A penny for your thoughts – The story behind the world’s most iconic loafer
There is probably not a single model of shoes I wear more frequently than the penny loafers. The model originated from a creation by the bootmaker G.H Bass in Maine during the mid-thirties and was originally called Weejuns due to the history of Norwegian farmers wearing a similar style of slip-ons. What made the Weejuns unique was the strap over the upper which featured a diamond style cut-out. This was purely a design feature but came in handy years later when the name “penny loafer” was coined (no pun intended).
Why are they called penny loafers?
Many seem to believe that the phrase “Penny loafer” came from the idea that the diamond cut-out was designed to house two penny´s for an emergency phone call from a pay phone but this theory has been proven to be an urban legend due to the fact that the American pay phones never accepted pennies. A more accepted story was that American students in the Ivy League universities during the 1950s made a fashion statement by placing a penny in the same space.
From being a strictly casual footwear, the model quickly saw a rise in popularity in more formal situations and was frequently worn by style icons such as Clark Gable and Cary Grant. It became almost a key feature in the Wall Street uniform during the 1980´s and a version in black calf is still considered appropriate for business in many cultures such as the US and Japan.
