There has been a recent discussion about work shoes. This is about shoes in general.
I just want to say that I have bought good shoes. Yes, I have bought some cheap ones for special purposes, but by and large, I buy good shoes.
I have had some for twenty years. Florsheims, French Shriners, Bert Pulitzer, some Italian brands, mostly the leather dress ones. For work right now, I have some Red Wings and Magnums, and some cold weather LaCross with good insulation. For cowboy boots, I love Lucchese. Tennies, I like New Balance cross trainers, and Merrell slipons.
I used to get a new pair of high dollar running shoes about every six months when I was parking cars in Las Vegas.
Question is, do you buy good shoes or cheap ones if you have the choice?
I've told young whippersnappers, "I've got shoes that are older than you" on more than one occasion, and it was true.
In my experience, good shoes last, and they are good for your feet, legs, and back.
I've bought only one pair of cheap shoes in my life and never will again. Cheap shoes can be very expensive.
My shoe requirements are simple as I dress casual at work and rarely wear dress shoes. Biggest problem is finding wide widths so now I stick the the store and brands readily available. I do replace or repair them as soon as needed too. Worn shoes can be very harmful to your back.
No cheap shoes but no expensive ones either. My feet have actually grown from size 9 to 10 1/2 over the years and I've had to throw away a lot of safety shoes I got for free at work. Retired, I don't need fancy shoes but still have a few pairs of steel toed safety shoes (20 years old) that I wear when I need to dress up ;)
"Steve B" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@news.infowest.com...
Y'know I guess I have been very lucky... I hear people saying the right shoes make the difference... However, I don't think I have worn a 'Decent " pair of shoes in my life..Other than dress shoes for church, weddings and funerals, but thats about it....... I work in the oil industry and am a very active person... I am a pipeline welder and Steve I know you are a welder also by reading your earlier posts...... When I go to work...I buy work boots that fit for a decent price..not any fancy name brand boot.... I can walk on a cement floor for 12 hr shifts and be in fine form at the end of the day where other workers are complaining about aches and pains from walking all day on cement floors...I just don't get any of that... On my days off I wander around in a pair of 10 dollar velcro type runners. On nice days I take 3-4 mile walks with my wife. (Wife has back problems and swears by expensive shoes). I generally wear out two-three pairs of cheap runners in a summer... It's great when we go hiking and fishing or gardening because if I happen to step in the mud I am not worried about messing up an expensive pair of shoes...LOL The only thing I did have happen to me, was once I was wearing an ill fitting 2 dollar pair of flip flops and I tripped while going down the stairs and actually broke my neck 3 years ago... I did buy a good pair of leather sandals for about 40 bucks last year and they are quite comfortable (no more flip flops lol)... I have no back problems or aches and pains at all... I'm 51 years young....... I feel great... So In my experience, just staying in shape will be good for your feet, legs and back...not standing around in a pair of expensive shoes... My brother says he needs good shoes... but he is about 80 lbs overweight and wears those good shoes in front of the TV set with a bag of chips. I'm not trying to discredit you Steve on wearing nice shoes... I just don't think "everybody" needs them ...... Again...I'm not sending this to offend... Jim.
There's a differenc between "nice" and quality. I good pair of Florsheim wing-tips will last forever cuz they are quality and, these days, one seldom wears them 'cept maybe to wedding and funerals.
Quality is a whole nother ballgame. Paying good money for good work shoes pays off in the end, namely your health. Sure, when you're young you can wear crap. But, eventually the "crap" will catch up with you in foot and back problems. What's your feet and spine worth?
I concur with your opinion that good shoes are worth the money.
As someone who also has wide feet (EEEE), I used to be an avid customer of Red Wing shoes until they discontinued the wide widths and generally downgraded their quality.
I can recommend Hitchcock as someone I have done business with in the past and anticipate doing business with in the future.
Before Ralph Nader got out of the Army, he bought several pairs of Army shoes because they were good and they were cheap.
The footwear of American Indians was completely inadequate by European standards, but the Indians could walk farther and faster and didn't seem to have foot problems.
The feet and back need walking. They weren't designed for prolonged standing. If whites needed special footwear, it could be because many stood longer and walked less than Indians.
Feet need room, for bones to grow and work, for blood circulation to regulate temperature, and to keep the skin healthy. Shoes are often tight, because big feet are considered unattractive or to make cumbersome shoes feel agile. A habit of prolonged standing or tight shoes could change the feet so that only certain shoes are adequate.
Army shoes had leather soles. This made them fairly light and flexible so that one could walk in them all day. They "breathed" so well that they could leave condensation on a floor where somebody had stood a couple of minutes. Still, the leather could be slippery, it didn't last as long as many rubber soles, and it would absorb water from wet pavement. Whether a shoe is good or bad depends on your requirements.
Compared to Army and Air Force boots, Marine boots of the 1960s reminded me of moccasins. They were simple, flexible, and roomy, hanging from the ankles. The roominess made them comfortable over many miles and long hours. For all-day comfort, wearing dress socks under work socks probably mattered more than the details of boot construction; it reduced friction and perspiration.
At an online retailer I often find shoes at 50-75% off because only a few sizes are left. It seems that those made to sell for $100 are not necessarily better than those made to sell for $30.
Shoes can cause chafing on top of toes or at ankles; I've had more trouble with the expensive ones. They can be tighter than other shoes of the same size; I've had more trouble with the expensive ones. Moisture accumulation can be a problem regardless of price. Regardless of price, the tread design can bring mud or grit indoors.
Shoes that feel light often have voids in the soles, like egg cartons. As they break in, the soles seem to mold themselves to the foot. The insulation is good, and the design may help dissipate moisture. However, those voids tend to cave in eventually. It can happen soon and unevenly, making the support lopsided and hazardous to health.
Polyurethane soles can insulate so well that you get static shocks when humidity is low. This can cause pain, damage to electronics, and explosions when pumping gasoline. Chemicals can be added so that polyurethane will drain static, but most manufacturers don't bother.
Slipping on a wet surface is a common way to die or be seriously injured. It's hard for a consumer to predict how treacherous a given sole material will be on a set surface. Tires have to have to be rated for wet traction. Why don't shoes?
My cheapest shoes cost $10 at a local store. They feel heavy. The fit over the instep is sloppy enough that I can remove them without untying them. They tend to get damp in the toe. However, they don't slow my walk and can be comfortable over several miles. They wear out moderately slowly, and they are adequately warm in a house where the floor is 55F. Best of all, their traction on wet, sealed concrete is better than anything else I have. When one pair wore out, I bought another.
You were a podiatrist for 19th century Native Americans?
BINGO!!
If you got standard D width off-the-shelf feet, by all means, buy some cheap shoes. I don't.
Cheap shoes are cheap cuz they make and sell one standard by the thousands, one single width that is the norm for 90% of the population. I don't have those feet, so if I'm gonna get shoes with room to grow, circulate, yada yada, I'm going to be spending a lot of time looking and spending some serious money buying. No Big 5 or Walmart cheapos for my feet. They DON'T FIT!! End of story.
Hi Steve, I am a 'Rig welder" and I work on pipelines and refinery (plant) construction... Am a scuba diver also but never done any construction work. I was accepted in Senaca College in King City Ontario (just outside Toronto) to take commercial diving instruction and underwater welding but did not go...... Have worked through the Arctic in the Beaufort Sea (Tuktoyaktuk) right through to Alberta oil sands...Jim
*I have found that removing a shoe's factory arch supports and inserting my own custom made arch supports makes a big difference in comfort for standing. They are expensive, but medical insurance picks up most of the tab. Consequently for shoes that I use occasionally I can get away with something that is not top of the line. However I must have my high back steel toe Red Wings for work everyday.
If you sit all day, that is an adequate formula. If you walk all or part of the day, durability and how long you can wear them before your feet hurt and/or you get blisters and such, becomes very important. And as others in these threads have noted, as you age, your feet get a lot fussier, due to the natural cushioning in them wearing out.
I don't walk for money any more, but too many years of driving a desk has put my walking in the 'doctor's orders' category. The cheap shoes I had been in the habit of buying didn't cut it if I walked a mile or more without stopping every day. Blisters suck. I keep a pair of medium-price athletic walkers under my desk now, and afternoon coffee break is now a lap around the office complex, or two laps in the tunnels. Or if the weather is nice, a lap around the subdivision when I get home- I have a pair of expensive New Balance 992s for that and weekend errands, but they are bordering on being worn out after 2 years, and I am choking on the $120 price for replacements. And since I now wear size 14 (really need 13 1/2), finding ANY shoes in the stores is problematical. Rockport used to make a decent semi-dress shoe that was good for walking, but all I find in that brand is now China junk. Dr. Scholl's makes decent walking shoes that I used to buy before my feet got bigger, but no stores carry my size now. It is becoming a PITA of an ongoing quest. And don't even get me started on snow boots for winter, or real work boots (in case I ever need them again.)
Only cheap shoes I buy now are the $12 velcro tennies from wally world, for days I spend on airplanes. I always keep a sterile pair around for getting through airport security, and they last long enough for the half-mile run through the airport connections. They seem to last about a year on that duty.
As to why velcro- TSA needs to get a clue, and provide benches after the checkpoints, to put your shoes back on. Velcro is all I can handle whilst doing my stork imitation.
And you are contradicting your other postings 'Not BOB" so what is your point? you ask 'What is your feet and spine worth?" and say '"No Wallmart cheapos for my feet" now this....", there ya' go. You and a billion Chinese couldn't possibly be wrong.".... perhaps you have multiple people replying off your computer with different ideas on this subject?
I went to commercial diving school in Houston in 1974. I had the choice to go to the Alaskan oilfields or the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf sounded warmer. I got into welding after some years of diving. There was not a lot of underwater "welding" AT THAT TIME, but I understand great strides have been made. Mostly, we did electric arc CUTTING. I did get to work on some diving jobs related to welding, including the Bannister Week's Island Strategic Salt Dome Reserve, and was on the largest ocean going lay barge in the world at that time, the BAR282 for Brown and Root. That was 90 miles of
54" OD pipe through the Atchafalaya swamp. We did hundreds of miles of smaller pipe in the Gulf.
I have seen a lot of orthotics salesmen. I even got close to some at some State Fairs I was associated with. Bottom line after a few drinks, orthotics was not a refined science, but an overpriced solution to a common problem.
Today, I see ads for Dr. Scholl's, IIRC. In them, you stand on an apparatus that measures the pressures on the bottoms of your feet and suggests a number to a corresponding sole.
I understand and agree that a good impression of the pressure points of an individual can vary like a fingerprint. And that a corresponding therapeutic sole can be a good thing.
Questions is: Are the expensive ones really worth the money, or has Dr. Scholl's figured out a way to provide these heretofore expensive things to the public?
I know hearing aids were a ripoff for a long time. Then more and more people got into it, and the competition got greater, and the prices have come down if you shop comparably. Even for the same name brands.
*Steve, I get mine from a podiatrist who does casts of my feet and makes adjustments due to some miniscule irregularities with my toes. I started getting them about 25 years ago. The first time that I put them on my wife du jour noticed a difference in my posture and I felt better in the feet, knees and back. They definitely make crummy shoes feel better to stand in. I never tried the ones off the rack by Dr. Scholl Inc.
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