Finally, Wallabee Loafers

Clarks’ Wallabee is one of the all-time great shoes. It’s perfect in its humble snubbiness and, though Clarks’ didn’t make the first Wallabee, its version is the most easily accessible and the one available in the weirdest and best makeups.

Now, the Wallabee peaks, thanks to Clarks’ Wallabee Loafer.

Laces are stupid. They’re fiddly and cumbersome and sometimes get too tight or too loose for no real reason and yeah. To hell with laces, I welcome the era of slip-on everything.

Clarks’ Wallabee Loafer is just that. A classic Wallabee but with a loafer-inspired forefoot strap (borrowed from an archival Clarks shoe) that holds your foot in place without forcing you to fuss with laces. That’s it. And it’s perfect in its simplicity.

I have nothing to offer but a riff on a meme format that I enjoy: Finally, Wallabee Loafers.

There ought to be Wallabee Loafers soon available on Clarks’ website and at specialty (read: sneaker-savvy) stockists but it launched in Japan on March 15.

Clarks is on a bit of a tear these days, especially with collaborative models — recent standouts include team-ups with Vandy the Pink, Slam Jam, Salehe Bembury, Li-Ning, and adidas x KITH (!) — but these Wallabee Loafers are some of finest in-line footwear I’ve seen Clarks cook up to date.

As far as I’m concerned, nearly all shoes are made better by replacing their laces with a slip-on upper, so I welcome these wonderfully effortless Clarks loafs and I can only hope that they see a deservingly wide release so I can slip into them myself.

Props to Clarks for its wild mule sandals, too, but I love a heeled slip-on so big ups to the Wallabee Loafer.