How to Style Vegan Shoes This Summer — SS26
Nae Vegan ShoesSummer 2026 has a pretty clear throughline running through it: square toes are edging out pointed ones, thong and T-strap sandals are turning up everywhere, and the ballet flat — written off more than once over the years — is properly back. It's a season built around pieces that earn their place over time and have become timeless.
None of that means starting a summer wardrobe from scratch. Here's how a handful of pairs from NAE's SS26 range, plus a couple of older favourites still worth knowing about, cover most of what summer actually throws at you: city heat, beach days, and the dinners that always run later than planned. Most of it comes down to two materials doing the heavy lifting all season — cork, which stays cool and breathes in a way few synthetics manage, and recycled soles that hold up to actual walking, not just a photo.
Let's get into it.
The sandal that does the work for you
This is the summer of the sandal you can wear all day without thinking about it twice. A proper footbed, adjustable straps, and just enough coverage to still read as an outfit rather than an afterthought — that's the shape doing the rounds this season, and it happens to be something we've been good at for years.
RAWA and SAVAI both build on a cork footbed and a recycled sole, which means they mould to your foot rather than the other way round — ideal for a day that starts on cobblestones and ends on sand. Cork's other advantage is one people forget until August: it stays cool underfoot when synthetic soles turn into a griddle.
For something a touch dressier, VERA takes the same buckled-strap idea and finishes it in warm brown with gold hardware, so it moves easily from a market morning to a dinner table without a shoe change in between.
Any of the three work loose over a maxi skirt or with straight-leg trousers rolled at the ankle — the adjustable straps do the job a proper fit usually takes a shoe shop to get right.
Something with a bit more attitude
Not every sandal needs to whisper. Thicker soles and double straps have been all over this season's street style, somewhere between a hiking sandal and a platform, and DARKU is built for exactly that: a chunky, two-strap unisex design with a cushioned sole and enough presence to anchor a plain T-shirt and jeans on its own. It's the pair that does the work a whole outfit usually has to do.
The trainer that goes with everything
Fashion people keep circling back to the same idea this year: a clean, white, low-top trainer, nothing chunky and nothing loud. KARIO is that shoe — made from recycled materials, low-profile, and shaped to work equally well with tailored shorts or a summer dress, which is really the only test a good white trainer needs to pass. It's also the one pair on this list you could hand to almost anyone and know it would get worn.
Dressing it up, without really trying
Kitten heels and slingbacks have quietly crept back into rotation this year, and this season covers it at two distinct heights. ZURIE and SOLANE sit at the lower, more walkable end — a 4.5cm block heel, pointed toe, elasticated slingback strap — with the only real difference between them being texture: Zurie in embroidered cork, Solane in soft vegan suede. Both are dressy enough for an evening without tipping into 'special occasion only' territory, and comfortable enough that most people forget they're wearing a heel by the second hour.
For more height, LILOU and EMBER take the same shape and raise it to 9cm — Lilou in the same cork, Ember in suede — built for the evening rather than the whole day.
It's proof that a going-out shoe doesn't need to hurt to earn its place in a summer capsule. Cork keeps things light in a way leather at this height rarely manages, and the vegan suede does a convincing job of the same trick.
Worn with a linen dress it reads polished; worn with wide-leg trousers and a plain top, it's the one detail doing all the outfit's talking. That's usually the sign of a shoe worth packing.
For him: smart, not try-hard
The men's side of the season leans the same way as the women's: understated over statement. HANOI is the elevated pick, a refined trainer with enough polish to pair with linen trousers on a warmer evening — it's also the one worth choosing if only one pair is going in the suitcase. SANDRO keeps things minimal and everyday in a soft brown, built for the kind of walking a city break actually involves. DAN brings a genuinely playful colour into the mix, for anyone who'd rather their trainers did a bit of the talking instead of playing it safe. And if there's a wedding or a dressier dinner on the calendar, GAEL — a brogue-detailed derby in OEKO-TEX certified vegan leather — covers the one gap trainers can't: smart enough for a summer suit, still genuinely comfortable underneath.
The three trainers share the same logic: nothing needs breaking in, and nothing needs a second thought before you leave the house. Gael is the one exception on this list, kept for the day a T-shirt won't do.
The flat that goes from desk to dinner
Ballet flats are back for real, and not just in a confident black. CLAIRE keeps things classic — a proper ballet flat that works under trousers or a skirt without a second of a doubt, no second thought, and slips into a bag for the walk home in the evening. NADIA leans softer, with a trainer-look, colourful in a pale pink and grey that pairs surprisingly well with this season's washed denim. Both are the kind of shoe you forget you're wearing, which, on a long summer day, is exactly the point.
The loafer that skips the sandal altogether
Not everyone wants bare feet all summer, and ANNE covers that without tipping into anything heavy. A slip-on moccasin in vegan suede, low-heeled at 2.5cm and properly flexible underfoot, it goes from an office day straight into the evening without asking for a second pair. It's the shoe for whoever wants one of these decisions to just be automatic, who don't want to be bothered with shoe election.
In brief
If summer packing feels like it needs six decisions, a puzzle of nine dimensions, it doesn't. One comfortable sandal, one statement pair, one white trainer, and one flat that can dress up or down will carry most of a season:
- Beach days and errands → RAWA, SAVAI or VERA
- Making a bit of a statement → DARKU
- Everyday, no thought required → KARIO or ANNE
- A clean trainer for him → HANOI, SANDRO or DAN
- A dinner that runs later than planned → ZURIE or SOLANE
- A proper night out → LILOU or EMBER
- Desk to drinks → CLAIRE or NADIA
- A suit occasion → GAEL
None of it needs to be complicated, and none of it needs several new pairs to work. Buy well, in materials that actually suit the season, and last year's pair is still doing its job right alongside whatever's new.
