By
Najwa Jamal,
the updates coordinator at the Strategist.
She writes about fashion and beauty. Prior, she was a fact-checker at New York.
Sneakers have been getting slimmer and slimmer since Sambas’ massive resurgence in 2022. The low-top, inch-thick soles of Puma Speedcats and Nike Moon Shoes led to even slimmer, centimeter-thick sneakerinas. And now, with the rising popularity of the classic jazz shoe, sneakers have reached their thinnest yet — the jazz sneaker, as we’re calling them, with split soles as small as one centimeter. Jazz shoes themselves are little more than leather socks meant to bend and arch with your foot, and their split sole means you can literally bend them in half. I tried on a few pairs (including the classic Neo-Flex and the laced-up men’s Ultraflex) at Bloch’s flagship to see what a true jazz shoe feels like, and both felt paper thin—like I was walking around barefoot. Jazz sneakers aren’t far off. They have the same low profile and split sole with a pronounced arch in the middle of the shoe, but most are made of a more substantial leather or nylon and have an ever-so-slightly thicker, often rubber sole. And, of course, they’re laced up, usually all the way down the length of the shoe.
