Skip to main content
Open this photo in gallery:

Handout

At Gravity Pope, a high-end boutique with outposts in Calgary and Toronto, one of the bestselling shoes of the year was a lumpen clog with a silhouette resembling a broad bean. “Whenever new stock came in, it sold right out,” says Matthew Ray, a Gravity Pope buyer. Though the shoe, the Birkenstock Boston slide, first debuted in 1977, Ray notes that sales of the shoe have been “exceptional” over the past year. “We have a customer wish list on our website and every day I get at least 10 e-mails from the wish list about bringing in more Bostons.”

It seems the shoe that defined 2021 – a year marred by inflation, burnout and seemingly universal despair – is a flat slip-on that wouldn’t look out of place on an 16th-century Dutch farmer. According to global fashion shopping platform Lyst, Birkenstock Boston clogs were one of the “most wanted” items of the year, with searches jumping 229 per cent compared to last year, receiving 36 per cent more page views in 2021 than their classic two-strap Arizona counterparts. Google searches for “Birkenstock Boston” increased by 80 per cent in Canada over the past 12 months. And the waitlist of those eager to acquire their own pair of the capacious clogs is only growing. (Due to pandemic-related supply chain issues, they’re also ridiculously hard to come by.)

“I feel like every guy I know is wearing them,” says Jason Diamond, a fashion and culture writer for GQ. Not only is the puffy shoe beloved by men’s wear luminaries such as Jonah Weiner, writer of the cultish lifestyle newsletter Blackbird Spyplane, and Chris Black of the How Long Gone podcast, they have also graced the dainty hooves of model Kendall Jenner and YouTube personality Emma Chamberlain.

Though the Bostons are outwardly schlubby in appearance – their most remarkable characteristic is their expansive width – there is something underhandedly stylish about the shoe. Their unassuming exterior lends any outfit a patina of effortlessness, generating equal parts envy and desire. Neel Subramanian, a physician based in North Carolina who runs a men’s wear Instagram says, “They give formal clothing a more ‘devil may care’ nonchalant sensibility” without giving off “the Mario Batali ‘I’ve given up on life’ or ‘I’m cancelled’ vibes of Crocs.”

While the Birkenstock brand managed to cast off its grubby hippie reputation after a well-timed collaboration with designer Rick Owens in 2016, the Boston clog has remained the ugly stepsister – until now. Twenty years ago they were liable to be paired with cabin socks, Roots sweatpants and a Hollister shirt, but the Boston-wearers of today are more likely to pair them with sleek dress pants or voluminous dresses.

A buyer at Montreal-based Altitude Sports, Claudia Inkel, says that demand for the Bostons has been especially pronounced in the second half of the year with no signs of slowing down. In June, Jil Sander reimagined the Bostons in a slightly more streamlined shape with an added heel strap, while streetwear brand Stussy launched its own corduroy version of the clog in August. Designers such as JW Anderson, Brother Vellies and Isabel Marant all offer their own luxe replicas, often for over triple the price of the original shoe.

Katie Corbridge, a voiceover director based in Toronto, purchased her first pair of Bostons in November, after ruminating over the decision all summer. She admits that the style once triggered a reaction of visceral disgust, but her stance on the slipper softened after spotting them on the likes of austere minimalist influencers like Lizzy Hadfield, Brittany Bathgate and Anna Newton. “There’s something so effortless about wearing a pair of really sleek trousers and a beautiful coat then just throwing on some comfy shoes,” she says. “I’m ashamed to admit it, but I was heavily influenced.”

Ailsa Ross, a writer in Jasper, Alta., bought her Bostons during the “heat dome” that swept across Western Canada in July. She was drawn to them because they resemble the kind of shoe a heroine in a Tolstoy novel would wear. “They remind me of the capable women, going through the fields and milking animals and wearing headscarves,” she says.

Diamond confirms that there is an element of cosplay driving the current thirst for the relaxed footwear in general. The more a shoe looks out of place in our culture, the more covetable it is, and the Boston fulfills that need. “Right now, we’re at a point where everyone wants to imagine they’re someplace else,” he says.

Whatever the reason for their inexplicable popularity may be, it seems as if Birkenstock Boston clogs are here to stay. They’re slobby yet elegant, kooky yet relaxed and seem to be the one item that every style tribe, from slow fashion enthusiasts to hypebeasts, can agree on. The Bostons are an emblem of the individualistic, increasingly chaotic approach to personal style that more and more people are coming to embrace.

Sign up for The Globe’s arts and lifestyle newsletters for more news, columns and advice in your inbox.

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe