Penny Loafers

Footwear Definitions — shoes, boots and footwear terms from Apparel Search

Penny loafers are low, leather step-in shoes whose tops resemble a moccasin, but which have broad flat heels. They first appeared in the mid 1930s, have no shoelaces or buckles, and are named for the penny held in the mouth-shaped opening of the strap across the vamp.

Penny loafers are low, leather step-in shoes whose tops resemble a moccasin, but have broad flat heels. They first appeared in the mid 1930's. They have no shoelaces or buckles. Penny loafers are made of leather and are often worn in formal situations.

The men's fashion and lifestyle magazine Esquire photographed dairy farmers in Norway wearing slip-on shoes around the cattle loafing area (where dairy cows gather to await milking).

American lumber and leather interests owned by the Spaulding family in New Hampshire started making loafers based on these photographs in about 1932 or 1933 - naming them loafers. They were also called ponies by some - often women would slip a foot out of one shoe and rest their toes on the counter (back) thus appeared to be standing as a pony often will with one leg resting on the very tip of its hoof.

In 1934 Bass (a bootmaker in Wilton, Maine) started making loafers and called them Weejuns (meant to sound like Norwegian. These had a strap across the upper part of the vamp that was shaped like a pair of lips (said to be Mrs. Bass kissing each shoe on its way out the door). The mouth opening soon was used to hold an ornamentation - perhaps a penny and thus penny loafers became a style. Penny loafers often held a dime instead of a penny. If a girl's date got out of line she could call home on a pay phone--which accepted dimes during most of the fifties and sixties.

Penny loafers are worn by both sexes, though more often by men. Women's penny loafers also have many different styles.

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The Strap That Named the Shoe

Every part of the penny loafer is inherited from the plain loafer except one: the strap. When John R. Bass's bootmaking firm in Wilton, Maine, launched its loafers in 1934 under the name Weejuns, meant to sound like Norwegian in honour of the design's source, the shoes carried a strap across the upper part of the vamp cut in the shape of a pair of lips, said to be Mrs. Bass kissing each shoe on its way out the door. A decorative slot invites use, and wearers slid a coin into the opening as ornament. The coin that stuck in the name was the penny, and penny loafer became the style's permanent title, outliving both the Weejuns trademark's everyday use and the fashion for carrying coins in shoes. The strap itself does no mechanical work, the shoe has no laces or buckles to fasten, which is precisely why it reads as polish rather than hardware: a finished band of leather where a plainer loafer shows only the moccasin-style top.

A Coin for the Telephone

The dime variant of the story is a small piece of social history. Through most of the 1950s and 1960s a pay phone call cost a dime, and a shoe that carried a coin was a shoe that carried a way home: the often-told explanation is that a young woman whose date got out of line could call home on a pay phone, provided her penny loafers held dimes instead of pennies. Whether every wearer planned so carefully, the detail fixed the shoe in the uniform of mid-century American youth, worn with skirts, slacks and cuffed jeans, and kept it there through decades of campus and preppy dress. Penny loafers are worn by both sexes, though more often by men, and women's penny loafers have many different styles of their own, from flat leather classics to heeled versions. The design's balance explains its survival: leather and a broad flat heel make it presentable in formal situations, while the step-in construction keeps the ease of the farm shoe it descends from.

Common Questions

Why is there a slot in a penny loafer's strap?

Bass Weejuns, first made in 1934, had a strap across the upper part of the vamp shaped like a pair of lips, and the mouth opening was soon used to hold an ornament, perhaps a penny, and thus penny loafers became a style.

Why did penny loafers often hold a dime instead?

Penny loafers often held a dime instead of a penny because a dime was the price of a pay phone call during most of the fifties and sixties. The story goes that if a girl's date got out of line, she could call home from a pay phone.

Are penny loafers formal or casual?

Penny loafers are made of leather and are often worn in formal situations, yet they began as casual step-in shoes and keep that double character. They are worn by both sexes, though more often by men.

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