The defining feature of the YMC x Grenson Division Oxford was that you could hardly see the shoe’s laces peaking out from behind two overhanging strips of leather. It created a sleek upper that treated laces and eyelets as an unsightly necessity, inspired by a laceless ‘90s YMC sneaker. And it was a runaway success; the $800 shoe sold out immediately last spring, prompting a cycle of shoes restocking before swiftly becoming out of stock. (New pairs of the black Oxford just went live, fyi, but the oxblood red pair remains elusive.)

But while the original fan-favorite Oxford shoe looked laceless, its newest evolution actually is laceless. And it’s backless, too.

That’s right: The YMC Division has become a mule, unveiled exclusively here by Highsnobiety.

The slip-on shoe keeps to the blueprint set by its older Oxford sibling: a thick sole of leather and rubber, an equally chunky squared-off toebox, and a closed seam running down the middle of the foot joining together two leather panels that form the majority of the shoe.  

It’s been mule-ified and become an airy slipper, but without losing the Division’s distinct beefy snub-nosed shape. The difference is that the Division mule’s closed seam runs right through to the top of the shoe, where the laces usually are and where the upper now ends, leaving the wearer’s heel exposed.

This is the Division’s first big update — apart from the suede version released last month — arriving a year after it ushered in YMC’s new era under Sage Toda-Nation’s leadership.

Founder of an excellent eponymous line turning bold silhouettes into refined casualwear, Toda-Nation made a Grenson collaboration his first big drop after becoming YMC’s creative director. The designer has since been busy injecting the 30-year-old menswear line with his signature voluminous shapes and carefully selected Japanese fabrics.

He’s also deepened YMC’s relationship with Grenson, as the label currently only offers shoes in collaboration with the English shoemaker, produced in Grenson’s Northamptonshire factory. That goes beyond the aforementioned Oxford shoe, extending to derbies with an asymmetrical toe box, hefty boots, smooth leather loafers, and, very soon, clunky leather mules.

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