The 10 Best Men's Water Shoes

Canvassing For A Better Shoe

For a long time, canvas and leather were the go-to materials for footwear on or around water.

Your Gut Knows What Your Feet Need

The thought of taking one's shirt off in public can be a terrifying one. Admittedly, there was a time when I was that chubby kid who kept his shirt on, even in the pool. I wasn't even that big, but the psychological pressure to live up to certain beauty standards, even for men, is supremely heavy.

Whether or not you're in particularly good shape, there are things you can do to make sure you look good in and around the water all season. Trekking around in the right pair of water shoes is a good start.

Whether or not you're in particularly good shape, there are things you can do to make sure you look good in and around the water all season.

Whatever the features of a given pair of water shoes, they're useless to you if you won't wear them where anyone can see, unless you own your own private slice of beach and only ever swim alone like some modern summertime Charles Foster Kane.

Of course, features are important, and understanding your need for a pair of water shoes will be your first step in selecting among all these great pairs. If you're out in the wet wilderness, hiking through well-maintained trails that cross some streams and creeks, you'll do best with a pair of water shoes that most resemble hiking shoes. Upon first glance, you might even mistake these for low-cut hiking shoes, especially with their clearly accentuated arch support. But with closer inspection, you'll see that they are built for drainage and evaporation.

Water shoes for lighter use look more like weird, webbed socks or thin toe shoes. If you're swimming in an area with a lot of coral or zebra muscles or anything that could be dangerous–swimming anywhere near the Jersey Shore, for example–these light water shoes will keep your feet protected without weighing you down.

All that said, style is the final variable on which you must stake your decision. If you're torn between the water shoes at numbers one and seven, but the pair at number seven gives you those sweet consumerist butterflies we all know so well, follow your gut and your feet will thank you.

Wingtips Were Once Aquatic

You've no doubt seen the gaudy black-and-white shoes with the strange pattern of holes in them worn by swing dancers and sporters of Zoot suits stuck in the 1940s. These contrasting shoes are later manifestations of the wingtip shoe, originally called the brogue.

The brogue has had a resurgence in menswear over the last decade or so (albeit in a less gaudy monotone presentation), and it's interesting to note how a piece of modern formal wear got its roots among the Irish poor.

I lived in Aquashoes for a few summers, their distinct, ankle high tan-line my badge of aquatic honor.

You see, brogues were the first water shoes, dating back at least to the 16th century. Irish farmers constructed leg coverings of untanned hide into which they'd punch a series of holes. One can assume these holes were far less decorative than those found on modern brogues, and that they also did a much better job draining off bog water than their modern equivalents might.

In the absence of traditional brogues, people who wanted to spend time around water and still protect their feet turned to other, more basic constructions of leather and canvas, like the Converse and Keds mentioned earlier. In the past few decades, though, water shoes designed from synthetic, water-resistant materials made a big splash in the market.

An early manifestation of this new style of water shoe was the Aquashoe. This was a small, inexpensive slip-on water shoe sold in discount stores across the land. I lived in Aquashoes for a few summers, their distinct, ankle high tan-line my badge of aquatic honor.

Customers keen on what these shoes offered demanded something a little more rugged, however, and soon companies began to manufacture the kind of shoes we're evaluating for you today.

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