Men's Green Suede Tassel Loafers

Men's green suede tassel loafers, Goodyear welted on a leather sole and made to order in your size and width. The tassel loafer has a documented origin, a construction detail that decides whether it survives, and a reputation for heel slip that comes down entirely to fit.

Where the tassel loafer came from

Unusually for a shoe, the history is specific and dated.

The Hungarian actor Paul Lukas, who won an Oscar in 1943 for Watch on the Rhine, bought a pair of European oxfords finished with small leather laces and wanted something similar made in America. In 1948 he took the idea to Farkas and Kovacs in New York, who made a lace up version he was not satisfied with. He then sent the right shoe to Lefcourt in New York and the left shoe to Morris Shoemakers in Los Angeles, and both firms turned to Alden to resolve it.

Alden rebuilt it on a penny loafer base, removed the laces entirely and put decorative tassels around the opening instead. It launched in 1950 with Lefcourt and Morris holding the first exclusive, was adopted immediately by Ivy League students, and within a few years Alden offered it in twenty leathers.

The one construction detail that decides the shoe

The tassels are the part that fails, and how they are attached is the whole question.

• Threaded, which is correct. A leather lace runs through a row of punched holes around the throat, with a tassel finished onto each end. The lace is a functional piece of leather, anchored properly, and it is a consumable: when it wears, a cobbler replaces it and the shoe carries on.
• Glued or tacked, which is not. A decorative blob is fixed to the side of the shoe with a fake cord stitched flat around the throat. It does not move, and when the adhesive lets go there is nothing underneath to reattach it to.

The test: lift a tassel. If it moves freely on a real cord, the construction is right. There is a second check too: a proper tassel loafer has a higher, more closed throat line than a penny loafer, because the cord needs somewhere to run. If the throat is cut as low as a penny and the cord is simply laid on top, the shoe was designed as a penny and decorated as a tassel.

Why green works in suede and fails in calf

Green calf reads bright and difficult. It returns light off a flat surface at full saturation and there is nowhere for the color to soften.

Green suede reads soft and considered, because the napped fiber absorbs the dye into its depth and then breaks the returned light into highlight and shadow across thousands of fiber tips. The color arrives as a range rather than a block.

Green is also the only common shoe color that is dark and warm without being brown. Navy is dark and cool; burgundy is dark and warm but pulls red and fights anything warm above it. A deep green sits under brown and olive tailoring and still holds against gray, which no brown at the same depth manages.

The one rule: it has to be deep. Closer to bottle or forest than to grass. If you can name the green from ten feet away, it is too bright for a dress shoe.

Suede, nubuck and split suede

• Suede is the flesh side of a full thickness hide, buffed to a nap. Short, dense, holds its texture.
• Nubuck is the grain side lightly sanded to a finer nap. Denser and harder wearing, because the tight outer fibers are still there.
• Split suede is the leftover layer after the grain has been taken off for something else. Loose, sheds, and shiny at the flex points within a season.

Press your thumb across the surface to tell them apart: real suede and nubuck take a directional mark and recover when brushed, split suede either will not mark or marks and stays marked. On a loafer the flex point is the throat, which is also the most visible part of the shoe, so split suede fails where you can see it.

"Loafers always slip at my heel." Here is why

This is the most common complaint about loafers and it is almost always a length problem rather than a loafer problem.

A loafer has no lacing. Only the throat line and the heel counter hold your foot, so if the shoe is even slightly too long your foot slides forward as you step and the heel lifts out. No amount of breaking in fixes it, because nothing about the shoe changes the length.

Two things follow from that:

• Loafers run large relative to lace ups on the same last, so most people take less than their lace up size.
• If it is comfortable the first time you put it on, it is too big. A correctly fitted loafer feels firm on day one and eases as the cork bed compresses to your foot.

Suede compounds this slightly, because the nap gives a little more than smooth calf over the first few wears. Err firm rather than roomy, and a firm heel counter, which these have, does the rest.

How these are built

Goodyear welted and hand stitched. A leather welt runs around the upper and insole and the outsole is stitched to that welt rather than glued to the upper, so the shoe resoles repeatedly without disturbing the suede above it. Cork between insole and outsole compresses to your foot over the first month.

Calf suede upper, tassels on a threaded leather cord running through punched holes at the throat, firm heel counter, leather lining, leather sole, stacked leather heel. Width cut to your measurement in D, E, EE or EEE through our made to order service, which is also where a matching belt in the same leather is arranged. See the rest of the range in men's leather loafers.

Fit and sizing

Made to order in US sizes 5 to 16.5 with widths D through EEE.

Order your true length and specify the width separately rather than sizing up to gain room across the ball, because sizing up makes the shoe long and a long loafer slips permanently. A tassel loafer is slightly more forgiving than a penny or a Belgian, since the higher closed throat holds your foot at more points, but it still has no lacing to adjust with.

Measure against the men's shoe size guide and tell us before you order if you are between widths, have a low instep or get heel slip in loafers generally.

What to wear them with

• Strongest: mid and charcoal gray, where a neutral lets the green be the only color in play.
• Works: brown and olive tailoring in tweed, moleskin or flannel; stone, tan and olive chinos; dark denim.
• Avoid: navy, which sits too close in depth and makes both look muddy, and black, which flattens the green entirely.
• Do not match: no green tie, no green pocket square, no green belt. Take your belt to dark brown instead, because a matching green belt is the fastest way to make the shoes look like a costume.

Also in the range: the purple suede oxford in the same material and the black tassel loafers with matching belt.

Care, including the tassels

• No cream, no wax, ever. Both fill the nap and leave a shiny patch that does not recover, and on a colored suede the patch reads darker than the leather around it.
• Brush after every wear with a crepe or rubber suede brush, one direction only. Pay attention to the throat, which is where a loafer flexes and goes shiny first.
• Protector spray before the first wear and every couple of months after.
• The tassels need their own handling. Brush them gently along their length rather than against it, and do not spray protector heavily onto them, which stiffens the cord.
• Never kick loafers off with your other foot. This is what crushes tassels and creases the heel counter, and both are permanent. Use your hands or a shoe horn.

Cedar trees between wearings, a day of rest between wears, and if they get soaked, stuff with paper, dry naturally away from heat, and brush the nap up only once completely dry.

What to expect when you order

Cut and lasted after you order in your size and width. Suede takes dye slightly differently hide to hide, so yours will be close to the photographs rather than identical. Production is 10 to 14 days, then shipping.

Questions we get asked

Who invented the tassel loafer?
The Hungarian actor Paul Lukas commissioned it. He had bought European oxfords finished with small leather laces and wanted something similar made in America, approaching Farkas and Kovacs in New York in 1948.

When was the tassel loafer created?
Lukas was unhappy with the 1948 lace up version, so he sent one shoe to Lefcourt in New York and the other to Morris Shoemakers in Los Angeles. Both turned to Alden, who rebuilt it on a penny loafer base with tassels instead of laces, and it launched in 1950.

How should the tassels be attached?
On a threaded leather cord running through punched holes around the throat, anchored properly and replaceable by a cobbler when it wears. Lift a tassel: if it moves freely on a real cord, the construction is right. A glued or tacked tassel has nothing underneath to reattach to.

How else can I spot a badly made tassel loafer?
Look at the throat line. A proper tassel loafer has a higher, more closed throat than a penny loafer, because the cord needs somewhere to run. If the throat is cut as low as a penny and the cord is laid on top, the shoe was designed as a penny and decorated as a tassel.

Why does green work in suede but not in smooth calf?
Because suede is napped. The fiber absorbs the dye into its depth and then breaks the returned light into highlight and shadow across thousands of fiber tips, so the color arrives as a range rather than a block. Smooth calf returns green at full saturation and reads bright.

How dark does the green need to be?
Closer to bottle or forest than to grass. If you can name the green from ten feet away it is too bright for a dress shoe. A deep green is the only common shoe color that is dark and warm without being brown.

Why do my loafers always slip at the heel?
Almost always because they are too long. With no lacing, only the throat line and the heel counter hold your foot, so a shoe even slightly too long lets your foot slide forward and the heel lift. Breaking in does not change length.

Do loafers run large?
Yes, relative to lace ups on the same last, so most people take less than their lace up size. Suede compounds it slightly, since the nap gives more than smooth calf over the first few wears. Err firm rather than roomy.

Can I get a matching belt in the same suede?
Yes, arranged through the made to order service so the belt is cut from coordinated leather rather than bought separately. Suede varies hide to hide in how it takes dye, so two pieces bought months apart will nearly match, which looks worse than not matching.

Can I polish suede tassel loafers?
No. Cream and wax fill the nap and leave a shiny patch that does not recover. Brush with a crepe or rubber suede brush in one direction, and brush the tassels gently along their length rather than against it.

Why should I not kick my loafers off?
Because it crushes the tassels and creases the heel counter, and both are permanent. Use your hands or a shoe horn.