Shoes: how many pairs, and how to make them last

Rosa_Damascena

Tucosalamanca said:

My daughter pushed for Dr Marten school shoes. I reluctantly purchased at £130 per pair.
She's now about to start her third year wearing them and they're still in excellent condition (regularly polished with DM products). I guess they're worn around nine hours a day, 190 days a year, with a fair amount of walking involved.
Expensive to buy but excellent value for money....

If your buying for your daughter hasn't her foot size changed at all in 2 years?

I have countless shoes, at least 70 pairs at a guess. I wear 4 pairs 98% of the time. The rest I wear only to co-ordinate with outfits, and the majority of those haven't actually seen the light of day. I generally co-ordinate outfits from the shoes upwards, based on what I am doing for that day eg if I know I am going to be on my feet all day I start with comfortable flats and then built up from there.

CapricornLass

It may also be worth considering ColourMeBeautiful type - you know, different shades of a colour depending on which 'Season' you suited?  They make suggestions for a capsule wardrobe too, and suggest choosing two or three pairs of shoes in the neutral colours for your palette, on the basis that it goes with anything in your wardrobe - there are suggestions for winter and then suggestions for summer/warmer climates.  As the budget/your inclination allows, you can then add shoes in different colours.  As you say, shoes are expensive, and if you have lots and lots of pairs, there's the amount of room they take up.   As a suggestion, it worked for me though. 

Floss

Rosa_Damascena said:

Tucosalamanca said:

My daughter pushed for Dr Marten school shoes. I reluctantly purchased at £130 per pair.
She's now about to start her third year wearing them and they're still in excellent condition (regularly polished with DM products). I guess they're worn around nine hours a day, 190 days a year, with a fair amount of walking involved.
Expensive to buy but excellent value for money....

If your buying for your daughter hasn't her foot size changed at all in 2 years?

My feet stopped growing age around 13 and my 16yo niece has been wearing mine, her mum's and my daughter-in-law's shoes for about 3 years.

Frith

I haven't owned any shoes for years. 

At the moment I have:

Trainers (worn 99% of the time)
Sparkly plimsolls from eBay
Black boots from eBay 
Plastic shoes from Sports Direct for walking in rivers or the sea 

theoretica

If you are wearing out the inner soles, perhaps something to think about is putting thin insoles into the shoes when they are new, so hopefully they wear, rather than the shoe itself and you can change them easily.  You could also look at getting the sort of shoe that can have heel patches glued onto the sole by a cobbler - repair rather than replace. 

Andyjflet

My shoes last years, not sure why at 6ft 3 and 15 stone I'm not light footed but I tend to look after them. Work shoes I have two pairs from Next that are 3/4 years old, one is about gone with a crack in the sole. Trainers I keep and use them for other work, muddy walks etc, I have a pair of Adidas boost that I bought in lockdown that are pretty scruffy but still going.
Best boots are Jones zip up laced mens brown brogue type boots, ultra comfy and are a year old. £100 though

I also live in Northampton, home of the shoemaker! I am lucky enough to also own a pair of Crockett and Jones shoes, they are one of my clients and I badgered them into a pair of discounted shoes. 

beanielou

My thoughts. I have cerebral palsy. I am hard on shoes because of the way I walk & my gait. I was advised many years ago to spend as much as possible on shoes. I wear Niro all rounder every day as they work for my feet. I have 7 or 8 pairs & I rotate rotate rotate. 

My DS who is not disabled wears Cons or Sketchers as casual wear & Clark’s for work. 

Hope this helps 😊

horsewithnoname

Trussell explains in The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist how buying good quality shoes is actually moneysaving. The pity is when people can only afford cheap shoes, which cost a lot more in the long run. 

I must say that buying comfortable shoes is one thing I won’t skimp on. 

Savvy_Sue

I have no idea how many pairs I have, but I have just retired a pair of Skechers because the soles were so worn they were slippery, and they felt 'thin'. Then I found I'd made a hole in the insoles I'd put in them, and was starting to wear through the original insole. I don't feel Skechers last very long, but they are supremely comfy if you get the right style. Allbirds are my new 'winter' shoe: very soft and warm, I find I can't wear boots because they really hurt my ankles.

Walking shoes I tend to wear the padding on the heel out, and also get holes in the toes. I have seen an advert for preventative patches for these problems, not convinced they'd work for me. 

But I don't like throwing shoes out until they really are past it - and that's where the problem lies! I've had to replace the Skechers, but I have several other pairs which probably need retiring ... 

otb666

I have found my boys old clark school shoes just seem to last forever and good walking shoes as thick soles and velcro straps.(these are over 20 years old)  As they are black I have even worn them for funerals. When my MIL passed away she had tons of hotter shoes at least 10 pairs but unfortunately they just seemed to literally disintegrate when I started using them.  (AS mil was bedbound the shoes had not been used)  Otherwise I just use trainers mostly as good for driving. I have got about 5 pairs of shoes.