Boat Shoes Are Back — This Pair Will Save You a Boatload

Boat shoes: so yacht right now. In 2025, sales of the nautical-lifestyle footwear are up for the first time in a decade. Just take it from Vogue, GQ (and British GQ), Harper’s Bazaar,  Refinery29, WWD, and BroBible. This summer, New England is the new black.

But in case you’re neither old money or new money, can you afford to set sail for the yachtcore revival? A pair of Sperry Top-Siders, the boat shoe classics by which all others are measured, now cost $100, as we saw on our recent visit to DSW:

Back in 2017 when boat shoes were 20,000 leagues out of fashion, you could’ve grabbed new Sperry’s staples for $38, according to price tracker CamelCamelCamel. That’s a 163% increase in less than a decade — even more than the membership dues at your nearest beach club.

If that’s too rich for your blue blood, we have one suggestion for shoring up your foot fit: George Men’s Canvas Boat Shoes for only $18.98. (George is a Walmart-exclusive menswear brand originally from the UK.) Here’s the official product image:

And here’s how they look in person:

They certainly aren’t the fanciest kicks in the world, let alone the local marina; Sperry’s raw hide laces and rust-proof branded eyelets look considerably higher end. (To our eyes, the blue cotton George pair were more attractive than the semi-synthetic weave of the brown rayon version.)

Nevertheless, we took ’em for a test cruise around our office and found ’em to be surprisingly comfy and relatively stylish for the under-$20 price point.

The boat shoes complemented a business casual outfit and received compliments from numerous coworkers, all shocked to discover it was a cheapo Walmart purchase:

• “Cuuuuuuute!"
• “I’d buy these."
• “Most cheap shoes look really shapeless, but those are more tailored than I’d expect for $19."

After a week of moderate daily use, the fabric remained in good condition and the memory foam footbed remained soft. However, you do get what you pay for; the synthetic interiors collected perspiration, whereas the treated-leather liners of premium boat shoes better disperse moisture.

As Discworld novelist Terry Pratchett wrote:

“The reason that the rich were so rich … was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. …. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. … A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet."

So, George Men’s Canvas Boat Shoes might not be ideal for especially hot summer days or, uh, an actual boat. But they cost five times less than the name brand (plus, the much-ballyhooed boat shoe revival might capsize by next year anyway). It’s a fashionable enough way to “sea" what all the hype is about without … y’know … spending like a sailor.