Wall Street Journal: World’s Dorkiest Walking Shoe, Is Suddenly—Cool?

LINK: Wall Street Journal

Mephisto, the ultimate grandpa brand, is suddenly, improbably cool. Once the butt of jokes about aging ungracefully, the 59-year-old French shoemaker has become an It-girl and It-boy favorite, producing footwear as treasured for its comfort as for its stubbornly unfashionable authenticity. With orthopedic soles, bulky profiles and a delicate retro label, Mephisto appears to be the last frontier in the exodus toward chunky, practical shoes that has propelled brands like Birkenstock and Crocs to global dominance. 

“I love them,” several non-geriatric fashion insiders told me, sending me links to their favorite models, including the thick-soled “Lady” for women and the “Rainbow” for men, and the sneaker-like “Rush,” most of which are between $350 and $400 in the U.S. The shoes have been spotted in photos in independent magazines like Unconditional and kicking around art schools and wine bars in big cities. Unconventional artists have long loved Mephistos—Taryn Simon has been photographed in them, and Chase Hall told New York magazine last year that he owned 50 pairs. 

he cool factor has caught family-owned Mephisto somewhat by surprise. Martin Michaeli, who founded the company in 1965, still runs it out of Sarrebourg, France alongside his children Marc and Stéphanie. (The name “Mephisto” was plucked from Goethe’s “Faust” by Michaeli.) While the brand does not release sales figures, it has over 900 stores worldwide. Its chief executive and president in the U.S., Rusty Hall, said there had recently been double-digit growth on the recently refreshed e-commerce site.

“We put more into the product than we put into anything else,” said Hall, stressing the hand-stitched components, and the natural materials like suede and rubber. “We’re not a marketing company.”

That non-strategy strategy appears to be working. 

Trendsetting boutiques and brands are riding the wave. Cambridge, Mass., streetwear boutique Cncpts, New York brand 18 East and Nordstrom have collaborated with the brand. Two important barometers of the zeitgeist, vintage connoisseur Brian Procell and Gauthier Borsarello of classic French men’s label Fursac, have recently announced collaborations with Mephisto. 

Creative director Borsarello’s purist take on the shoe for Fursac is an older model called the “Dribbler.” Available in white and navy (in unisex sizes, starting at a 40), it launches on Dec. 4. Its campaign video shows a grandpa and his grandson wearing the same shoe, driving home the idea that the shoe’s appeal is intergenerational. 

The reputation of the shoe in Paris is “really bad,” said Borsarello. “It’s only for old people.” Not everyone on his team immediately understood the allure. But the creative director, who’s long worn Mephistos himself, was excited by the shoe’s enduring commitment to quality and the fact that it’s still made in Europe. He also mentioned the fact that defunct Manchester lad-culture boutique Oi Polloi was an early adopter.

“Comfort is everything since Covid,” said Borsarello, explaining the shoe’s appeal right now. “It’s now one of the main things people ask themselves when they buy something: ‘Is it comfortable? Is it going to last? Is it timeless?’ To me, this is real luxury.”

Nordstrom was ahead of the curve when it collaborated with sneaker whisperer Alex Dymond on an exclusive Mephisto in 2021. The Seattle retailer’s men’s fashion director Jian DeLeon said, “Mephisto has developed a reputation as one of those ‘if you know, you know’ labels among longtime sneaker enthusiasts,” comparing it to Birkenstock and New Balance’s classic 990 sneaker.  

Until recently, the Mephistossance was mostly a male-sneakerhead thing, but women are warming to the shoes.  

Christene Barberich, who writes the newsletter A Tiny Apt., recently ordered a pair of Mephistos because she was looking for a shoe that didn’t feel too “on the nose.” When she read that they were Steven Spielberg’s shoe of choice, she was sold. “That’s who I want style advice from lately: Oscar-winning filmmakers who are also nerdy grandparents.”

“They’re divisive,” said Sarah de Mavaleix, a Paris stylist and editor of fashion magazine the Skirt Chronicles, who’s a devotee of the shoe she calls “so bad it’s good.” While she thinks they’re a wonderfully old-school accessory that makes an outfit more unexpected, some of her friends—and her boyfriend—are less convinced, calling them “horrible” and “too orthopedic.” 

“Certain people don’t find them very attractive,” de Mavaleix said.

Aside from looks, the wellness boom, which elevates exercise gear like weighted vests and Bala bangles to fashion accessories, may also contribute to the steps-friendly Mephisto’s ascendance. 

“I feel like it’s a healthy shoe,” said Daphne Javitch, a Los Angeles health coach and founder of the digital membership service Doing Well. Javitch is a big walking proponent; when we chatted she was on a Los Angeles hike in her weighted vest. She likes the “Rush” white sneaker style and recently picked up a simple Capezio-like jazz shoe version at the store in Paris. She sees it as the “perfect New York winter shoe” because “in New York, your entire life is walking and fashion.”

Javitch said her academic, luxury-eschewing parents had always worn Mephistos. She remembers being surprised that they would wear something so expensive, but fans of the shoes say they last for ages. That may even add to the allure.

“I think a Mephisto is way better after 10 years of walking in them,” said Borsarello. “So I recommend wearing them a lot before they become cool.”