How to Choose Breathable Summer Shoes: A Material Guide

Leather breathes through micropores—it absorbs moisture, regulates temperature, and over time moulds to the shape of your foot. Worth knowing: full-grain leather breathes better than coated leather, while suede doesn't like water.
When to choose: walking around the city and days when you're on your feet for a long time.

A breathable leather example is Birkenstock. The Birkenstock Arizona is an open, two-strap sandal, while the Birkenstock Boston is a closed, clog-style model. Both are made from natural or suede leather and sit on an anatomical cork footbed that adapts to your foot. You'll find more colours and models in the full Birkenstock collection.

An engineered mesh upper is built to let air through—in real heat, or under physical load, mesh can even outperform leather. Airflow moves freely, allowing moisture to evaporate almost instantly, offering excellent moisture-wicking properties.
When to choose: active leisure, long distances, and days when you plan to cover a lot of ground.

An example is the Saucony ProGrid Omni 9: technical sneakers with ProGrid cushioning that handle the load and stay comfortable even after a long day.

This type breathes not through the material itself but through its construction—air moves freely between the cords, and once wet the pair dries quickly. Worth weighing up: a small downside is that sand can get in through the gaps.
When to choose: by the water, in real heat, or on walks where you might get wet.

An example is Keen Uneek sandals: a cord construction silhouette built for summer travel and everyday wear.

What matters isn't how many cut-outs a shoe has, but whether it's made of a non-breathable synthetic. When the upper doesn't breathe, sweat stays inside—bacteria multiply, odour appears, and discomfort follows. This is true of any sealed synthetic, whether the shoe is open or closed. So always look at the upper material and its airflow, not at the number of open parts.

A quick recap of what we covered: leather and suede — for the city and long days, engineered mesh — for active days, and cord construction — for water and heat. No single shoe material is universally "best"—each one wins in its own situation. That's why we choose breathable footwear by several criteria: first the season and the place where we'll wear them.

We can put together a guide like this for one reason only: every model we talked about, we tested ourselves, and on the technology we checked directly with the brands. Our strength isn't one "right" answer, but careful footwear curation and knowledge of how shoes are built. There's no universal recipe, and claiming otherwise would mean distorting reality.

So we leave the final choice to you: comfortable breathable footwear is the pair that best fits the rhythm of your day. The whole season's collection in one place — check out our summer sneakers for everyday wear.