- Boat shoes help you keep a good grip on the dock or deck even in wet conditions so you're less likely to end up in the water yourself.
- A good pair of boat shoes should resist water and/or dry quickly and be comfortable for extended, active wear.
- The Sperry Gold Cup Authentic Original Boat Shoes are our top pick thanks to their timeless style and the quality of their construction, which sees most pairs lasting for years.
The boat shoe as we know it today was invented by a man named Paul Sperry, whose surname is now almost synonymous with the footwear he created. As the story goes, Sperry was tired of slipping on wet, icy boat decks and carved a tread pattern into the sole of a rubber shoe, taking inspiration from the grooved paws of his surefooted dog, Prince.
The siping on the soles of Perry's new shoes kept him reliably on his feet, and would soon make him a wealthy man. He began selling his boat shoes in 1935, soon scoring a contract with the US Navy and over time gaining broad popularity with the maritime-minded public. These days, boat shoes are the de rigueur footwear among some circles and considered tragically uncool among others. If you're going to be aboard a boat, however, they're simply practical. So it's a good idea to have at least one decent pair of boat shoes in your closet.
To qualify as a decent pair of boat shoes, footwear must have a non-marking sole, as most boat decks are white and easily shoe scuffs. This is why most boat shoes have white soles. They must also have a sole offering good traction on slick, wet, and even icy surfaces, helping you stay upright on a slippery dock or a heaving deck. And finally, boat shoes should be made from materials that resists water or that dry out quickly after a soaking.
Beyond those three points, there's a wide range of footwear that falls into the boat shoe category. When you think of a boat shoe, you might picture a classic preppy brown leather loafer with white soles and decorative crossed laces, but they are hardly limited to that style. Of the three pairs of boat shoes I own, none of them look at all like that - in fact, you probably wouldn't know they were shoes designed for use near the water at all, and that's how I like it.
If you like a classic boat shoe, a more modern, casual style pair, or a shoe as suitable for scrambling through a boulder field as hanging out topside on a yacht, you'll find those and more on this rundown of the best men's boat shoes you can buy.
Here are the best boat shoes for men you can buy:
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