Women’s Loafers: A Guide to the Hand-Woven Leather Loafer

Women's loafers are flat, laceless slip-on shoes with a low heel and a strap or seam across the top of the foot. Wear them with straight jeans, tailored trousers, cropped trousers and socks, or a midi skirt and tights. Black Tulip's loafer is the Clover Woven Loafer, in hand-woven leather, in Black or Chocolate.

A loafer is the closed flat for the months between sandals and boots, and the one flat that looks as right with tailoring as it does with denim.

In short:

• Straight jeans: the hem ends at the ankle bone, so the whole loafer shows.
• Tailored trousers: full length, grazing the loafer without pooling on it.
• Cropped trousers and socks: a fine ribbed sock, shown on purpose.
• A midi skirt: opaque tights in the loafer's colour, from hem to toe.
• For work: black with charcoal and navy, chocolate with camel and grey.

What are loafers, and what makes a shoe a loafer?

A loafer is a flat, laceless slip-on shoe, with nothing to fasten: no lace, no buckle, no zip. Its heel is low, its upper is cut low enough to leave the ankle on show, and its vamp, the panel across the top of the foot, usually carries a leather strap or a raised seam.

The names describe what sits on that vamp: a strap with a slot cut into it on a penny loafer, a pair of leather tassels on a tassel loafer, a thick, ridged sole under a chunky one. Underneath, the shape stays the same, which is why a loafer goes with so much: it sits as close to the floor as any flat and looks as finished as a lace-up.

The Clover Woven Loafer is that shape in hand-woven leather, worked strand by strand over a barefoot-toe last, approximately 8 hours a pair, so the barefoot toe is set as the weave is made. Each pair is completed by hand in small batches. The heel is 8 mm in every size, which makes it a flat, and up close the weave gives the leather a texture a smooth loafer does not have.

How do you style women's loafers? Four outfits

Styling loafers comes down to where the hem lands. A loafer is low, so whatever shows between hem and shoe, whether ankle, sock or tights, is part of the outfit. Get that gap right and the rest follows.

1. Straight jeans and a shirt

Straight jeans are the everyday test. Let the hem end at the ankle bone or just above it, so the whole loafer shows. Jeans that pool on the foot hide the shoe and shorten the leg; one neat turn-up of three or four centimetres fixes that.

The Clover Woven Loafer in Black with dark indigo or black denim keeps one dark line from hip to floor. Add a white shirt, half-tucked, or a navy fine knit. With mid-blue and lighter washes, the Chocolate makes a softer stop at the ankle than black does.

2. Tailored trousers and a long coat

Full-length trousers should graze the top of the loafer at the front and sit just clear of the floor at the back. Straight or wide-leg, in wool, flannel or cord, they look finished over a flat because nothing breaks the line from waist to toe.

Black loafers under cream or stone trousers give a crisp edge at the hem; under navy or charcoal they melt into the outfit and let the coat lead. A long navy or camel coat over a roll-neck in burgundy or bottle green finishes it on a cold morning.

Styling note: have trousers hemmed with the loafers on, not with heels.

3. Cropped trousers, a knit and socks

Here the sock is the point. Cropped trousers that stop above the ankle leave a few centimetres of leg, and a ribbed sock in cream or oatmeal fills it on purpose. Repeat the cream in a cable knit and the outfit looks planned.

The Clover Woven Loafer in Chocolate suits it best. Chocolate against cream reads warm, and the hand-woven leather gives the foot a texture that echoes the knit. A long coat in green or camel over the top pulls the colours together.

Styling note: keep the sock fine and ribbed. A thick sports sock turns the look into school uniform.

4. A midi skirt and tights

Under a midi skirt, a flat shoe needs one thing to keep the leg long: tights in the loafer's colour. Black opaque tights with black loafers, or dark brown with chocolate, run one colour from hem to toe, so skirt, leg and shoe read as one line instead of three.

Choose a skirt that moves, in a knit, a pleat or satin, with a fine knit or a shirt tucked in above it. With the colour unbroken below the hem, a flat looks deliberate rather than dressed down.

Styling note: choose tights of 60 denier or more, so their colour matches the leather.

Are loafers smart enough for work?

Yes. A leather loafer is the flat that reads closest to a formal shoe, so it holds its own in the office, client meetings included. With tailored trousers, a shirt or fine knit and a blazer, it looks as finished as a heel and keeps you at your own height.

For the most formal rooms, black women's loafers are the surest choice: the Clover in Black with charcoal, navy or black tailoring. Where the dress code is looser, the Chocolate goes with grey flannel, camel and navy, and with dark jeans on a Friday. The hand-woven leather stops a flat work shoe looking plain, and the weave shows up close, across a meeting table.

Choosing between a loafer and a leather trainer for the office? Our guide to loafers or trainers for work sets out which suits which kind of day.

How do you choose a pair and find your size?

Choose the colour by your wardrobe, not the season: start with Black if your trousers are mostly dark, and with Chocolate if they run warm.

Both colourways share one make: an upper in hand-woven leather, LWG-certified, approximately 8 hours a pair; a leather lining; a man-made sole; a barefoot toe and an 8 mm heel in every size. See both side by side in the Clover Woven Loafers collection.

The Clover comes in whole sizes only, UK 3 to 8. Measure your foot once, standing, from your heel to the tip of your longest toe, in millimetres, then check it against the Clover size chart in millimetres. The chart lists the internal length of every size, from 239.4 mm at UK 3 to 272.4 mm at UK 8, with 8 mm of it left as toe room.

An exchange for another size is free in both directions within 30 days of delivery.

Women's loafers: questions answered

Do you wear socks with loafers?

You can wear loafers with or without socks. Bare ankles, or a sock that stays hidden, keep the line clean with jeans and cropped trousers. A visible sock works when it looks chosen: a fine rib in cream, grey or navy, or one matched to the trousers. Under a skirt, opaque tights in the loafer's colour do the same job.

Should I choose black or chocolate loafers?

Choose by the colours you wear most. Black loafers go with black, charcoal, navy and dark denim, and suit the most formal rooms. Chocolate loafers go with camel, cream, stone, khaki and mid-blue denim, and look softer under navy. Black Tulip's Clover Woven Loafer comes in both, in hand-woven leather.

What is hand-woven leather?

Hand-woven leather is leather worked into the weave strand by strand, in turn, over a barefoot-toe last. Black Tulip uses it on the Clover Woven Loafer, where the weave takes approximately 8 hours a pair.

How do I care for hand-woven leather loafers?

Keep hand-woven leather loafers away from prolonged moisture and clean them gently with a soft, dry cloth. Use a neutral leather conditioner lightly on the hand-woven leather, and do not over-saturate the weave.

Most of these outfits begin with one pair: the Clover Woven Loafer in Black.