Most boat shoes, much like boats themselves, have aprons, heels and collars. Usually, that’s where the similarities end. But not today. Today, I’m aboard the flagship vessel of the Sebago fleet: a boat-shoe shoe-boat that scales up the brand’s famous Dockside design — laces, uppers and all.

We’re afloat on the Po in Turin, bobbing improbably between the Ponte Umberto I and Ponte Isabella. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, we’re not going unnoticed. Much like its smaller, wearable counterpart, there’s something about the Dockside that attracts attention, particularly in its traditional red, white and blue colourway. The shoe-boat makes a similar splash: contrast stitching, a low-slung silhouette and that natty, nautical rawhide lacing. It’s difficult to miss.

It’s a design close to the heart of Marco Tamponi, Sebago’s creative director since shortly after the brand was acquired by Turin-based BasicNet in 2017. He’s equally fond of the boat itself. “It’s literally a boat-shoe — a shoe-boat,” he says. “Around two years ago, we started thinking about how we’d celebrate the brand’s 80th anniversary this year.” Which brought them, in shipshape fashion, back to the boat.

The boat was languishing in a commercial warehouse just outside London, a half-forgotten remnant of a previous ownership. Sebago, however, saw something worth saving, so called on Azimut Yachts, the Viareggio-based yard, to get her back on the water.

“This year, for our 80th anniversary celebrations, we’ve had it in Florence, Amsterdam, Paris, Milan,” says Tamponi. “And now we’re on the Po.” We certainly are, and doesn’t the city know it. Waves, nods, photographs. It’s a playful piece of marketing, and one that’s putting big, sunny smiles on city folk’s faces. “It’s one of the main assets for Sebago,” says Tamponi. “Just look at the reactions of people who see a shoe-boat floating in the middle of the river. It’s amazing!”

Tamponi, like the boat, is block-coloured today — shrugged into a Sebago jacket of various vivid tones. But it’s a fitting look; he is himself a patchwork of New England prep and Piedmont sprezzatura — the perfect man to steer, if not the boat itself, the brand across its new European-inflected Ivy League lookbook. Speaking of steering, we turn — and there’s a little lilt as we swing. “We’re trying to adjust a little bit of the roll,” says Tamponi. “Because, next year, the idea is to take the boat on the sea.”

Marco Tamponi

Lorenzo Boglione

For now, though, it’s the Po. As we double back past the towers and turrets of the Borgo Medievale, the fired red bricks of the city’s architecture university, the Politecnico di Torino, swim into view. But it’s only fitting to sail past such an institution, especially given how tightly Sebago is laced into the world of top-flight universities. The collegiate look, however, is one that BasicNet co-CEO Lorenzo Boglione, believes to be resurfacing in earnest.

“I think, culturally, that we’re at that period again,” he says of mid-century style. “The trend behind that classic visual, preppy look is very strong, and we see now — as we did back in the 1970s, say — young guys approaching this way to dress. And Sebago is rooted on the American East Coast: the colleges, the Ivy League universities…”

And the rowing — which is the very reason we’re on the water today. The shoe-boat may be a savvy bit of salesmanship, but the real headliners of this blue-sky, warm-weather weekend are vessels of another kind: sleek, razor-sharp rowboats; 62-foot racing shells with sweep oars and crews of eight athletic rowers.

They sweep by us now — in taxing training for tomorrow’s event. For this is the Sebago Rowing Cup, the latest rowing regatta to launch into the world’s waters, but one that feels curiously historic already. Perhaps, as we turn and bob back to the Canottieri Armida, itself Turin’s oldest rowing club, founded in 1869, that’s because the city itself has such a long-standing affection for the sport.

“The fact that, along just a couple of kilometres of river there are so many rowing clubs,” says Boglione, “speaks to how historic and deep the tradition of rowing is in Torino.”

“Sebago is rooted on the American East Coast…”

Race day proves Boglione right. The banks of the Po brim with spectators, banners fly from bridges and, the evening before, Sebago even projected the crest of the tournament onto the vast dome of the Mole Antonelliana, Turin’s best-known landmark. The city is abuzz for an afternoon of boating. And, at the heart of the action, over a lunch of risotto, tiramisu and vitello tonnato — a local Piedmontese dish of veal with tuna sauce — Boglione is holding court, explaining how the cup evolved for its sophomore year. “We did think about taking it elsewhere,” he notes, “but we decided that it was more important to stay in Torino.”

The thinking makes sense. The BasicNet headquarters — the 280,000 sq ft BasicVillage — are mere minutes from the Po. And, while Sebago hopes to invite American teams to the tournament in the future, the brand believes that keeping proceedings Turinese is the special ingredient; the secret sauce. (And, if this veal is anything to go by, this is a nation to be trusted on its sauces.)

For now, however, the teams are strictly European. This year, competitors from the universities of both Oxford and Hamburg are squaring off against teams from the Bilbao School of Engineering and Paris’ prestigious ESCP Business School. From Italy itself, the Florence Rowing Club has entered a team, as have universities from Rome and the Puglian city of Bari. There’s even a youth team competing, from right here in Turin.

This, perhaps, explains the fervour in the city. Last night, an opening ceremony presided over by Olympic rower Alessandra Montesano took place at Sebago’s Turin store, practically shutting down Piazza Carlo Alberto with live music and local beer. Today, the same atmosphere fizzes along the riverbank — a sea of red-and-blue-banded boaters watching the heats on the river. Even Giuseppe Garibaldi is having a look, the statue of Italy’s national hero craning over the murazzi alongside a crowd of locals.

And, from the pundits to the public, everyone’s awash with Sebago. Preppy striped Oxford shirts with button-down collars, suitably Ivy League-looking chinos and vintage-washed logo baseball caps. And, of course, the shoes — whether Docksides in their natural habitat or pairs of the many other moccasins and slip-on styles Sebago has to offer. The full-grain leather tassel loafers are particularly handsome — even if they wouldn’t make quite so striking a boat.

“But rowing is very elegant,” says Boglione. “That’s why, as a sport, it’s very connected to Sebago. And we believe that, today, sport is an extremely influential world. Of course, not every brand can associate with big sports. But, for Sebago, rowing is easily connectable. I read a report a few days ago that said sportspeople and sporting events are now the most influential global pool for brands to use.”

Rowing, then, for a brand so tapped into the prep and pomp of collegiate fashion, was the perfect fit for Sebago. “It embraces a lot of our values,” Boglione adds. “And, from a geographic point of view, we feel very connected. It’s a typical New England sport, but with the brand and the water here in Torino, the rowing and the river is really relevant to us. That’s why we thought the combination made a lot of sense.”

And it’s a winning combination. For, while the Hamburg team may ultimately take home today’s trophy — winning the final 500-metre sprint in a touch-and-go showdown with Oxford — Italian spirit courses through the regatta. There’s style, there’s passion, there’s Baladin Brewery’s Birra Nazionale. And then there’s Sebago, the patrons and planners of this confident new tournament. Even last year, the Sebago Rowing Cup felt like it crossed the starting line fully-formed. This year, even more so.

Looking ahead, Boglione still hopes to entice American teams across the pond to the Po, bringing a genuine splash of Ivy League elegance to Sebago’s continental home. “We’ll invest a bit more, and really try to make this event a tradition for the next 20, 30, 50 years. Who knows how long it will last?” With eight stylish decades already firm under Sebago’s siped rubber soles, we’d wager there are plenty more tournaments and triumphs to come.

Want more Ivy League style? Here’s a short history of preppy fashion…

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