These 7 Shoe Trends Will Be the Most Influential of 2025

Wedges

In February of 2024, Chloé hosted their fall/winter runway show at Paris Fashion Week and the resulting photos quickly went viral in fashion media. But it wasn’t the runway that had critics aghast, it was the front row—where everyone was wearing the exact same pair of wood-sole platform sandals. The message was clear: wedges are back. This moment reverberated throughout the fashion industry, becoming a call to action for every major designer brand (Burberry, Givenchy, Versace, and more). As a result, 2025 is promising to bring a full-fledged wedge takeover. 

Clogs

For the last ten years, ugly-cute shoe brands like Birkenstock and Crocs have been the laughingstock of the fashion industry. Now, the tables have turned and luxury labels, such as Coach, Loewe, Miu Miu, and Fendi are attempting to replicate their success. Each has released its interpretation of the functional clog shoe for 2025, ushering in a new era of comfort-forward fashion.

Modern styles, however, prioritize aesthetics in addition to arch support, with funky elements, such as metallic studs, plush shearling, and flashy buckles. Style them with chunky tube socks and a flouncy dress, a cozy jeans-and-a-sweater look, or even sweatpants. 

Square Toes

The footwear industry continually cycles through three different silhouettes: round-toe, pointed-toe, and square-toe. If you dropped a pin on 2025’s shoe trends, it would likely fall near the latter. In the next 12 months, squared-off toes will be everywhere—and I do mean everywhere—as boots, pumps, loafers, and ballet flats all take on a more angular shape. 

Though Jacquemus became famous for this notion—applying it to the most unexpected shoe styles imaginable—they’re now seeing some major competition from fellow luxury houses: Prada, Valentino, and Gucci, to name a few.  

Shades of Red

I’ve had a pair of bright red boots sitting in the back of my closet since 2016 because I just knew they’d one day come back in style. And, in 2025, my footwear forecast will finally be proven true. 

Miu Miu’s burgundy sling-backs were a singularly defining moment of 2024, the effects of which will be felt well into the new year. Wine-colored loafers, pumps, and boots are among the year’s leading footwear trends, along with bright cherry. If ever there was a time to test TikTok’s “unexpected red” theory, it’s now.

Many, Many Loafers

If you’ve ever uttered the words “I don’t like loafers,” the fashion industry heard you—and it’s hell-bent on changing your mind. This year will see the continual reinvention of what was formerly fashion’s stuffiest shoe. 

Corporate, more generally, will take a starring role in 2025 fashion trends, placing loafers in the lead for the shoe of the year. Options will vary so widely—ranging from animal print and studs to color-blocked leather, tweed, and more—it’ll be near impossible not to fall in love with at least one pair. 

Asymmetry

Though 2025 will see a clear shift back to traditional styles (more on that here), there are still several shoe trends for those who crave a more unconventional aesthetic. Avant-garde styles are cropping up within the collections of some of the most influential brands—an innovation that will surely continue. 

In 2024, Tory Burch went viral for their pierced mule wedges, which feature a toe ring detail and cut-out. This set the stage for 2025, which will see misaligned peep toe pumps and one-sided loafers (which I’ve personally had my eye on for months). Dries Van Noten, too, is selling eccentric shoe styles that frame the foot in unexpected ways. 

Naked Shoes

While 2025 will surely bring immense change in nearly every aspect of life, rest assured: fashion’s obsession with nudity will remain constant. In 2024, we dabbled in foot-forward designs, via mesh flats and PVC sandals. New releases will take this aesthetic to the extreme, as designers like Khaite, Dior, Saint Laurent, and, of course, Alaïa (makers of the viral mesh flat) give every imaginable shoe the barely-there treatment—including boots and high heels.