The sandal, as a category, has three prevailing styles: gladiator, flip-flop, and slide. Of the three, it is the latter that tops most lists. This is because it is the easiest to wear, the most comfortable, and perhaps the most versatile.
Long ago, sometime around the 2000s, slides evolved past a shoe meant for college bathrooms and lounging beachside. Some of the biggest brands started making them for the streets, and many started wearing them with Von Dutch caps and shutter shades. Thankfully, trucker hats and nonsensical sunglasses have been put out to pasture, but the all-day slide did manage to keep kicking around.
And since styles from early the aughts, funnily enough, are creeping back into the zeitgeist, what better way to get on the bandwagon, if you haven’t done so already, than with one of the pairs below? From the stalwart Birkenstock and Adidas to fancier fare from Dries Van Noten and Valentino, the best slides are ready to be copped below and worn all the damn time.
Screen Mixed Slide
Kenneth Cole Reaction
Desert camo slides for standing out, not blending in.
Cool Cat Sport Slide Sandal
Slides named for the kind of men who wear them.
La Costa Slides
Vans’ classic checkerboard pattern: now in slide form!
Victori One Sport Slide
From the light cushioning to the textured footbed to the sleek silhouette, Nike’s slide delivers on all fronts.
LiteRide Slide Sandals
Crocs’s clogs are divisive for sure, but we can all agree that its slides are pretty faultless. And if you didn’t know that before, now you do.
Adilette Slide Sandals
Adidas Originals
Three cheers for The Three Stripes, a brand that has created the most classic, foolproof slide out there.
Arizona Soft Slide Sandal
Birkenstock
Birkenstock’s Arizona is the Mac Daddy of slides. Everyman stylish man worth his salt has one. Or should.
Banya Slide
Saturdays NYC
About as elegant a slide as you will ever see. But we expect nothing less from Saturdays NYC.
Fabric Sliders
Heron Preston
Fabric slides may sound like flimsy option when compared to leather or rubber ones, but trust that Heron Preston will always deliver the durability.
Industrial Slides
Off-White offers slides that truly live up to the brand’s name.
MOTO-CAB Sandals
Hyped-up slides from a Japanese brand known for style, quality—and a fanbase ready to snap up its releases with all due speed. Get your pair now, before they sell out in the spring.
Ancash Sandal
Buanne is relatively new in the shoe game, but trust that it offers goods that rival the big boys in the industry.
Rubber Slide Sandal
It’s absolutely amazing how Gucci seamlessly co-opted the colors synonymous with Christmas.
Slider
Bottega Veneta
Bottega Veneta did to lime green what Valentino did to red: The brand made it covetable and the hottest color to have in fashun.
Padded Nylon and Leather Slides
DRIES VAN NOTEN
Thick, padded nylon straps and rugged, contoured leather soles: What sounds so, so wrong is actually so, so right.
Kidskin Slide Sandal
It may not be in the brand’s signature red, but this slide definitely puts the pedal—though, in this case, petal feels more appropriate—to the metal.
Barry Samaha Barry Samaha is the style commerce editor at Esquire, where he covers all things fashion and grooming.
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