Best Shoes Similar to Sanuk in 2024– 7 Cheaper Knockoffs with Great Comfort

Sanuk is a famous brand for making stylish and stitched canvas shoes and loafers to wear for casual walking or attending parties and events. Do you need the same style, comfort and quality like Sanuk shoes, but at affordable prices?

After spending 36+ hours searching Sanuk alternatives, I have reviewed the 7 best shoes similar to Sanuks that are durable and can provide comfort for all-day wear.

There are several brands that manufacture shoes like Sanuks that have the same design but provide extra comfort and premium quality at great prices.

Related: Best Shoes Similar to Dansko

So, without further delay, let’s dive in and discover the best brands similar to Sanuk in 2021 that are manufacturing comfortable shoes that have a stretchy fit and offer a plush feel underneath your feet.

Best Shoes Similar to Sanuk – Reviews of Our Top Picks

Here are my recommendations for shoes similar to Sanuk.

1. Hey Dude Loafers – Best Shoes like Sanuks

Hey Dude mens Loafers – Best Shoes like Sanuks
Hey Dude Men’s Loafers
Hey Dude womens Loafers – Best Shoes like Sanuks
Hey Dude Women’s Loafers

Regarding the best shoes that look like Sanuks concerning the same style and comfort, Hey Dude has established special brand popularity among those searching for the best shoes like Sanuks.

Also Read: Hey Dude vs Sanuk Shoes

Let’s talk about the features that make these stand out in terms of quality, style and comfort.

Upper

Firstly, the shoes upper features a smooth and durable woven textile material that is exceptionally lightweight and provides breathability and all-day comfort to your feet that is best for casual office wear. Moreover, distinctive elastic knitting strengthens the light and stretchy canvas at both ends that helps to keep these loafers securely sit on your foot.

Moreover, the shoes offer a comfortable and easy to tie lacing closure design that allows you to knit the laces in two different ways that perfectly match your fit.

Footbed

Despite their lightweight and intricate casual design, the shoe also takes care of the biomechanics of your feet. They feature a removable memory foam footbed that offers excellent cushioning and gives a plush feel underneath your feet. Memory foam can easily mold your feet’s shape and provides nice shock absorption. If you have a podiatrist recommended insert, you can replace it with footbed.

Outsole

Also, the shoes have a lightweight synthetic outsole with indentations in a pattern that provides you with a sound footing experience.

Construction

Lastly, the shoes feature a low-ankle top chukka construction with two pairs of eyelets that you can wear with khakis and chinos plus polo shirts. Chukka construction, in short, is a lightweight construction with a minimalist design that goes well with casual dresses.

In this way, with all those features, you can get the same style and comfort with Hey Dude shoes that look like Sanuks.

What I Liked

  • Extremely lightweight
  • Easy to wash
  • Simple and casual design with dual lacing options
  • Available in several colors
  • Offer a glove-like fit

What I Didn’t Like

  • Durability is not good in the toe area
  • Offers minimal arch support; not good for high arches

2. Crocs Men’s Santa Cruz 2 Loafer – Sanuk Knockoff

Crocs has been a famous brand for manufacturing different work shoes to provide all-day comfort at lesser prices compared to other brands like Dansko, Sanuk, etc.

These slip-on loafers are one of the best shoes similar to Sanuk specially designed to provide comfort to men’s feet. The exciting thing about these loafers is that you can wear them on beaches as well.

Let’s talk about some great features that make this pair of shoes a great Sanuk alternative.

Fit

According to the Crocs sizes and fits, the shoes offer a relaxed and secure fit to your feet while still providing sufficient room to wiggle your toes. Through the support of a soft lining, these shoes securely keep your feet in a stable position, preventing uncontrolled movements while walking.

Design and Upper

The upper of the shoes features a breathable and stylish canvas that is super lightweight and cool with side vent holes. You can even wear them without socks and still feel great comfort and fit. The moisture-wicking lining prevents your feet from being sweaty and stinky.

The other great feature of these loafers is their comfy slip-on design and lets you easily wear or take-off your shoes. You just need to bulk it up a bit to slip on or off on the back easily.

Comfort Technology

The removable insole and outsole of these shoes is made of Dual Croslite Comfort technology that is designed from a combination of memory foam and Croslite material. The dynamics of Croslite material is a secret comfort recipe of Crocs that the brand has not yet closed. It is a closed-cell material with a mix of foam and rubber that has an excellent impact absorbing properties and offers maximum cushioning underneath your feet.

Lastly, the base of the shoes features a platform heel design with an approximately 1-inch heel height that gives good arch support to your feet and offers comfort under your feet metatarsals.

What I Liked

  • Lightweight
  • Great comfort
  • Great breathability
  • Casual design to wear with khakis and jeans
  • Best cheaper Sanuk alternative

What I Didn’t Like

  • A little scratchy at the seams on the heel
  • Not durable enough, weak at seams
  • Size is a bit larger for people with narrow feet

3. OLUKAI Men’s Moloa – Comfortable Sanuk Alternative

This pair of shoes by Olukai is an all-rounder in the sense that you can wear it to the beach, office or for just walking around the house. Olukai brand has crafted these shoes specially for men who want to feel fancy or want to have a party type look while just chilling around at home.

Material and Design

The upper of the shoes is made of hand-stitched, fully waxed top-grain leather with excellent durability and gives a soft, velvety texture. The shoes have a back that folds down so you can easily slip on or off your shoe. The most prominent feature that I like is that the elastic core panel is embedded in the shoes to improve the stretch as your feet slides in and hugs your feet securely inside.

The inside of shoes is layered with a moisture-wicking soft and breathable microfiber suede lining that gives a nice comfy feel to your feet and acts as a barrier against the cold in winters.

In addition, the shoes feature a drop-in heel design that converts them to a slide for an added casual look and feel. Moreover, this design also allows wearers.

Footbed

Furthermore, the shoes are embedded with a removable PU footbed which provides excellent underfoot cushioning, comfort and support. PU material is a bit denser as compared to EVA that offers extended support for your feet. You can also replace it with your custom orthotic insert for arch support. 

Outsole

Lastly, the outsole of the shoes is made of leather with non-marking gum rubber pods that offer excellent traction and grip over slippery surfaces.

olukai rubber sole

What I Liked

  • Durability of shoes upper is excellent
  • Can work as a flip-flop in warm days
  • Keep your feet warm in winters
  • Good arch support

What I Didn’t Like

  • Size runs a bit large
  • The leather part of sole gets scuffed up, thus loses durability
  • Bit heavy

4. Columbia Men’s Bahama Vent PFG Boat Shoes like Sanuks

This pair of shoes by the Columbia brand is one of the best Sanuk knockoffs that are embedded with excellent comfort, high quality and stylish design. Like Sanuks, the shoes have vent holes on the sides that provide fantastic ventilation to your feet and keep them aerated in summers. These shoes are perfect for fishing, walking on the beach or for everyday use.

Material and Design

The special thing about these shoes feature a blend of leather and canvas. The upper of shoes is a canvas that makes these shoes lightweight, and offers a nice comfy feel to your feet toes. There is a leather material on the sides of these shoes that improves their durability and offers a secure fit and support to your feet while walking.

Another important feature that I like about these shoes is that you can easily flip the heel counter when you step in your shoes which is a really cool thing that I like.

Midsole

Also the shoes feature a TechLite midsole with ventilation holes for breathing of your feet. TechLite is a soft and lightweight open-cell foam. This technology offers superior cushioning for absorption of impact and provides a high energy return.

Outsole

Lastly, the shoes have OmniGrip outsole with flexy notches, which tends to be more grippy when it gets wet. OmniGrip technology consists of specially formulated compounds for providing excellent stability and slip-resistance on wet floors. OmniGrip is a flexible and lightweight high-polymer adhesive that has superior strength and shows resistance against water.

What I Liked

  • Lightweight
  • Breathable
  • Great comfort and cushioning
  • Removable insole

What I Didn’t Like

  • There is no padding around the shoe
  • Need to break in to fit properly
  • Arch support is moderate

5. Clarks Men’s Step – Comfortable Shoes like Sanuks

If you are looking for a pair of comfortable Sanuk knockoff, this pair of shoes by Clarks with a nice lacing closure is specifically designed to hug the mechanics of men’s feet.

Material and Design

The shoes have a comfy and casual sporty type design, featuring a soft textile that gives a plush feel to your feet. You can easily adjust the shoes fit by the degree of tightness of the laces.

The shoes are nicely padded around the heel and tongue that provides excellent comfort to your feet, supports your ankles and avoids blistering. With a padded tongue, you’d not feel the rubbing of shoes upper with your feet. Your feet will remain protected and secured in their place.

Comfort Technology

The most prominent feature of these shoes is the CloudStepper technology in the midsole that Clarks brand has exclusively introduced. This technology is embedded with the layers of soft foam-like materials that are extremely lightweight and offer long-lasting comfort and cushioning support to your feet. It makes you feel like you are standing on the clouds due to its lightweight and outstanding comfort.

Footbed

The shoes also have a removable jersy-lined ortholite footbed that is super soft from the first step you take into the shoes. Due to great flexibility and open-cell foam structure of ortholite material, it quickly molds your feet shape and the jersey lining offers an excellent plush feel underneath your feet.

insole of clark shoes like sanuks

Outsole

The outsole of these shoes is made of lightweight EVA material that is very shock-absorbing, flexible and offers support while standing for long hours on your feet. The downside of the EVA outsole is that it does not provide good support on rough terrains and rocky surfaces due to its softness and high elasticity. If the surface is flat and smooth such as marble floors or soft wavy surfaces like beach, these shoes are great alternatives to Sanuk shoes.

outsole of clark shoes like sanuks

Note: You can check my article on Clarks shoes quality to get more information about them.

Pros

  • Extremely lightweight
  • Fully padded tongue and heel collar to support ankles and forefoot
  • Great Cushioning
  • Breathable
  • Great fit

Cons

  • You cannot wear them on hard concrete floors

6. Merrell Jungle Moc Slip-On – Comfortable Sanuk Alternative

Merrell mens Jungle Moc Slip-On – Comfortable Sanuk Alternative
Merrell Men’s Jungle Moc Slip-On
Merrell wommens Jungle Moc Slip-On – Comfortable Sanuk Alternative
Merrell Women’s Jungle Moc Slip-On

Merrell is one of the most famous brands making slip-resistant and comfortable shoes with waterproof feature. The shoes are designed for both men and women ad work shoes who have to stand on hard floors all day long. They also feature a slip-on design with a pull tab on the heel collar that easily allows you to put on/off your shoes.

Material and Design

The shoes have a sturdy design and are made of durable suede leather that is easy to clean and flexible enough to hug your feet without forming blisters and exerting pressure on your toes.

In addition, the shoes have an extra padded collar on the heel to support your ankles and Achilles tendons. To protect your heels from excessive impact and pressure, the shoes are embedded with air-filled cushioned heel padding that prevents your heels from rubbing against shoes lining.

Midsole

To provide extreme comfort so that you can stand for long hours, the midsole of these shoes is made of compression-molded EVA midsole that has excellent impact resistance property to absorb the shock and provide comfort to your feet.

Insole

Also, the shoes have a removable orthlolite insole that is lightweight, soft and provides excellent cushioning and support underneath your feet.

Outsole

Lastly, the shoes feature a slip-resistant rubber outsole embedded with thicker lugs due to which it provides excellent traction, and you can get the finest grip on slippery floors.

outsole of merrell shoes - Sanuk alternative

What I Liked

  • Lightweight and sturdy design
  • Available in wide sizes
  • Great comfort
  • Removable insole
  • Great arch support

What I Didn’t Like

  • Soles starts wearing after some time
  • Feet may feel hot in summers

7. Blowfish Malibu Women’s Play Shoes like Sanuks

These stylish sneakers that look like Sanuks are intended for women to provide them with great comfort and a plush feel. Blowfish brand has focused on making lightweight and casual style breathable canvas shoes that you can wear at a beach in summer or during your work.

Design and Material

The shoes upper is made of soft and flexible canvas and elastic panels that can hug your feet according to the fit and offer a glove-like fit. Due to the stretchy material, when you step your feet into the shoes, the fabric of the shoes stretches to fit your feet’s shape and then sits perfectly on your feet so that they remain secured and do not rub against the shoes lining.

There are ventilation holes on the shoe’s tongue to promote airflow in the shoes so that your feet remain aerated and free from sweat and moisture. This breathable comfort gives a relaxed feel to wear shoes in summers.

Insole

The shoes also have a removable foamed insole that does not provide sufficient padding if you ask my review. But, you can replace it with your custom orthotic insert that matches your foot’s shape and offers padded comfort.

Outsole

Lastly, the shoes feature a lightweight rubber outsole with stylish patterns embossed on it to offer a moderate slip resistance.

What I Liked

  • Extremely lightweight
  • Most comfortable Sanuks look like shoes for women
  • Grippy outsole
  • Glove like fit
  • Stylish design
  • Breathable
  • Looks cute with jeans and shorts

What I Didn’t Like

  • Slip resistance is not good to walk on smooth floor tiles
  • They are not very arch supportive

How I Select Shoes Similar to Sanuk – Best Features to Look for Buying Shoes like Sanuks

I hope that you might have found reviews of the best shoes that look like Sanuk quite helpful. After spending 36+ hours and diving into a pool of 100s of shoes similar to Sanuk, I have come up with the 7 best shoes like Sanuks that offer better quality and comfort at great prices.

Here is the list of features that I carefully analyzed while making a collection of the most comfortable Sanuk knockoffs.

Comfort

Sanuks shoes are not meant for athletes as they are good for all-day casual walking or wandering around the beaches. Keeping this in view, I have tried to search the shoes like Sanuks that serve the same purpose and provide great comfort for all-day wear.

The shoes that I have selected have cushioned midsole, a padded collar to support your ankles, a stretchy upper to hug your feet, and soft footbed to give a plush feel underneath your feet.

Material

Most of the Sanuk shoes are made of a soft and stretchy textile fabric that offers a nice fit on your feet. Few models are made of durable leather material due to which I have included Merrell shoes in my list that have excellent slip resistance and provide extreme comfort.

Design

Most of the Sanuks models are flat with zero heel to toe drop that is good for fallen arches, and gives you the best contact with the surface. Most of the models lie in the category of loafers. So, I have tried to include similar shoes like Sanuks with loafers like design and give a nice casual look to wear with jeans or khakis.

Some shoes also have elastic panels with slip-on features that allow you to wear on or take off your shoes easily.

Shoes Similar to Sanuk (Quick Summary)

[wptb id=1841]

Final thoughts about Shoes Similar to Sanuk

Sanuk shoes are so popular, and people are looking for cheaper alternatives because they are stretchy, ultra-lightweight, and comfortable enough for casual walking or wandering around beaches. Moreover, Sanuk shoes are easy to wear and fully padded to avoid rubbing on your feet.

Sanuks shoes and similar ones that I have reviewed in this article have flat bottom, due to which they are not made for high arches. However, you can place your custom orthotic inserts to support your feet, and after that, the shoes will be perfect to wear on parties and other casual occasions.

I hope you would have enjoyed the detailed reviews on shoes similar to Sanuk and have made up a decision about which shoes you should buy that offer maximum comfort and provide a better feel than Sanuk shoes at affordable prices.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are shoes like Sanuks comfortable for walking?

Yes, Sanuks shoes are extremely lightweight that makes them suitable for casual walking. I have tried to find the best shoes similar to Sanuk that are soft, flexible, lightweight and provide better comfort and feel when walking as compared to Sanuks.

Are shoes similar to Sanuks stretch out?

Yes, the shoes like Sanuks are made of stretchy canvas that stretches out when you step your foot into the shoes to provide a glove-like fit. Moreover, most of the shoes similar to Sanuks are slip-on shoes that are easy to wear, and you don’t have to tie or untie laces again and again.

However, if you find that your shoes like Sanuks are bit tight, you can check my guide in which I have explained different methods for stretching shoes.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *