The Meermin welted loafers have earned their place at the top of this week’s menswear round-up, and for anyone who has been sleeping on the small Mallorcan brand, now is the time to pay attention. GQ’s weekly hit list spans 21 picks across shoes, shirts, outerwear and denim, but it is the footwear from this quietly serious Spanish label that keeps drawing eyes back.
Why the Meermin Welted Loafers Keep Coming Up
Two Meermin styles make the cut this week. The Meermin Welted Deck Shoe at $230 appears under the ‘Endless Summer Boat Shoes’ banner, while the Meermin Black Calf Loafers, also $230, earned a pointed endorsement: ‘To all my chiseled-toe freaks out there: Meermin sees you, respects you, and knows what you really need,’ wrote Avidan Grossman.
The price alone would be enough to put both pairs on the radar. But what makes Meermin worth understanding is the construction beneath the leather. According to GQ’s own loafer review, the shoes are Goodyear-welted, a method that allows a cobbler to resole them when the time comes. That is a meaningful distinction at this price point: most shoes under $300 are cemented together and go in the bin when the sole gives out. Goodyear-welting requires more skill and time to produce, which is why it typically lives at a much higher price bracket. In GQ’s annual assessment of the loafer market, Meermin scored unusually high marks on quality, looks and price, leapfrogging the competition to the top of the list.
Meermin itself is a Meermin brand out of Mallorca, Spain, tiny by industry standards and built on the idea that Goodyear-welted footwear should not require a second mortgage. A Reddit thread on the label’s current standing confirms that reputation holds.
The Rest of the Week’s Menswear Highlights
Beyond footwear, the list moves through a broad sweep of categories. On the outerwear end, the Burberry Long Kensington Heritage Trench Coat at $2,850 lands as the week’s most expensive single item, described simply as ‘The Cinematic Trench’. At the opposite end of the spend, the 18 East Gus Big Ringer Tee at $68 gets flagged as ‘enzyme washed, oversized, and eminently wearable from now through fall.’
Denim takes up a healthy portion of the list. The Supreme Distressed Loose Fit Selvedge Jeans at $298 drew a note from Grossman: ‘The best item Supreme dropped this week not stamped with an A.Presse tag.’ OrSlow appears twice: the Grand Dad’s Jeans at $295 under the ‘Japanese-Made Jeans’ banner, and the OrSlow 101 Dad’s Fit Denim Pants at $283, stocked at Canoe Club. Reed Nelson flagged the latter as a personal favourite that is ‘annoyingly hard to find’, adding that he feels it his duty to alert readers whenever they are back in stock. The 3sixteen RS-105x Relaxed Straight Jeans at $270 round out the denim picks.
Shirts pull in several directions. The J.Crew Western Chambray Shirt at $118, the Buck Mason Draped Linen Lounge Lizard Shirt at $178, and the Kapital IDG Gauze SHOKA Shirt at $373 cover the range from workwear-adjacent to considered Japanese craft. Gerald Ortiz picked out the Sage Nation Natal Shirt at $520, writing that Sage Nation ‘is quickly becoming one of my favorite brands and this precisely-executed shirt is just one of the many reasons.’
The piece of outerwear that generated the most colourful write-up was the Knickerbocker Shag-Pile Suede Coat at $895. Jordan Bowman noted: ‘I wish I could write about this suede jacket the way Paul Wall raps about candy paint dripping off of old-school Impalas. The point being, I need this jacket in my life today.’
Elsewhere, the On Men’s Courtside Pullover Terry at $120 was described as ‘an underappreciated piece of gear once the temps start to dip’, the Small Talk Studio ST&Co Sun Faded S/S Tee at $80 earned the line ‘there might not be a better blank on the market’, and the Unimatic Modello Tre Chrono Watch at $840 was given the shortest possible review: ‘Tre chrono, tres chic.’ The IM Men Leather Pleats bag from Issey Miyake at $1,100 and the Balenciaga Le City Moto Bag at $2,650 lead the accessories column, with Louis Cheslaw admitting he would ‘pleats please’ like to own the Miyake.
For anyone shopping the shoe portion of the list, the Meermin welted loafers remain the clearest value proposition: construction that punches well above the price tag, and a track record in independent reviews to back it up.
