We’ve worked with the good folks at Sebago on two pairs of subtle-yet-sharp summer shoes.
Designed for American sailing types, loved by Paninaro burger-scoffers, the deck-shoe has always been a firm Oi Polloi favourite, so we were pretty happy when Sebago said they could make us a limited run of yacht-friendly shoes.
A flavoursome fusion of some classic shapes, they’re called the Sebago Oi Polloi Portlands, and they launch at exactly 10:00 on Thursday the 25th of April. Here's what Oi Polloi main-man Steve Sanderson had to say about them…
“Sebago are one of the boat shoe originators, but although they’ve obviously got that classic American lineage, we thought it’d be interesting to look at their shoes from a different angle - taking cues from the kind of deck-shoes worn by the Paninari in Milan in the mid-80s.
We wanted to re-appropiate the re-appropriation, if that makes sense - so we remixed two of our favourite Sebago shoes. The uppers come from the Docksides whilst the sole unit is from the Schooner. That Schooner sole slims down the silhouette when viewed from above and cleans up the side profile to the shoe a bit more of a sports-like stance...
We then used a combination of high-quality leather and nubuck. We got the idea for the green nubuck whilst on the hunt looking for interesting versions of boat shoes we’d not seen before. We ended up finding some deadstock Sebago shoes with green soles - they were amazing!”
So there you have it - the Sebago Oi Polloi Portlands go on sale from 10:00 on Thursday the 25th of April. To whet your whistle, here’s a video and some snaps from the streets of Milan, the cultural homeland of the Paninari…
