Women's Casual Shoes

Our women's casual shoes are mostly the ones that have been made the same way for fifty years: Clarks Wallabees and Desert Treks on crepe, G.H. Bass penny loafers, Red Wing mocs and oxfords, Timberland boat shoes and a few Birkenstock leather styles. Nothing here is delicate, and most of it improves with wear rather than the other way round. There's more in all footwear and boots.

Clarks Wallabees and Desert Treks

Half of what's on this page is Clarks, and the Wallabee is the one to understand first. It arrived in 1967, a moccasin with two eyelets on a crepe rubber sole, and it has barely changed since. Crepe is the thing people either love or regret: it's soft, quiet and grips well on dry pavement, it goes slippery on wet tile, and it collects grit in the first fortnight and keeps it. The Desert Trek is the odd-looking one with the seam up the toe, and the Yukoner and Tor Low are the plainer options. We'd wear a Wallabee with wide trousers or turned-up jeans; the shape is bulbous enough that it needs a bit of room above it.

Loafers, Boat Shoes and Mocs

G.H. Bass made the first Weejun in 1936, modelled on the moccasins Norwegian farmers wore, which is where the odd name comes from: Weejun is a shortening of Norwegian. The slot across the strap was for students to tuck a coin into, and that's how it became the penny loafer. We stock the 90s Weejun and a Mary Jane. Red Wing's Shop Moc Oxford and Carrier are the heaviest things here, built on the same lasts as the boots, and they need a fortnight of wear before they stop feeling like boots. Timberland's boat shoes cover the lighter end, including the platform versions, which are a good deal less sensible and a good deal more fun.

Leather, Crepe and Looking After Them

Most of this is unlined or lightly lined leather and suede, which means it moulds to your foot and also that it marks. Crepe soles yellow with age and there is no stopping it; a crepe brush keeps them from going properly grey but they will never look new again. Suede needs a protector spray before the first wear, not after the first downpour. The Red Wing leathers take a conditioner twice a year and will outlast everything else on this page. If you want one pair that handles a British winter without much thought, we'd take the Red Wing oxford over the crepe-soled options.

There's more in Clarks Originals, Red Wing and shoe care.

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