Help me find a brand of clunky men's shoes that were popular in '91-93

August 16, 2023 6:17 AM

I'm looking for the brand of clunky men's shoes that I believe were popular around 1992 in the US. I played in a shoegaze band around that time, and I recall these shoes being gazed upon, at least when we weren't focused on our guitar pedals. Location wise, I was in Chapel Hill and Athens mostly, though I know I saw them in other college towns as well. They weren't Doc Martens, but plainer and always black. I'm stumped.
posted by a complicated history to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (17 answers total)

Were they Sketchers? They had a clunky boot/sneaker/shoe thing that I saw a lot of on campuses in the early 90's.
posted by james33 at 6:23 AM on August 16, 2023

Were they similar to Dr. Martens but with, eg, black soles? Could they have been Solovair, Tredair or one of those other UK brands?

I had some plain but chunky black shoes from what was then a small artsy brand, NaNa - the name got bought and they put out very different shoes now, but the ones I had were really, really nice.

Could they have been Fluevogs? Fluevogs are usually pretty elaborate but they did some plain ones.

There was a brand whose name escapes me with a sort of early nineties sun on it, made in Mexico to a very nice standard, that did some chunky black shoes. Pretty stiff and hard leather soles, but broke in well because well made. If you remember the brand and that's it, I think I have a pair tucked away and can check later.

Or if they were cheaper, could they have been Steve Madden or Wild Pair? I had some Wild Pair knock-off Docs around then and they did lots of artsy shoes.

There were a lot of small brands that failed or got eaten up around then, though, so it might have been too small a brand to leave much of an impression. But yeah, I had some great shoes back then.
posted by Frowner at 6:36 AM on August 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

By clunky do you mean they had a platform/flatform sole? My first thought was creepers. They were definitely a thing in the 90s, the big name in creepers is George Cox.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 6:43 AM on August 16, 2023 [9 favorites]

Fluevogs?
posted by nouvelle-personne at 7:09 AM on August 16, 2023

Grinders, Gripfast or Getta Grips would have been big in both boots and shoes, main difference visually to Doc's being the slightly upturned toe and a stitched toecap. There were also ugly AF loafer style, but chunky as hell with tassles that could have been the style.
posted by Iteki at 7:19 AM on August 16, 2023

Yep, I came here to say what RobinofFrocksley said, creepers! I only recently learned the name of them! They're still big in ska/punk; if you search for things like ska punk rockabilly men's shoes, that also seems to get a lot of results for creepers.
posted by limeonaire at 7:28 AM on August 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

Every teen I knew in a band was wearing Airwalks (usually the black/white model or the coveted patent pleather model) or Simples. My age group was more on the Alternative Nation than 120 Minutes end of the spectrum (so if you're thinking of Doc clones, these aren't them... I don't think people in my peer group would've been caught dead in Docs).
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 7:57 AM on August 16, 2023

Response by poster: > Or if they were cheaper, could they have been Steve Madden or Wild Pair? I had some Wild Pair knock-off Docs around then and they did lots of artsy shoes.

They would have been cheaper than Docs, but my recollection is hazy on where we acquired them.

> By clunky do you mean they had a platform/flatform sole?

Not a platform, but rather clunky in the sense of a Doc-adjacent brand.

I'm starting to think these might have just been some random black work shoe that we all coalesced around. Imagine a pair of basic Docs, but more plain.
posted by a complicated history at 8:24 AM on August 16, 2023

I'm also thinking of basic Steve Madden–style Oxfords—those were pretty big at the time, too, I believe.
posted by limeonaire at 8:30 AM on August 16, 2023

Many people in my social circle had a kind of workboot that we bought locally - not really a significant brand, just a chunky black Minnesota lumberjack kind of boot. I had some work shoes that were chunky like Docs but were from IIRC LL Bean - they had a thick spongy black sole, round toe and no detailing. I bet it was just that the local farm supply or wherever tended to stock a particular chunky shoe - that would be a little more in line with college budgets. (I had champagne tastes, NGL, and didn't always make great money decisions when shoes were on the line.)
posted by Frowner at 8:30 AM on August 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

In 1993 I wore these generic black shoes we called "postman shoes" that we bought at the army/navy surplus store; I imagine they were some kind of military oxford shoe. They were a cheap alternative to low-top doc martens.
posted by niicholas at 8:35 AM on August 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

My dad had a pair of combat boots from his time in Vietnam (looked like this) that I remember using for a Halloween costume around in the early/mid 90s.
posted by jabes at 8:59 AM on August 16, 2023

Could they have been Danner black hiking books? I first saw them in Chapel Hill around this time. They were the higher end of Danner's hiking boots line. I can't find an accurate photo, but could you all have gotten them at Townsend, Bertram, and Company in Carr Mill Mall in Carrboro? I'm sure other places sold them, too.
posted by bluedaisy at 9:01 AM on August 16, 2023

Around that time I and everyone else, of any gender, were wearing Canadian army parade boots. Got mine from army cadets but think they were like $50 at Black Market vintage in Toronto.
posted by rodlymight at 10:05 AM on August 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

Hey, I wore kinda clunky Oxford-ish Rockports back in the 90s. But I don't think they were really a trend.
posted by ovvl at 10:33 AM on August 16, 2023

Back in the 90's? I think some of the popular boot brands at the time were Lugz or Caterpillar.
posted by root of the root at 5:40 PM on August 16, 2023

In the 80s/90s, I had some friends who wore monkey boots, and some who wore steel toe boots like these.
posted by See you tomorrow, saguaro at 1:18 PM on August 17, 2023 [1 favorite]