There are certain topics we cover every single summer, and what shoe trends to wear with shorts is undoubtedly one of them. Let’s face it: Shorts can be a little tricky to style and we know (from personal experience) that advice on the subject is appreciated. So as we do pretty much each and every summer, we scoured Instagram for examples of stylish people wearing shorts, coming to lots of shoe trend conclusions along the way.

It could be argued that it’s possible to make any shoe style work with shorts. We don’t disagree with this, but we do think it’s safe to say that some shoe trends just work better than others with shorts, and are far more versatile. Below, you’ll find the eight styles we narrowed it down to, many of which you may already have in your closet. (And if you don’t, we found some excellent pairs to choose from.) Scroll on to see and shop.

The easy, summery vibe of thong sandals is the perfect match for shorts.

It may seem like a no brainer, but chic, sophisticated slides will always look amazing with shorts (case in point, the Hermès sandals pictured above).

While not every heel style works perfectly with shorts, platforms actually do—especially with longer shorts.

Retro sneakers go with pretty much everything, but especially casual shorts.

If you want to dress your shorts up a bit but still want to be comfortable, opt for a pair of simple flat mules.

Chunky sandals work beautifully with any shorts length, so stock up.

Is there anything loafers don’t go with? We think not. (Bonus points for adding white crew socks.)

While knee boots may not be an obvious choice for the summer, they certainly make shorts look cool.

Next up, the key summer 2021 shoe trends everyone’s losing it over.