{"id":904200,"date":"2026-09-21T14:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T14:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/904200\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T14:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T14:46:09","slug":"harry-styles-walked-eight-miles-in-loafers-is-he-ruining-his-feet-theres-only-one-way-to-find-out-mens-shoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/904200\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry Styles walked eight miles in loafers. Is he ruining his feet? There\u2019s only one way to find out | Men’s shoes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last month, just before his 30-night residency at Madison Square Garden, Harry Styles<\/a> was spotted walking the streets of New York. According to the paparazzi who trailed him throughout his journey, he walked eight miles \u2013 all the way from Brooklyn into Manhattan \u2013 in loafers.<\/p>\n

If, like me, you own a pair of loafers, your first thought is probably: that doesn\u2019t sound like a good idea. On Instagram, Grazia called Styles\u2019 shoes \u201cperhaps the least sensible footwear for such an undertaking\u201d.<\/p>\n

You might imagine that single outing would have taught Styles a lesson, but he was photographed a few days later in the same pair of loafers, which all the evidence suggests are dark brown, pre-distressed Prada<\/a> \u201cShuffle\u201d shoes that cost \u00a3910. At that price I wouldn\u2019t even wear them outside \u2013 they look soft and flimsy, like a cross between a moccasin and a ballet slipper.<\/p>\n

Harry, what were you thinking? Photograph: XNY\/Star Max\/GC Images<\/p>\n

However, following Styles\u2019 example, I\u2019m suddenly determined to get more mileage out of my own, underused slip-ons. I mean to wear them every day, all day, for a week \u2013 and to walk at least eight miles in them, if not in one day, then at least cumulatively.<\/p>\n

But first I have a question: could it be bad for my feet? What are the actual risks of such an undertaking?<\/p>\n

\u201cA loafer by construction has a smaller volume in the forefoot than a shoe that has a substantial fastening,\u201d says Dr Helen Branthwaite, chief clinical advisor at the Royal College of Podiatry. In other words, a slip-on shoe is narrow at the front because, without laces or straps, it\u2019s the only way it can hold on to your foot. \u201cThis may cause some compression to the toes if the shape and volume of the front of the shoe is not the same as the wearer\u2019s foot.\u201d<\/p>\n

I send a link to a Styles\/loafer pap shot to Christophe Champs, an orthotics specialist and the founder of the Podo clinic in London. \u201cThe main problem I see in that picture is a summer look,\u201d he says. \u201cSummer is the worst season for us.\u201d Pounding hard city pavements in insubstantial shoes with no heel contour or arch support \u2013 slippers, loafers, flip-flops \u2013 can cause real problems. During this past hot summer, Champs says his clinic saw a fivefold increase in patients presenting with plantar fasciitis<\/a> \u2013 a painful inflammation of the tissue connecting your heel to your toes.<\/p>\n

For a couple of years the fashion world has remarked upon a gradual decline in the number of trainers appearing at runway shows, and the corresponding trend for loafers. \u201cThe younger customer is asking for styles that were particularly hot in the 1970s,\u201d shoemaker Tim Little, owner of footwear brand Grenson, told Esquire in January. \u201cThin, slim-soled, often tasselled, and, above all easy on the feet.\u201d GQ also recently declared that loafers were the \u201cmost crucial shoes of 2026<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dowling brings NYC style to suburban London. Photograph: Ethan Parker\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

It\u2019s raining the first time I decide to wear my loafers all day, and I\u2019m pretty footsore by suppertime, having covered no more than three miles. Along the way I\u2019ve experienced both toe compression and heel slippage. But the shoes also hurt because I\u2019ve never worn them long enough to break them in properly, even though I bought them years ago. Mine are sturdy, thick-soled penny loafers, quite unlike Styles\u2019 pair.<\/p>\n

Styles\u2019 shoes, I\u2019ve come to understand, are a fashionable slip-on subset sometimes known as a \u201cscrunch loafer\u201d. They\u2019re so completely without structure that they look as if they\u2019ve been run over by a steamroller. Perversely, Styles\u2019 loafers have laces.<\/p>\n

But, according to Champs, there is a bigger and more common problem than walking eight miles in scrunch loafers: the widespread habit of wearing running shoes on one\u2019s daily commute. He says the soles of most cheap modern trainers are too high, too light and too cushioned to provide proper support. \u201cYou look at people from behind and it\u2019s painful,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019re on big fat sponges. So at least Harry doesn\u2019t have this.\u201d<\/p>\n

His compromise recommendation for men\u2019s walk-to-work footwear is a well-made dress shoe. \u201cIt\u2019s time now to bring patients back into dress shoes,\u201d he says. \u201cBut when my patients see my shoes they tell me, \u2018Christophe, that for me is wedding and funeral.\u2019\u201d When he holds up his shoe to the Zoom camera for me, I\u2019m surprised to see they\u2019re not unlike my loafers, albeit with a pair of his own orthotic inserts tucked inside (Champs got into the orthotics game because of foot injuries he suffered as an athlete).<\/p>\n

Looking good on the pit stop. Photograph: Ethan Parker\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

On my second day in loafers, I manage five miles in total, but by the evening I can feel my crowded fourth toes beginning to climb up over their larger neighbours. I\u2019m beginning to see the appeal of Styles\u2019 \u00a3910 slippers \u2013 at least your foot isn\u2019t boxed in all day. And while it would probably be wise to alert fans to the dangers of emulating his choice of long-distance travelling shoe, it doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s necessarily a problem for Styles himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Harry Styles<\/a> is comfortable in loafers, and he can dance and walk in them, then he must have a strong foot, with a complementary shape to the shoe in question,\u201d says Branthwaite, pointing out that Styles is a trained performer. \u201cIf someone else wishes to walk eight miles in his shoes, then they would also need to do the same training and practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Champs\u2019 opinion, Styles\u2019 footwear, while wholly inappropriate for an eight-mile hike, is by no means the worst option. \u201cThose shoes are not so bad for a short walk,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s actually more dangerous to wear decent shoes that are out of shape because they\u2019ve been used for too long. Shoes need three things: to be recent, decent and laced up.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s enough advice to persuade me to give up my loafer marathon halfway through day three, and long before I\u2019ve walked eight miles in them. Then again, looking at all the other shoes in my cupboard, it\u2019s possible they\u2019re still my best bet.<\/p>\n

Later I was made aware of even more recent paparazzi shots that showed Styles wearing flat-soled light blue trainers. Maybe he\u2019s learned his lesson after all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last month, just before his 30-night residency at Madison Square Garden, Harry Styles was spotted walking the streets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":904201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75],"class_list":["post-904200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=904200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/904201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=904200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=904200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=904200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}