Shoes are considered as human clothing accessory and a sneak peek to a person’s inner personality. Most people are quite meticulous in their selection and thus spend a substantial amount of time skimming through every kind of shoes. Numerous shoe fans would even ship them from abroad, thus forking out a large sum over this item. Shoes are differentiated in styles and the purpose they play.
If one is after something to get their feet warm or feel as light as a feather on their feet, they might not really care about the style or trend to follow, but for someone who would prefer to reflect a certain aspect in themselves while visiting a place, say, acing an interview for the company, or putting an elegant demeanor in front of the guests, they will go for the style. Regardless, while visiting a shop, shoes are classified by their styles and brands. Brands play a significant role in their selection.
Some famous shoe brands fancied around the globe include, Adidas, Puma, Nike, Bata, Hush Puppies, and Gucci. Types determined by various styles include, Sneakers, Boots, Sandals, Loafers, Chelsea boots, Dress shoes, Flats, Heels, Sport shoes, Snow boots, Business shoes, Hiking boots, Ballet shoes, Flip-flops, Oxford shoes, cowboy shoes, Ankle straps, thigh- and knee-high boots.
There are countless other types which came as a variations of aforementioned shoe styles.
Style 1: Best Casual footwear- Sneakers
Sneakers are considered as the most comfortable form of footwear, thus the reason they are usually worn at home or after work. They come with versatile sizes and shapes for men, women and children. The most agreeable type consists of soft thin leather with flat soles. These shoes first originated way back at the turn of 20th century in America. The name sneaker was surprisingly given when they were worn as athletic shoes for tennis match in Boston, as they did a great job in sneaking up on players.
Popular Sneaker Brands: Nike, Adidas, and Puma
Style 2: Hard & High-heeled Western Leather Boots
A shoe covering one’s ankles, feet, and often times lower calf are referred to as shoes. They usually come with a heel and tough exterior. The main purpose of this typical design is to provide agility in swampy areas and hiking as their hard and full length covering provides protection from water, mud, insect bites, and temperature and radiation skin damage. They are also worn as a fashion trend, mostly among western ladies. Besides this, they can also come in handy for engineers working at a construction site, where these shoes are referred as steel-toed safety shoes.
Popular Boot Brands: Marten’s, Grenson, Red Wing, and Timberland
Style 3: Easygoing and Affable Footwear- Sandals
A common and most ancient type of footwear that survived to this date is sandal. These types of shoes originated way back in the roman age, and astonishingly found their usage in France as Sandale, in Greece as Sandalium, and in the Middle East as Sandalies, finally making their way to England as simply Sandals. Principally, they are made of rubber or soft leather, but can also be made from wood, tatami or ropes as seem in the Japanese culture. Sandals in their style are quite similar to some other shoes but the basic difference is their usage in warm climatic conditions. Types of Sandals include, Slides, Gladiators and Wedges.
Popular Sandal Brands: Adidas, Birkenstock, Clarks, Bata, and Nike
Style 4: Humble and Classic Loafers
These types of shoes have a shape that can closely resemble a sneaker but have a relatively resilient exterior, sometimes have top straps to tighten the shoe but no laces, and are considered a slip-on type. They originated back in 1930s and went by the name ‘Weejuns’ which has quite an ambiguous story. Most people claim it to be the invention of Norwegians, as for British, these shoes were specifically made for King George VI to ‘loaf around’ in 1920s. Despite the bafflement, Loafers became a popular trend during John F. Kennedy’s presidency. Some famous types of loafers include, Rugged Rubber shoes, Smart Black Leather, Collapsible Penny Loafers, and Collapsible Tassel Loafers.
Popular Loafer Brands: Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, and Clarks
Style 5: Naturally Laid back Flip-Flops
Counted Among Casual Wear for home, Flip-flops are best suited for warm to temperate climatic regions of the world. These shoes are usually made of elastic material, such as rubber, as a strap that keeps the foot on its rubber, leather, wooden sole. This strap has a top, left and right attachment to the sole and intersects between one’s toe and second finger of the foot. Some refer flip-flop as a type of Sandal wear which is a far-fetched reality considering its unique built. Similar to sandals, these shoes can be worn outdoors due to its easy-to-wear style and open-ended top which allows fingers and toes to protrude out with ease.
Popular Flip-Flop Brands: Havaianas, Rocket Dog, Clarks, and Skechers
Style 6: Rebellious and Stylish Chelsea Boots
Starting off as the most popular type among many Englishmen in the Victorian era, Chelsea boots were then worn by men and women alike after Queen Victoria herself adopted them in her style. These boots, although mistakenly compared with regular boots, have similar construct of boots but principally different. They consist of ankle-high close fitting leather or suede, and have a trademark side strap to help pull on the shoe. Explosion of mod era in England between 1958-1969 brought many young men to adopt its style, who were enthusiastically looking to bring about cultural changes.
Popular Chelsea Brands: Amberjack, New Republic, Saint Laurent, Dr. Martens, and Axel Arigato
Style 7: Delicate & Modest Flats
Flats shoes are generic in nature, and one might include shoes like loafers, ballet shoes or sneakers in the same category. Fundamentally, flats are worn among women and provide multifunctional assistance, including attending a meeting at the office, going for shopping at the mall, and attending a wedding. Furthermore, they can easily go along with any form of dressing type for ladies, such as dresses, jeans, trousers, or even jumpers. Some famous types of flats available in every store are pointed-toe flats, Mules, and Slingbacks.
Popular Flats Brands: Rothy’s, Sarah Flint Sacchetto, Toms Darcy, Mansur Gavriel and Allbirds
Style 8: Professionally Confident Feminine Heels
Being a classic choice of women, heels come in various shapes and sizes. Heels might not be on par with shoes like flats or sneakers, but they definitely have a more superior purpose for every woman. Where men like to wear thicker soles, women prefer heels to look taller. Not only that, but it can also make every lady profoundly confident and elegant in working environments. On the flip side, heels can have destructive results when put on for prolonged duration. It can easily sprain the leg, twist ankle bones, if not carefully walked, or might crook a good body posture. Common types of heels include, Wedges, Peep-toes, Cone heels, Stilettos, Platform heels, Cut-out heels, French heels, Kitten heels, and Oxford heels etc.
Popular Heel Brands: Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo, and Louis Vuitton
Style 9: The Goal-Oriented Sports Shoes
Often times referred an Athletic Shoe, Sports shoes are not just any regular athletic shoes. While the later only refer to shoes used for running or jogging, sport shoes are actually used in official outdoor games. A fun fact about sport shoes is that the first of its kind was made by Liverpool Rubber Company of Bolton, United Kingdom back in 1830s where its inventor connected a rubber sole to canvas top. Today, Sports shoes refer to a wide variety of footwear that changes over every Olympic game played around the world.
Popular Sports Shoe Brands: Adidas, Nike, Reebok, NoBull, Under Armour, and New Balance
Style 10: High Frictional Support with Snow Shoes
Another interesting style wore specifically in the snow are snow shoes, also sometimes called ski shoes. These type of shoes have stronger frictional capacity, and warm interior to keep a snow skater or a person moving in the snow from slipping on slopes of snowcapped mountains. They come as a part of outdoor snowboarding gear, and have a large surface area extending out underneath the soles to help steady the foot on snow.
Popular Snow Shoe Brands: Danner, MSR Revo Explore, and Altas Montane Snowshoes
Style 11: The Business Class Oxford & Derby Footwear
Oxford and Derby shoes are favorites among men intending to show off a classy personality at a formal gathering. These shoes commonly come in black and brown themes, and both have a unique origin which explains their formal usage. Oxford shoes were named after Oxford University where most students rebelled against Knee high and Chelsea boots, while Derby shoes date back to Napoleonic era where many French soldiers wore this style with the uniform. The fundamental difference between Oxford and Derby shoes presides in their lacing system, where Oxford shoe is closed lace, Derby shoes are open laced from the top.
Popular Oxford & Derby Shoe Brands: Carlos Santos, Crockett & Jones, and Acme Shoemaker
Style 12: Distinctive & Sturdy Cowboy Shoes
A unique kind of boot that originated from American Civil War back in 1860s, Cowboy shoes have high ankle and calf coverage and usually pointy toe shapes with high heels. Soldiers of the civil war used these due to thier quick manufacture and efficient working on the battlefield. Later they were mostly used by Cowboys who rode horses for hours, sometimes even days, while these shoes ensured their feet fixation on the stirrups and kept dirt and gravel from injuring their foot in the South. After the advent of industrialization, automatic stitching machine produced mass quantity of Cowboy shoes. With the turn of 20th century, they spread like wildfire among fashionistas of all ages, genders, and cultures. Today, some best cowboy footwear includes, traditional Justin boots, Sandra boots, Justin Sevana boots, Exotic Cowboy boots, made from alligator or fish skin rather than leather, and Durango Heartbreaker for women.
Popular Cowboy Shoe Brands: Justin Boots, Corral Boots, Tony Lama, and Ariat
Style 13: Classy Women’s Wear, The Ankle Straps
This footwear is so called due to the presence of attachable straps going right behind the ankle of a foot. Despite giving off a casual vibe, these shoes are considered classy among women, and can also be worn for workout because of its ability to keep the foot in place. Some shoes utilize an ankle strap for purely decorative purposes, and thus this shoe, besides having a strap behind the ankle, often also contains straps as decorative on the top of shoes, making it more arable but prone to getting dirt inside with ease. In such wears, most women prefer to have socks underneath ankle straps. Back in 1950s, this type often came with heels but soon found more elegance in a flatter base.
Popular Ankle Strap Brands: DMoose, Gymreapers, and Hawk
Keep Shoes that Define and Comfort You
To conclude it all, shoe types depend immensely on the utility they provide, and most people invest in the shoes that are sustainable in long-term usage. Despite their versatile functionalities, the wisest decision in their selection lies in their comfortability. This comfortability must include considerations such as the softness of the leather, spacing and coverage they provide, their flexibility which can be easily tested by bending the shoe in V-shape, and relaxation of foot muscle. When it comes to muscle relaxation, most women prefer to wear high heels that are quite dangerous to metatarsal bone of the foot, hence these types must not be worn for longer durations. Similarly, for men, Oxford and Derby shoes are often preferred, but their prolonged usage effect the natural perspiration of the feet, hence despite being at workplace wearing these shoes for straight ten to eleven hours must be avoided at all costs.