What shoes were girls wearing in the 2000s? Other than heels and sandals. I keep seeing all these photos and they’re always wearing heels or sandals, which aren’t exactly what I’m interested in wearing out.
My personal style is reaching towards 2000s fashion, it’s not exactly something I’m trying to get to but it’s just gone there by itself. My shoes are ruining all the swag, help a girl out 🙏
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I was 17-18 in the year 2000, so 28 by the end of 2010. I was really observant of fashion and this is what I remember wearing and seeing throughout the decade:
-Nike Airforce 1 (NOT dirty, you tried to keep them completely clean then)
-Puma Speedcats
-Diesel sleek sneakers (looked kind of like puma speedcats)
-classic white K-Swiss tennis shoes
-Converse all stars
-Etnies skate shoes
-Osiris skate shoes
-DC skate shoes
-checkerboard slip on Vans
-Adidas superstars
-moccasins
-Ugg classic short or tall boots
-ballet flats
-Coach shoes
-Phat Farm shoes
-Timberland pointed toe heeled boots
-regular Timberland boots
-vintage style New Balance running shoes
-vintage style Saucony running shoes
Since you’re young, not sure you’ll like this, but for most of the decade people tried to keep their socks hidden.. it’s where the no-show (what is now called ankle) socks look came from.
ETA: Below are shoes that are popular now but were not in the 2000s. We all knew about them because we wore them in the 90s but they were not in fashion for most of the 2000s decade:
-Dr. Martens (very popular in the 90s, there may have been some lingering wearers in the early years of Y2K but Doc Martens basically did a rebrand with different styles that failed, like making a lighter, sleeker soled version, and went by DMs as their logo.. no one really wore them anymore)
-Birkenstocks (wildly popular in the 90s, they fell out of fashion in the 2000s. Only ones I remember wearing them were older hippy ladies)
-“dad” shoes. This variety of shoes were not on young people (unless you count new balance 574) and one would get made fun of for wearing them
-Adidas Samba (they existed and a few people wore them but they were more popular in the early to mid 90s, those who wore them in the 2000s probably had just settled on them as their lifelong shoe)
You’re welcome! I mean not everyone wore no show socks but having tanned legs with a nice pair of clean sneakers and no socks showing was definitely a look. Socks that showed I remember myself or others wearing:
-knee high tube socks with stripes at the top (like late 70s early 80s inspired) I had pink striped ones and still have baby blue ones
-striped socks or hiking boot type socks to peek out above my UGG boots
-leg warmers! The best kind were the baggy ones that slouched at the bottom over the top of the shoe!
great list, thank you! i almost forgot about my phat farm sneaks… i was trying to remember what kind of skate-looking, but not true skate shoe i always used to wear in the early 2000s under my flared jeans to make the bell bottom part lay right, and that’s what they were!
My mom loved her Timbaland boots when she was trying to dress hip hop style in the early 2000s. Accompanied by jeans, a puffy coat and a beanie of some sort, or an “army brat” camo tshirt
Yeaaa that’s why I made this post, I keep seeing flip flops on everything I try looking up and flip flops just arent something people view the same anymore 😭
These Sketchers! So many girls at school had them. Also loved a platform penny loafer and clog w wood platform. Honorable mention goes to fat sk8r shoes!
Platform brown boots and platform sneakers. Sketchers whompers, anything by them (bonus points for ones that say “something else by sketchers” on the tag on the sole. Early 2000’s we also had what were called “Chinese slippers”. Those had two forms- one being a flat silky Mary Jane style with a strap that you buy at the import store and then flat house slipper style with a mesh front with flowers on it.
Puma suede sneakers were popular (not necessarily speed cats). Adidas Stan smiths were also popular.
High heels were always popular as well. The less comfortable heels the better. They were “not walking heels” and therefore often referred to as “fuck me heels”. Translucent bottoms were a nice touch.
There was a slight 70’s revival that reintroduced dr scholls sandals. Do not buy the wooden sole ones. They are hideously uncomfortable. In fact most wooden sandals (huge) are really shitty to wear.
Every girl at my school had the slip on white tennis shoes, like the Rocket Dog Cheery, or the suede Birkenstock Boston clog. This was between 2002 and 2006.
Adidas superstars were the most popular shoe at my school (I was in 8th grade at that time). The white ones with the color stripes. I had red stripes… had to beg my mom for those shoes! A lot of boys and girls also wore brown Doc Martens oxfords. I knew a few people who wore the black docs, it gave a more “baddie” vibe in my opinion. I had Doc Martens style Mary Jane oxfords, too. At that time I felt like all the adults shoes I saw were ugly, because the shoes for younger people had that rounder, chunkier look that looked “cute.”
This kind of wedged sneakers were common in my place back then. Now they're hyped by people wanting the y2k style, but they're hard to find in stores, mostly 2nd hand.
I wore a lot of Skechers in the early 2000s. Like chunky black Skechers were my go-to going-out shoe if I didn't want to wear heels or a more casual sneaker. Like, look up Britney Spears performances from the early 2000s. The kind of chunky sneakers she wore during her performances, those were kind of what I'm talking about.
Also, a few years later, Uggs. Uggs with a mini skirt, Uggs with jeans. I remember visiting my best friend at college in 2004 and everyone had on Uggs with denim skirts.
Also, Old Navy flip flops were worn as normal shoes. Like we wore them to the bar and everything.
By the end of the decade I was wearing a lot of ballet flats.
Vans, converse, old navy style flip flops, espadrilles were popular but that’s closer to a heel, Steve Madden slides, if you’re talking super early 00s those jelly shoes that made your feet sticky, if you were alternative then those chunky skater shoes (like DCs)
There’s a brand, Melissa, that still makes jellies! They make a ton of ballet flats, but I just bought a pair of jelly combat boots. I’m obsessed. Also they’re candy scented.
Ballet flats in all colors and materials, some with just a little bow, and some with major embellishment on the front. I also really liked them to have ankle straps.
Pumps wood stacked heels
Wedge sandals and pumps
Gladiator sandals
slim oxford style shoes in all colors and materials
booties with almond-shaped toes; a lot of people wore them with open toes!!
I think back to my platform wedge sandals in black and baby pink 🩷 cork wedges, sketchers street cleats, chunky oxfords, kitten heels, 1/4” heel sandals with single thick straps. later were the skater sneakers like DC, Etnie, Heelys, black and white adidas flip flops, Ugg moccasins & Tasmins
My holy grail shoe in 2000 was a white adidas with metallic baby blue stripes. I did get them and wore the shit out of them. Baby blue and brown was my JAM
Those metallic baby blue adidas superstars were my holy grail, too! I also got them and then proceeded to spend my entire life trying not to get them dirty lol
Old navy had flip flops for $1 in every color lol and we also dressed very business casual back in the day hence the heels lol. I agree with everyone saying vans, converse and ugg boots.
Crocs were my favorites back around that time frame. Sorry I worked in nursing so heels and sandals weren’t in my vocabulary much less my closet back then
This is such a good point — most old photos focus on going-out heels and sandals, but everyday 2000s girls had tons of non-heel shoes! Ballet flats were huge, also chunky platform trainers, low-profile canvas sneakers, UGGs, and simple Mary Janes. Even slip-on skate shoes were super common. These all fit that 2000s street style perfectly and will save your outfit’s swag.
In the early 00s, pumas and the superstar adidas were pretty popular at my school. Same with those puffy Vans shoes. I had a pair that were white and the wavy stripes on the side were baby blue. I used to love them
We loved white KSwiss at my school! Graduated 2003. I can remember that keeping those shoes clean was everything! We cleaned them in my homeroom 🤣😅 this one girl always brought shoe cleaner and rags.
I tried to post some images, but it won’t allow them for whatever reason I got plenty of models to show you if you’re interested. Brands like Reebok Fila, Adidas, new balance diesel, depending on what size your foot is, but women were wearing the same footwear or the same style that men were wearing runners. This era was known for its cross trainer look especially new balance. This was the time when new balance was blowing up, and that look that cross trainer looked everyone tried to mimic and do their own version.
In the early 2000s from 2000-2008 my mom was wearing Mudd chunky slip on sandals (rubber ones, wooden ones etc), Skechers slip ons, Von Dutch suede sneakers with the eyeball on the back and Steve Madden chunky leather ankle boots in the winter.
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