These Velasca Belgian loafers are the best actual Belgian loafers that I have ever seen and that is because they have a proper sole to them. I was actually thinking of doing this one day too, but looks like Velasca beat me to it. Oh well! But well done on them as I think that this is the way they should really look. For far too long, every brand that pumped out a Belgian style always made a thin Blake or cemented version of them. No one ever put them on a welted sole. Until now.
I am not quite so sure why I have such an aversion to paper-thin soles or anything that doesn’t really have a proper welt on them but I just am. Maybe it’s because subconsciously I don’t think it is a proper shoe unless it has a proper sole on it. I also do not find them so comfortable. Either way, these Velasca Belgian loafers are great and I am happy that someone finally did them. And guess what? They are less than $200. That’s incredible.
While I do not necessarily mind the little bow tie, on a proper soled version, I would prefer it either without that or with a tassel. The bowtie is more playful and less serious and belongs to a less serious construction. That’s just my take. It is still good to see someone take a different route with this classic style!
Learn more here: https://www.velasca.com/
—Justin FitzPatrick, The Shoe Snob
Jesper Ingevaldsson
The original Belgian Loafer was a slipper, made mainly for use inside, similar to an Albert slipper. Belgian Shoes who made “the original”, and still makes it, use a handsewn moccasin construction. So that’s the reason why their made with thin soles (and unfortunately often bad soles and only glued nowadays from many brands). So to be frank this is really not “proper Belgian loafers” if you look at it historically, they are not made for the same purpose as the model was intended to 🙂 But that doesn’t mean that you can’t do it this way as well, and use them as regular loafers, and Velasca’s version look good!