The recent news that President Trump has ordered the Treasury to stop minting new pennies because it costs almost four cents to mint each one, has left many in a tizzy. Once the supply of pennies is gone (which could take a while), how will businesses give change? Say you give the cashier a five dollar bill for a purchase that totals $4.72 (with the 7% Indiana sales tax), will you get back a quarter (rounding up) or a quarter and a nickel (rounding down). I can just hear the accounts pounding their heads on the desk now. NOTHING will balance!
And worse, what will we put in our penny loafers? Those useful, comfy shoes traditionally had a little slot across the top where young gentlemen would slide a penny. Why would they, you might ask. No one really knows for sure, but the loafer, at least, has remained a popular shoe style for decades.
A Norwegian shoemaker, Nils Tveranger, set out in the early 20th Century to improve the teser, a laceless, lightweight slip-on leather shoe that was worn by peasants and fishermen. He came to America to study, returned home, and created the Aurland moccasin which combined the best of teser and the Native American moccasin. Ta-Da! They became a popular shoe in Norway. The shoe was discovered by American tourists and Europeans between the First and Second World Wars, who admired the simplicity and comfort. The shoes that came back in the suitcases of the tourists got the attention of the fashionistas in the U.S. around 1935.
John Bass, founder of footwear company G.H. Bass, introduced an adapted Aurland and called it the Weegun, derived from the word Norwegian, and marketed it as a versatile, comfortable shoe for the man about town. It didn’t take long for the fancy men to buy them up, pairing them with leisure-ware. In the 1940s and 50s, Ivy Leaguers wore them without socks, and started putting a penny in the slot. Was it for luck?
Style icons like John F. Kennedy, James Dean, and Elvis wore the loafers into the 60s, and by the 80s, even punk rockers wore them all scuffed up and suitably anti-establishment.
Women adopted the penny loafer from the beginning. Hollywood stars like Katherine Hepburn wore them on and off the set. The loafer is considered a unisex shoe, and was one of the first options for women’s work shoes.
Even today, the loafer, in all its styles, is one of the best-selling shoes across the world. They are simple, comfortable, affordable, versatile, and with or without a penny, a stylish part of anyone’s wardrobe. The penny may go the way of the dodo, but I suspect the loafer will live on for many decades to come.
