Gucci makes a lot of shoes

Gucci makes a lot of shoes. Most of them are not built to last. That is not a criticism—it is a statement of category. Embroidered loafers with canvas uppers, rubber-soled slides with logo hardware, seasonal sneakers in nylon and suede: these are fashion pieces, and fashion pieces age differently. They fade, they crease, they go out of rotation. You wear them hard for eighteen months and then you stop.

But there are exceptions. Gucci still produces a handful of styles that behave like proper footwear—shoes you can resoled, polish, break in over years rather than weeks. They tend to share a few qualities: full-grain leather uppers, Goodyear-welted or Blake-stitched construction, soles thick enough to take a cobbler's knife. They are not the shoes you see on the runway. They are not the shoes that move product on Instagram. They are the ones that show up, quietly, in the permanent collection, season after season, because they work.

I have worn three of them long enough to know what holds and what doesn't. What follows is not aspiration. It is maintenance record.

Gucci Horsebit Loafer (leather sole)

The horsebit loafer is seventy-one years old. It was introduced in 1953, which makes it older than most of the house's recognisable codes, older than the Flora scarf, older than the double-G monogram. It is also the only Gucci shoe I have resoled twice.

The version that lasts is the one with the leather sole. Not the rubber-injected variant, not the lug-sole reissue from a few seasons back—the plain calf upper on a single leather sole, no padding, no gimmicks. The construction is Blake-stitched, which means the sole is sewn directly to the insole with a single line of thread. It is less water-resistant than a Goodyear welt, but it is lighter, more flexible, and easier to repair. A competent cobbler can pull the sole, clean the channel, and restitch in under an hour.

I bought my pair in 2018. They were stiff for the first month—Blake construction does not forgive a poor fit—but by week six the vamp had moulded to the instep and the heel counter had stopped biting. Six years later, the leather has darkened two shades, the gilt hardware has lost its factory shine, and the topline has compressed just enough that I no longer need a shoehorn. They look better than they did new.

Two things matter here. First, the leather. Gucci uses a vegetable-tanned calf that takes polish without going waxy. It scratches easily, but the scratches buff out. Second, the last. The horsebit sits on a relatively narrow D-width last with a low instep and a snug waist. If your foot is wide or high-volume, size up half and accept that the vamp will never pull taut. If your foot is narrow, this is one of the few contemporary loafers that will not gape at the throat.

They cost €750. A resole runs €90. I am on my third sole and expect to get another three years before the upper needs serious attention.

Gucci Lace-Up Brogue (Goodyear-welted)

This is the least Gucci-looking shoe Gucci makes. It is a full-brogue derby in dark brown calf, welted construction, leather heel stack, closed channel. If you removed the interlocking Gs debossed into the insole, you could sell it as Church's and no one would notice.

That is the point. Gucci introduced the welted brogue line—there is also an Oxford and a semi-brogue—around 2016, during the early Alessandro Michele years, when the house was leaning hard into archival codes and oddball tailoring. The brogue was never a headline piece. It showed up in lookbook footnotes, worn with wide-cut trousers and oversized blazers, and it sold mostly to the small segment of Gucci customers who wanted something they could wear to a country wedding without irony.

I bought mine in 2019. The leather is stiffer than the horsebit—full-grain rather than the softer tannage Gucci uses for its slip-ons—and the welt is a proper storm welt, which means the stitching sits in a recessed channel and does not contact the ground. The sole is oak-bark-tanned leather with a rubber toplift. It has been resoled once, in 2022, and the welt shows no sign of separating.

The fit runs true to size on a medium-width last. The toe is round, not chisel, and the waist is forgiving. They are not elegant shoes. They are thick, slightly clumsy, built for walking rather than sitting in first class. I have worn them on cobblestones in Lyon, on wet grass at a funeral, through two winters of commuting. They do not complain.

They cost €850. A Goodyear resole with a new heel stack costs €120. I expect to wear these for another decade.

Gucci Brixton Loafer (rubber sole)

The Brixton is Gucci's attempt at a casual loafer that does not self-destruct. It uses the same horsebit hardware as the classic loafer, but the upper is a softer, tumbled leather, the lining is unstructured, and the sole is a moulded rubber unit with a low stacked heel. It is not a dress shoe. It is what you wear when you want the signifier without the ceremony.

I have had a pair in black for four years. They have held up better than I expected and worse than I hoped. The leather is durable—tumbled calf does not show creases the way smooth calf does—but the rubber sole cannot be replaced. When it wears through, the shoe is finished. I am currently at about 60 per cent tread, which suggests another two years of reasonable use before the forefoot goes bald.

The Brixton's advantage is comfort. The unstructured upper requires no break-in. The rubber sole absorbs pavement shock. You can wear them barefoot in summer without blisters. The tradeoff is longevity. This is a six-year shoe, not a sixteen-year shoe.

They cost €730. There is no resole option. When they are done, they are done.

A note on care

None of these shoes will last if you wear them daily. Leather needs rest. It needs time to dry, to release moisture, to return to shape. Rotate between at least two pairs. Use shoe trees—proper cedar, not plastic. Polish the welted styles every month; wipe the loafers with a damp cloth and let them air.

If you are going to spend north of €700 on a pair of shoes, spend another €40 on a tin of Saphir Médaille d'Or and a horsehair brush. The shoes do not care what cream you use, but you will, and the ritual matters. Maintenance is not virtue. It is just what works.