Band of Top-Siders

A first look at Scott Sternberg's new Sperry collaboration

August 30, 2007—Now may be prime season for fall shoe shopping, but Band of Outsiders has already gone ahead and settled what to wear next spring. Designer Scott Sternberg says he was feeling a "Hemingway vibe" for the season, so he reached out to Sperry—who invented the Top-Sider in 1935—for his brand's first boat shoe (and first-ever outside collaboration). "I'd heard of the name Band of Outsiders," says Sperry president Craig Reingold. "But when I looked at the designs, I went, 'Wow, it's a perfect fit.'" (Hey, the guy's president of a shoe company, forgive him the pun.)

Sternberg called in "a ton" of Sperry's Authentic Originals and "just tore them apart and put them back together," he says. The results: colorful, lightweight cottons complemented by black and champagne-colored grosgrain. Our favorite, though, is a leather "inside-out" version, so named because the shoe's "Made in China" stamp, sizing info, and quality-control tag is on the outside. (As the photo demonstrates, it looks better than it sounds.) And in case you're wondering, the shoestrings are more form than function: "There's elastic on the inside so you can just slip them on," says Sternberg, who's always found Top-Sider laces "sort of annoying—they always come undone." Not as annoying as having to wait till February to pick up a pair.

P.S. In the market for a pair shoes you can actually buy today? Check out our story on the best shoes of Fall 2007.

Band of Outsiders/Sperry Top-Sider, $190–$300, available next February at Barneys New York, 660 Madison Ave., (212) 826-8900, www.barneys.com