I’m a Shoe Snob. Buying Loafers This Nice for $150 Feels Like Stealing

For more savings intel—including the Meermin loafers we keep yapping about—check our guide to the best Black Friday clothing deals. Then make moves to GQ’s frequently-updated master list of every single Cyber Week deal that matters.

For generations, G.H. Bass’s Weejuns penny loafers dominated college quads—and the GQ offices—as the de facto preppy steppers of menswear nerds worldwide. (A cheeky canonization in The Official Preppy Handbook, a seminal guide to the look, certainly helped.) Like the Levi’s 501 or the Burberry trench coat, Weejuns have inspired countless imitations, none of which managed to truly supplant the original in status or name recognition. That remains true to this day and, as far as we can tell, will continue in perpetuity. Legends never really die.

But we’re open-minded people. And when a brand comes along with a better proposal, we’re all ears. We’ve tested plenty of loafers over the years, but it wasn’t until recently that we found a promising challenger: Meermin, a tiny Mallorca-based label that makes the best penny loafers for the price, full stop.

Our new favorite loafers, a.k.a the Weejun one-uppers. Made from French calfskin, Goodyear welt construction, and city-ready rubber soles, these are the best value loafers bar none.

My first encounter with its shoes left me shocked. As a self-professed shoe snob (I’m working on it in therapy), I was blown away. Meermin simply incorporates too many details for these shoes to be in the same league as other counterparts in their $200 price range, let alone alternatives that cost twice that. Premium leathers from France, Italy, and Japan; Goodyear-welted construction; concealed-channel stitching—I could go on. (In fact, I already have.)

The real plot twist here, though, isn’t my own Meermin-related epiphany: it’s that right now, Meermin’s shoe giant-slaying penny loafers are on sale for Black Friday. Yes, they were already mad affordable, but with with deals that go up to 50% off, they start to feel downright criminal.

The good news doesn’t end there. Not only are Meermin’s GQ-favorite loafers in the mix, the brand’s entire range of handcrafted shoes—rugged-but-refined Chelsea boots, spit-shined cap-toe Oxfords, and so much more—is also deeply discounted. Like we said: legends never die. Black Friday sales, however, do expire, and quickly—so here’s a brief summary of my favorite options available right now.

8 More Penny-Pinching Shoe Deals From Meermin’s Black Friday Sale, Because We Really Like You