Plenty of people already consider a pair of loafers to be their daily driver. But all roads ahead, ironically, lead to a loafer of a different breed. Now is the era of the driving loafer. 

As you’ve likely noticed by now, we’re in a post-sneaker society where dapper leather slip-ons have not only left a considerable dent on the sneaker-verse but have even infiltrated it. Leather loafers aren’t merely normal but everywhere. But leather loafers with tiny little nubs for a sole aren’t so normal, yet. 

The driving shoe is getting a glow-up, both from luxury fashion houses that haven’t been interested in the silhouette for years and from its most famous proponents. Tod’s falls into the latter category. 

The century-old Italian shoemaker’s high-end Gommino loafer is one of the best-recognised driving shoes in the game, popularized in the ‘80s for its glove-like fit and still knocking around almost 50 years later. This certified classic has inspired a new shoe in its X Capsule collection, designed with the house’s global ambassador, singer and actor Xiao Zhan.

The thin loafer evolves into a Birkenstock-coded mule, its collapsible heel also offering the option of heeled wear. It’s still got plenty of its predecessor’s elderly appeal, but the sharp angles of the metal buckle make it feel more contemporary and the barely-there sole is in line with the widespread flattening of footwear. 

However, the prescience of Tod’s handsome new shoe isn’t only visible in its sole. Recent runway collections have predicted that the driving shoe is one to watch. 

Prada debuted a softened driving loafer in its Spring/Summer 2026 collection just after Magliano took the silhouette to a new extreme with exaggerated circular sole nubs.

Prior to even that, one of Demna’s last Balenciaga collections, Winter 2025, featured a leather driving loafer elongated to canoe-like proportions. It’s clearly a style that was still on Demna’s mind when he moved to Gucci, because he delivered a similarly slim driving shoe in his debut campaign for the Italian house. 

When regular loafers gained a newfound buzz over half a decade ago, it carved out a niche for weirder, more experimental types. Some are bizarrely big, many are strangely sporty, and a few are all scrunched up. Simultaneously, fashion’s hottest sneakers suddenly became ultra-thin Formula 1 racing shoes, leaving the door open for its older relative, the driving loafer.

As a result, we’ve ended up in a place where Highsnobiety shopping editors are suddenly recommending moccasins by a brand named Car Shoes — also owned by Prada, mind you — and for the first time in yonks, helped on by a few clever design updates, we’re swooning over a pair of Tod’s.

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