I’ve a visit deliberate for summer time — half in cities and half within the countryside, strolling each day. I’m planning to purchase new footwear for the journey. I’ve cumbersome health club sneakers, however I’m searching for a extra fashionable different, notably for metropolis put on. What ought to I search for? — Melinda, Far Hills, N.J.

Packing footwear for summer time journey is like making an attempt to unravel a Sudoku puzzle: You should work out how all of the exigencies add up in a number of instructions earlier than you make a alternative. In any case, footwear are cumbersome, so that you don’t wish to take too many, which suggests every pair has to play a number of components.

Ideally, you’ll have a single pair for touring — round cities and nation — that might be sturdy sufficient to handle some hill and path mountaineering and never look misplaced with shorts. However they’d be stylish sufficient to pair with a gown or culottes for sightseeing of the extra city type. The objective being to not have your footwear act like a neon signal that blares “vacationer,” irrespective of the place you might be.

(There was a time, for instance, the place Germans have been broadly recognized by, and mocked for, their penchant to put on white athletic socks with their sandals, the identical means People have been derided for his or her baseball caps. They have been nationwide stereotypes that proved arduous to shed.)

So again to the shoe subject at hand. Does such a hybrid exist? Think about the wholphin of footwear, the zonkey of sneakers, the grolar of galoshes.

I’m not making up these names; they actually do exist within the animal kingdom, albeit not in massive numbers. And, more and more, the shoe equal exists, too. Name it the sleaker. Or possibly the snoafer. I did invent these phrases, however they’ve kind of a pleasant ring, don’t you assume?

Just like the skort (the skirt/shorts) and the shacket (the shirt/jacket), the sleaker and snoafer characterize the wedding of two kinds (the slipper and sneaker; the sneaker and idler), and each are distinct from the clodhopper monstrosities that took over kicks tradition for awhile.

And simply because the “gown sneaker” has wormed its means into Wall Avenue (and was just lately worn by Hakeem Jeffries throughout a gathering within the Oval Workplace), so, too, the sleaker and snoafer ought to worm their means into your suitcase.

Mild and low-profile sufficient to look extra like a summer time slipper than a mountaineering boot, sleakers (and snoafers) are supportive sufficient for simple strolling. Based on Dr. Elizabeth Cody, a foot and ankle surgeon on the Hospital for Particular Surgical procedure, the secret is to search for a “thicker, stiffer sole.” Tips on how to establish that? “You possibly can check the stiffness of the shoe by making an attempt to bend it from heel to toe,” she stated. “A stiff shoe can be very tough to bend.”

Then search for breathable materials like gentle wool and canvas somewhat than, say, leather-based, and a lower that dips cleanly under the ankle bone. Assume traditional names, like Stan Smith, Superga and Vans, as nicely their newer cousin, Allbirds, and fundamental colours, like black and white.

And at last, as with all footwear, put on them earlier than you pack them. It’s the one actual option to know in the event you can stroll that means.

Your Fashion Questions, Answered

Each week on Open Thread, Vanessa will reply a reader’s fashion-related query, which you’ll be able to ship to her anytime through e-mail or Twitter. Questions are edited and condensed.