There’s a type of British man you’ll see on almost every commute during peak hours if you look hard enough. He’s wearing a perfectly fine suit jacket and trousers, but his feet are shod in sneakers or “trainer’s” so white you can spot them miles away. In his hand he carries either a leather shoulder bag that’s seen better days or a zip-up nylon backpack pretending to be something it’s not.
The suit screams hardworking professional who takes this whole suit thing seriously. The sneakers shout TOURIST IN TRAINERS. Together, they paint a perfect picture of commuting defeat.
I’ve secretly judged these men ever since I first saw them several years ago. Why ruin such a perfectly tailored suit with sneakers?
You know your desk job doesn’t require athletic footwear.
I get it, though. London’s Central Line at 8: 30am is no place for whole-cut Derbies with leather soles. You don’t want to spend your workday worrying about developing blisters before your lunch break.
That visual mismatch of crisp tailoring and sneakers designed for literal running, however, makes me want to twitch. There’s nothing wrong with wearing sneakers with suits if that’s your jam. My problem is that wearing sneakers with suits doesn’t have to look like that.
You can totally pull off sneakers with suits in a way that looks intentional and sharp rather than a sad, practical compromise. The difference comes down to one word: intent. Were you wearing sneakers with your suit because your feet hurt and you didn’t feel like dealing with dress shoes today?
Or were they part of your outfit? Years ago – I’m talking like eight years ago now – at Pitti Uomo I first laid eyes on a guy wearing sneakers with tailoring that actually worked. He was wearing what can only be described as the exact-looking predecessor to today’s Elf Packs.
It was a Japanese buyer sporting an immaculate gray flannel suit that was tailored slim but not skinny, worn with an plain white t-shirt rather than button-up shirt and tie. On his feet? Vintage Adidas Sambas.
Not pristine white Nike-style brutalist towers of hypebeast toxicity, but softly worn, lived-in black Adidas Sambas with white trim. They were not sneakers you would change out of once you arrived at your destination. They were purposeful.
I know what you’re thinking: a Japanese menswear buyer at a Florentine trade show isn’t exactly benchmarking behavior for the average Englishman choosing his work attire before the 7:54 to Victoria. But think about what that guy wore that day. It checked almost every box on this list before we even started writing.
So let’s get into what I think are the five major factors that go into successfully wearing sneakers with suits and casual suiting. To be blunt: not all sneakers work with suits. Breathable, cushioned lightweight running shoes will forever be great for running, but they’ll never look intentional with suits.
That goes for overtly bulky running shoes like tech-fabric shoes with swooshes, white shoes with fitness-brand stickers on them, fat Sauconys with removable orthotics, oversized basketball shoes with visible air cushions – you get the idea. Sneakers meant to be worn with suits tend to play by different rules than sneakers meant for pounding the pavement. More minimal is generally better.
Likewise, steer clear of sneakers that are trying way too hard to be noticed. Avoid garish color blocking and bold neon highlights at all costs. And please, for the love of God, no shirt-print sneakers.
Color-wise, your safest bet is almost certainly still white sneakers. Within that category, however, you have options. White leather sneakers are by far the most popular because…well, they just look good!
Brands like Common Projects’ Achilles Low made minimal white sneakers it-mandatory, and now everyone from Topman to Tom Ford makes some variation of a white leather sneaker. The problem is, minimal white sneakers are so ubiquitous at this point that wearing a set with your tailored trousers almost guarantees you’ll run into someone wearing an identical pair. They’ve basically become their own uniform in places like London.
If you’re going to wear white sneakers with your suit, make sure the rest of your outfit sends a clear signal that these weren’t just forgotten at the last minute. There are plenty of other colors and textures that work fantastically with suits. Retro-style sneakers (Adidas Sambas, Adidas Gazelles, New Balance M1300s, etc.) often have a vintage athleticism to them that pairs surprisingly well with classic suiting, especially when you opt for fabrics that are a bit more casual themselves like cotton or linen suits.
Personally, I’m a sucker for a simple canvas low-top sneaker like a Doek or Moonstar (Japanese brands that take the plain Jane tennis shoe to unforeseen levels of wonderful) or even a classic Superga in off-white rather than blindingly white. They instantly give your suiting a relaxed, summer vibe without looking like you’re about to sprint down the treadmill at the gym. During the winter months I’m a big fan of suede sneakers in muted colors.
Dark blue, brown, forest green, and burgundy are all fantastic options that provide more warmth and texture than plain leather sneakers. Dark suede also pairs particularly well with heavier winter fabrics like flannel, tweed, or even corduroy. My go-to combo during the fall and winter is olive green flannel trousers with charcoal colored jacket worn with dark green suede sneakers from Spalwart.
The color they add to the outfit helps tie everything together without going full peacock. If you’re wearing loose or sloppy fitting trousers with your sneakers, you’ll definitely get away with getting away skinny jeans with sneakers look. If you’re wearing more tailored trousers that still have a modern (as opposed to overly stuff-y) fit, pay close attention to the cut of your trousers.
Skinny suits were all the rage back in mid-2010s thanks mostly to Thom Browne and his sad little-boy cigarette pants. That look absolutely does not work with sneakers. Most modern fitted suits are cut too slim through the leg to work well with sneakers that aren’t skinny jeans.
You also don’t want to go too JEEPERS CREEPERS with your trousers. Baggy pants with small sneakers is almost as jarring as skinny jeans with sneakers. What you’re looking for is somewhere around the middle.
Trousers that aren’t skin tight but aren’t so wide that your shoes look lost when you wear them. Pay close attention to how your trousers break on your shoes as well. Ideally, you want only the slightest bit of break where the front of your trousers touches the top of your shoe.
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Too much break and your trousers will bunch around your sneakers, making you look like you threw on a pair of shoes and ran out the door without much care. No break at all and you’re proudly proclaiming to the world that you wear your socks below your calves. Nobody’s cool with that these days.
I also find trouser cuffs to be an important detail when wearing sneakers with suits. The slight weight that a cuff adds to the bottom of your trousers helps your trousers sit better over your sneakers. Lighter weight trousers with minimal to no break can often look a bit too flimsy over even the smallest of sneakers.
Again, you don’t want too much cuff, but something around 4cm gives your trousers just enough body to work with sneakers. Everyone is going to have different comfort levels when it comes to breaking into the land of sneakers with suits. If you’re just testing the waters for the first time, I recommend starting with classic colors for both your suits (navy, gray, etc.) and sneakers (white or off white).
It’s the wardrobe equivalent of dipping your toe in the water. Basic enough that you can probably wear them to work, but intentional enough that you’re not just wearing sneakers because you forgot your loafers. As you gain confidence, start to play around with colors and textures.
I love creating color harmonies between my sneakers and something else I’m wearing, whether that’s a matching color jacket or just coordinating my socks to my sneakers. My pal Jamie – who works in one of those finance companies I mentioned up top – likes to pair his brown suede sneakers with his navy suit by choosing sneakers that match the color of his leather messenger bag. It’s a subtle way to tie everything together.
It’s also worth experimenting with tailoring that feels slightly less stuff-y and formal. An unstructured cotton suit worn with a plain white tee feels much more sneakers-with-suiting ready than something overly structured with lots of shoulder padding. The more business professional your suit is, the harder it is to pull off sneakers with it.
That padded shoulder suit with a tie might as well be wearing boots and you’re wearing sneakers. Start scaling back on the formality until you feel like your outfit is ready for sneakers. How well your sneakers play with your suits comes down largely to texture.
Pick lighter-weight fabrics with more texture for your suits – think flannel trousers, cotton suits, corduroys, and linens. Slimer cuts will work better than stuff-y cuts with big shoulders. Fabric matters for your sneakers too.
A canvas sneaker will always play nicer with suits than something shiny and new-off-the-shelf. I had a pretty mortifying experience when I was just starting to experiment with sneakers with suits back in 2015. I wore a pair of minimal white sneakers with a navy suit blazer and trousers to a work event thinking I was edgy and on-trend.
I spent the whole time terrified that someone was going to ask me why I was wearing sneakers with a suit and self-loathing that I let myself get talked into this madness by Twitter. It wasn’t until an editor I’d known for years sighed loudly and said “For fucks sake Alex, they’re just shoes” that I realized how ridiculous I was being. Dark suits and sneakers just don’t work.
No matter how nice your sneakers are, wearing black with sneakers will always send desperately trying not to ruin my suit indoors message. Same goes for stuffiest suit fabrics like worsteds and heavier business suits with conservative windowpane checks. If you’re going to wear sneakers with suits, try to wear suits that were made to be worn with sneakers.
I can’t stress this last point enough. I see far too many dudes ruin otherwise nicely dressed outfits by wearing “commuter sneakers” with their suits. You know the type of shoes I’m talking about, right?
They have that slightly orthopedic look to them, wide and kind of boxy with almost zero style to them. They look like they were bought solely for the purpose of being comfortable for your train commute before you change into your “real” shoes at work. Think of sneakers with suits kind of like diets and cheat days.
If you’re going to cheat on your diet you want your cheat meal to be worth it, not something you’d typically eat as part of your daily calories. If you throw a pair of bland sneakers with your suit you’re just saying to the world “these aren’t my real shoes, I just didn’t feel like wearing real shoes today.” Own your outfit. If you’re going to wear sneakers with your suit, wear them because you like how they look with your suit, not in spite of it.
I recently saw a guy at a networking event wearing what should’ve been the dream dad-core outfit. Cream linen suit, blue Oxford shirt open at the neck, white sneakers. The guy wearing it, however, looked absolutely miserable.
He kept making small talk with me and other attendees while looking down at his sneakers and giggling nervously about how he was “dress coding” himself by wearing sneakers with his suit. Miserable dad core is still dad core no one wants to see. Contrast that with a colleague I met at the same event dressed head-to-toe in adidas Stan Smiths – and yes, they still exist! – clad head-to-toe in Stan Smiths.
He wore them with a slightly more fluid colored suit that coordinated perfectly with the ocean-hued adidas and a classic white tee. He wasn’t hiding his sneakers or self-deprecatingly joking about them – he wore them like they were an intentional part of his outfit. And you know what?
They were. When I was first getting into wearing sneakers with suits, I was under the impression it was still mostly just guys in “creative” industries rocking the combo.
Architects.
Designers. Advertising. Marketing.
These were the dudes I’d usually see wearing sneakers with suits. Not anymore. Sneakers with suits have become so ubiquitous that I routinely see trad professionals like barristers and even doctors wearing sneakers with suits that look better curated than my entire wardrobe in college.
My friend Vijay, who works at one of those aforementioned finance companies told me on more than one occasion that sneakers have become totally acceptable in the office so long as they’re worn appropriately with suiting. “As long as they’re clean and not too crazy, no one cares what sneakers you wear with your suit,” he said. “They’re just shoes at this point.” Here’s the thing about wearing sneakers with suits: there is a reason it works and there is a reason it doesn’t. Ask yourself if you fell something is off about the way your suits laying with your sneakers. Chances are if it doesn’t look intentional, it isn’t.
I wear sneakers with suits about 70% of the time now, saving leather shoes for occasions where I know I’ll definitely be sweating (weddings in July) or want to cover my shoes in mud (literally every other weekend this summer). Trust your gut, and if you have any doubts about whether your sneakers work with your suits – you know what to do.
