The footwear equivalent of calamine lotion, the lace-up white plimsoll has barely changed in the last fifty years. Comfortable and calm in equal measure, their beauty lies in their unwavering versatility – clean and simple, they really do go with everything. First developed as beachwear during the 1830s, they were formerly referred to as ‘sandshoes’, before making the transition to the parquet-floored gymnasiums of schools across mid-century Britain.
You could say they’re a true example of sartorial utilitarianism, unfussy and relatively cheap, we are rarely sentimental about their upkeep – preferring instead (as I do) to wear them to death, enjoying every last thread of that lightweight canvas upper. People of a certain aesthetic persuasion tend to spend their time safeguarding a look of uniqueness, but with the white plimsoll, it somehow doesn’t irk us to see another human sauntering down the street wearing something similar.
Designed for unisex functionality, the Studio Nicholson Merino shoes are the result of a collaboration with Moonstar Japan. Available in three different colours, with sturdy rubber toecaps and tonal eyelets, these cotton-canvas bad-boys have timeless appeal. Anti-fashion and reassuringly boring, they force the notion of normcore up a notch – fresh and banal in equal measure, they’re a sporty punctuation mark for any summer silhouette.
LC
Shop the Merino plimsoll