Some 20 years ago, before the xSuit rose from the head of a men’s fashion designer, you could stand on Wall Street or any corner of Boston’s financial district and be overcome by a landslide of boring, dark business uniforms.
Indeed, experts will tell you that the stiff business suit of our recent past was military at heart. It was meant to set apart a specific type of army that would range upward from the GI-level to captains of industry. The latter would wear better and more expensive fabrics, were freer to choose the colors of their attire, including shirts and ties. But the corporate image was the most unforgiving on the matter of shoes: wingtips, polished shiny, and black.
Times change. Our young warriors and even their commanding officers started off on an eventual rampage of in-your-face office wear that at first, they sneakily called “casual” Friday or whichever day. The rest is history, and now they’re down to shoes.
The innovative trend to wear to work is trendy sneakers, often expensive but proven comfortable for both leisure and business. Rumor has it that well-dressed people with happy feet are more productive. The following are some of the top footwear brands and shoe styles to pair with work suits.
Common Projects
One of the pioneers and they still do it right. Here, the classic is the trend. The leather sneaker comes in all colors but the crisp white is stylish with any suit (you may want to try it with one of ours, example: the Light Gray Sport suit or Black Corporate suit). If you can’t invest some $400, imitations at lesser prices (although lower quality) are flooding the market.
Adidas Yeezy
In light-weight materials and rubber soles are also perfect for classic dressers who like to break the rules. More moderately priced imitations of these abound as well. But this September the Adidas Yeezy 350 V2, a futuristic look, will be officially for sale, in a full palette to choose from. By all means, check it out. Remember white is always good with gray or charcoal, no socks; black with black is epic for winter.
Among many other brands you should consider for your next pair of kicks, we’d like to highlight the Cole Haan Zerogrands - a beautifully comfortable hybrid of dress shoes and sneakers - and Tod’s Suede Espadrilles - if you’re more about making a statement with your shoes.
One mid-week day when you’re deeply in casual mode, try your new shoes with jeans and an xSuit jacket. Does that image really work at work? It’s unbeatable. Maybe you already have your go-to work kicks. In that case, time to get a suit you'll actually want to wear on the job and afterward, too.
Shop all xSuit styles on https://xsuit.eu or, get inspired from our Instagram page @xsuit.europe.
