Looking for more Mephisto-like kicks to keep your dogs in prime working condition this spring? Check our guide to the best walking shoes on the market.
Sneakers have had a tough go of it lately. Menswear’s prolonged return to elegance means boom times for loafers, derbies, and all manner of dainty black shoes. Classic canvas kicks? Not so much. I’ll never abandon sneakers entirely, but I genuinely haven’t bought a new pair in forever, and the situations that demand them seem to be dwindling by the day. Come spring, though, the masculine urge to lace up a pristine pair is simply too strong to ignore, and right now, I’m eyeing one silhouette and one silhouette only: Mephisto’s gloriously geriatric Match sneakers.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Match by name, you might know it from one of two places: the closest retirement home in your neighborhood, or the countless Cool Guys who can’t stop plugging it online. So if you’re wondering why a whole bunch of young-gun menswear nerds seem to be obsessed with a walking shoe long favored by octogenarians, allow me to explain.
For starters, each pair is expertly crafted in Portugal using supple-yet-substantial leather uppers and luxurious leather insoles, both of which sit atop a shock-absorbing Soft-Air midsole and a durable rubber outsole. Comfort, as you’ve probably figured out, is the primary selling point here, whether you’re rushing to make the early-bird dinner special or to flick yourself up before the sun sets.
The Match is available in every shade of powerful neutral, but the tonal brown-on-brown colorway might just be the most potent. Wear it with washed jeans, khakis, or dressed-down trousers and it becomes a style multiplier of incredible force—a classic kick with the look of a sneaker and the soul of a dress shoe, sans any of the downside typically involved in combining the two.
“Now that I’ve finally bought mine, I’m not sure what took me so long,” GQ contributor Louis Cheslaw says. “They’re incredibly comfortable—in a supportive, not-overly-cushy way—and they go with literally everything. They’re neither too dainty nor too chunky—straight down the middle, and therefore beholden to no ‘moment.’”
To be honest, I wasn’t sold on Mephisto’s hero product when I first saw it years ago, either. They were expensive then (and they’re still expensive now), and I couldn’t quite make sense of ‘em in the context of the sportier sneakers in my rotation. So chalk it up to white-sneaker fatigue, exposure therapy, or y’know, getting older, but they might be the only sneakers I want to wear now that we’re back in the throes of the season. The king is dead; long live the king.