printing specialist Zellerfeld that produced single‑piece, sculpted flip‑flops — an example of how production tech is being used to reinterpret classic casual forms for the fashion set. Outside shows, the mix of battered biker boots, chunky trekking styles and braided “uneek” sandals illustrated how comfort and bricolage aesthetics are feeding into a single seasonal story.

Toe‑forward footwear has been the most visually confrontational strand of the trend. Sales platforms and resale sites have reflected a sharp revival: second‑hand searches for Vibram FiveFingers jumped substantially this spring, and mainstream houses have answered with their own iterations — Balenciaga’s Zero shoe with its 3D‑moulded sole and enclosed big‑toe detail and other designs that expose or isolate the toe have amplified the conversation. Design and fashion commentators have noted that these styles trade on a deliberate mix of spectacle and function, provoking online debate about practicality and taste even as they attract celebrity and influencer attention.

The surge is not without historical precedent. Fashion historians point to Maison Margiela’s Tabi boot, first unveiled in 1988 and inspired by traditional Japanese tabi and jika‑tabi footwear, as the provocation that normalised split‑toe silhouettes within high fashion. Business of Fashion traces how Margiela’s theatrical presentations and the Tabi’s idiosyncratic split‑toe have been repeatedly mined by designers and houses seeking a subversive signature. The contemporary toe craze sits on that lineage while pushing it into new materials and manufacturing techniques.

Voices from the fashion community capture the tensions the trend creates. “There is so much numbness to how we consume each other’s style today,” Dal Chodha, a lecturer at Central Saint Martins, told The Guardian, describing the look as “polarising.” Dutch creative director Fia Hamelijnck, who first bought toe‑pocket shoes for hiking, said she now wears them everywhere — from supermarkets to fashion shows — and relishes the startled reactions: “I can see people’s eyes widening as they spot them.” Ruby Redstone, a fashion historian in New York, reminded readers that eccentric and extreme footwear is nothing new, citing historical precedents that show novelty and discomfort have long been folded into status dressing.

Technology and retail theatre are compounding the craze. Reporting on the Havaianas–Zellerfeld project flagged the role of additive manufacturing and novel materials in producing unexpected shapes and single‑piece constructions; retailers are amplifying that with experiential pop‑ups. Selfridges, for example, opened a limited pop‑up to launch Takashi Murakami’s colourful EVA sliders, using the artist’s signature smiling flower to turn foam slides into social‑media moments and an “art meets merchandising” experience. The narrative around these releases is often playful and experiential — retailers present them as joyful or experimental — while critics position them as attention‑seeking or niche.

What emerges is a larger commercial and cultural logic: designers and brands are weaponising provocation and comfort together. Lyst’s data shows consumers will pay for small, visible statements in footwear even when they diverge from traditional notions of elegance; editorial and design coverage, including observations about Balenciaga’s polarising Zero and similar entries, capture how spectacle and functionality are being blended to generate conversation. Whether the look endures as a mainstream staple or fragments into subcultural niches will depend on whether the novelty continues to feel transgressive rather than merely ubiquitous. For now, ugly‑shoe summer is less a rejection of taste than a redefinition of where fashion locates its provocations — at ground level.

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Source: Noah Wire Services