In Defense of Men Who Wear Clogs
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Krister Axel
6
My dad was born and raised in Sweden, and during my childhood for a number of years we would go visit the family farm in Falun in the summer. I remember having a number of different reactions to the culture clash that I was subjected to, coming from the suburbs of New York City in White Plains. One of those observations was the prevalence of clogs. Pretty much everyone in my family wore them with the exception of my father: my siblings; my uncle, who wore them pretty much all the time; as well as all the cousins on the Swedish side (my uncle's children). Anyway, Swedes have a very distinct version of the clogs that they like to wear, perhaps in slight contrast to the all-wooden Dutch version, and over the last few days, I have dug in with a bit of research on where to acquire clogs for men. What I found was that women have lots of strong options, in terms of where to shop for well-made and interesting clogs, but for men, it's a bit more difficult. So, you're welcome. Here follows my list of a few go-to brands for acquiring quality clogs for men.
But first, let us state the obvious: yes, it's perfectly normal and acceptable for men to wear clogs. I am still in the process of convincing my wife of that fact, but let me just put it this way: my grandfather was the local jägmästaren (huntmaster) in his region of Sweden. He wore clogs. Case closed.
And then there is the question how effective they are. I've only been wearing my pair for the last few days, so I guess the jury is still out on that, but I can say already that my clogs are relatively comfortable, and should continue to improve in that way for as long as I own them. They are certainly well-made, and should last for years, if not decades, and they look exactly like the images I have in my mind from childhood. They offer decent protection to the whole foot, they're easy to get on and off, and they sort of force you into a certain way of walking that I think is a large part of the point. You will not be running in these shoes. They aren't meant for that.
The Case For & Against Clogs
If you search on Google about this subject, you will inevitably run into a few different pages that try to make the argument that clogs are a fad, or they fail to deliver on the promises they make—I would recommend reading those kinds of statements with some skepticism. The reality is that clogs have been part of Swedish culture for hundreds of years, and many professions have understood and internalized this fact: now, you can buy clogs that are made for, and marketed to, nurses, cooks, servers, and many others.
Generally speaking, if you spend some of your time standing or walking and are having trouble finding shoes that offer comfort throughout that experience, you should definitely give clogs a try. What I like about them is the idea that they will last for a very long time, and will continue to offer consistent support—compared to running shoes: clogs just look better, last longer, feel better, and are less disposable.
My Own Personal Use Case
I was a runner. I have fallen out of practice over the last few years, but traditionally I would run somewhere between 3 and 5 miles at a time, and for a while I was using Vibram shoes. This led to my first issues with plantar fasciitis, and I was told in no uncertain terms to go back to traditional running shoes. The Hoka brand was recommended to me. Those shoes are fine, but I was raised to understand that wearing running shoes everywhere all the time is just bad form. No offense to you if that's your gig, but on top of that, I just don't like the way they look. So I just went back to wearing the flip-flops that I got hooked on in California. That seem to do the trick at least for a while. But just over the last six months, I have a new job where I need to travel relatively often. I also happen to live somewhere not particularly convenient to the airport hubs of the world. So pretty much every time I travel, I have at least one or two or sometimes three connections—so I spend a lot of time hopping around in airports, and one leg of my last trip lasted almost 24 hours from departure to final arrival. This was painful. I needed to adapt.
I've been breaking in a new pair of clogs for use as travel shoes. Here is what I found as online retailers with stock for men in larger sizes. Keep in mind—above EU size 43, all styles may not be available.
This is the clog I bought (from troentorpsclogs).
Swedish Brands
Made in America
Made in UK
Honorable Mention
The main issue I ran into was in terms of sizing: If you just want standard black or brown, then you pretty much can't go wrong with any of the choices above. If you are looking for something a little bit more selective—may be a non-standard color, or even closed-back is harder to find—then Svens Clogs seemed like the winner in terms of both color choices and available sizes. I bought my pair from Troentorp and I could not be happier: both in terms of the quality of the product, and the shipping was insanely fast.
