Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Conversation >

My Shoe Shame

Our Lady Has Left the Building

09:32 / 25.04.06

OK, I'm just posting this to see if it's just me, but I seem to get through shoes fairly quickly, even if I'm wearing themmost of the day, most of the week. I bought a pair of shoes and a pair of boots last April and, although the boots are doing okay the shoes are getting worn and starting to go through the sole and into the bit between the sole and my foot, which, for a years wear is surely a bit wank. They'll probably last a few more months, but if we have a wet summer I'll have to replace them. Now, I think I treat my shoes fairly well, so how often do you need to change footwear and how many pairs do you have?

09:46 / 25.04.06

I don't think a year is that bad - some of mine don't make it past six months (current pair are due to be ditched at a mere 3, but that is because they smell atrocious, not because they are falling apart. Don't go for mylon insoles, chaps). What's your cost per wear? That should tell you whether you got your money's worth...

10:11 / 25.04.06

I tend to wear trainers until they fall apart. My current pair were brought back in 2004 and are probably coming to the end of their usable life (ones got a hole in the side of it). Also, I feel the need to wear something a little more comfortable when I'm on the treadmill.

My DMs last forever though. Those things are the finest boots a city-dweller like me could want.

10:12 / 25.04.06

Well, I’m quite freakish. I’m often accused of some kind of witchcraft for being able to wear shoes for years without them showing much sign of wear at all. I have trainers that are four or five years old, which I’ve worn plenty, that still look fresh from the box. They even smell like new trainers.
I’ve tried to work out why this is, and I think it’s partly because I’m literally quite light in the shoes. And although I walk a lot, I don’t play football, skateboard, or climb mountains in them. I also think walking style can be an important factor. I saw something on TV about how different people lay their feet down and distribute their weight differently when walking. I seem to recall they had a special machine (I *think* it might even have been in that London Marathon shop on Long Acre) where runners’ footprints were analysed so that they could choose shoes that best supported their particular demands.

So, I can’t remember the last time I had to throw a pair of shoes away because they were worn out. (In fact I can only recall one pair that I properly killed, and that’s because I wore them to Glastonbury in one of the mud-fest, sewerage-in-the-dance-tent years.) As a result I have accrued quite a few wearable shoes (probably 20 or so pairs) and cycling through those also minimises the wear and tear. It’s almost as if they benefit from being given a chance to rest and recover, but I accept that that’s probably an illusion.

11:04 / 25.04.06

I don't think I've ever worn out a pair shoes. The oldest pair I have is a pair of generically grey Nikes I got in... 2000? Christ!

My main shoes are a pair of black leather Ikons I wear for work which are about two years old. A bit of wear on the inner heels (from my dodgy walk) but they're healthy.

How the fuck do you destroy a pair of shoes just by walking? Is it a weight thing? I'm under 9st so I guess I'm not putting that much strain on them.

12:38 / 25.04.06

OOOOh, barbelith pager thingie, shoe thread in art and fashion.

12:41 / 25.04.06

How the fuck do you destroy a pair of shoes just by walking?

Freakishly wide feet that eventually bend the shoe upwards at the front like a court jester's.

I'm not going to Fashion, I don't wanna!

12:42 / 25.04.06

I mostly wear second-hand shoes so I don't know how long they last. Oh, I did get some new shoes last July - BlackStar ethical Converse-style low-top sneakers. I wore them a lot over the summer and autumn and they were in pieces by the winter (still wearable, just leaky), but I think they look cool, so I don't mind.

12:44 / 25.04.06

I go through shoes fairly quickly but that's because I buy cheap and trendy. I wear $20 boots/shoes for a season and then they're done - usually because the heels have worn down all crooked. Or, lately, because my dog chewed them up (so thank god I didn't spend much). Sneakers are the exception, as these aren't discarded, they're just downgraded to work shoes. Then they last a good year or so. I don't like sneakers when they get so worn in you lose support and the insole's all compressed and hard.

12:46 / 25.04.06

How the fuck do you destroy a pair of shoes just by walking? Is it a weight thing?

No, I don't think so (although I am heavier than you...). In my case it's buying cheap and/or flimsy shoes, and being a heavy stepper. My mother used to call me Fairy Lightfoot, and one of my ex-boyfriends said that he could always tell when it was me walking down the street because I clopped along like a donkey. I've got a pair of campers that I've had for 7 years which are still all right (though getting very worn at the heels and toes). It's usually the soles that go with me, not the actual shoe leather, although that has happened once or twice.

12:59 / 25.04.06

How the fuck do you destroy a pair of shoes just by walking? Is it a weight thing?

How do you not? I mean, unless you walk without bending your foot at all, and without ever getting your feet wet, the structure of the shoe will inevitable get slowly buckled and worn out. Each pair of shoes might do that faster or slower, but they're all going to get damaged in the end.

I'd say a year is a reasonable length of time for shoes to last. I have plenty that are older than that but you can tell, they do look a bit rough after a while.

13:53 / 25.04.06

I got DMs, too. Although I don´t shine them, I only wear them; they still look okay and not as if they will fall apart anytime soon.

I should buy a second pair though, but I´m too stingy.

17:04 / 25.04.06

So Smoothly is light on his loafers. That was news to me.

Cobblers, I say, to all of you. A year's a good life for the sole of a shoe. The upper might last for years more, so take them to the cobbler. For fifteen or twenty quid you'll get a brand new sole that will last another year. That's usually cheaper than a new pair of shoes and if they're shoes you're comfy with and fond of, it's good to have them around for another year.

Goodness Gracious Meme

17:11 / 25.04.06

I am also, it would seem, a light-stepper. That, and possibly I wear shoes way past their sell-by. I've only recently chucked away a couple of pairs of shoes bought about 10 years ago.

Like Smoothly, I find I tend to have a selection of shoes of different vintages, so I tend to cycle through/wear different pairs.

The trainers which I probably wear about 70% of the time are 3/4 years old, I think. And are a bit tatty, but still wearable. (and cost £8. Why didn't I buy 5 pairs, idiot child? I haven't found a pair I like as much since)

*

17:39 / 25.04.06

I used to break mine in half within a year, because I was a toe-walker. Now, having realized both what this does to my shoes and what it does to me— my hamstrings are permanently shortened; you'd laugh to see me trying yoga— I've managed to break the habit of breaking the shoes.

I now only toe-walk when I'm barefoot.

Well, it's a step.

Bard: One-Man Humaton Hoedown

17:44 / 25.04.06

My shoes used to last only a year. That's back when I was wearing the same shoes in the kitchen that I wore everywhere else. A year of getting hot liquids, weird greases, and the like spilled on them will destroy (DESTROY) any pair of shoes in record time.

Now I recycle. I wear a decent, but cheap, pair of shoes normally, and whenever they wear down enough to need a new pair I just use the old ones at work and get new ones.

The shoes I've got on right now I've had for nearly 9 months, since I bought them about a week or so before I went to the UK. They're still doing OK. Though I kind of wish I'd brought some hiking boots with me when I went on that trip.

Tryphena Absent

17:50 / 25.04.06

People whose shoes last a while tend to be people with really good feet. They probably have no idea how good their feet are (GGM, Triplets, Smoothly I'm looking enviously at you). I tend to keep shoes for two years if I wear them every other week and only if they're well put together. Because of my flat flat feet that at least half of barbelith must know about by now my shoes end up out of shape if I wear them three times and thus they fall apart more quickly.

19:56 / 25.04.06

I'm flat footed, so my shoes can last anything from a year to a couple of months, depending on how my feet feel about them once they are broken in, at the worst they feel hot, constricted and ache like hell, the best pairs are the ones that I wear until I can feel the floor through them.

20:02 / 25.04.06

Nina, it does, however, give you an excuse to buy some new pairs. Tragic, I know.

I usually get cheapy shoes for the summer that last 1 or 2 years, but have had the same pair of DMs in the winter for 4 years and they're still fine. Except not having any tread left, which makes them a bit shit on the ice. Not such a problem since I moved down South though. They're just the best thing ever, and am not entirely convinced I'll ever wear other boots.

Spyder Todd 2008

20:32 / 25.04.06

I've been wearing the same pair of tennis shoes for over a year. They cost me about 15$ and had absolutely no right to stay together as long as they. I've probably got anoth 4 to 6 months left in them, if I really try.

The sad thing is that I should buy new shoes, and I usually can sort of afford new shoes, but I keep wearing old ones because I'm lazy.

21:55 / 25.04.06

Well, it's a step.

A weird looking one. Ba-dum tsh!

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

05:37 / 26.04.06

I destroy shoes like nobody's business, trainers usually last less than a month, proper shoes about two. A couple of years ago I go sick of this and decided to get some leather DMs, thinking they had to last a bit longer, which they did, but the uppers still started to develop holes after less than six months. It’s a deeply frustrating and expensive problem and sadly results in me wearing shoes or trainers that look as if I found them down by the bins despite only having bought them a few weeks ago at least 50% of the time. My purple Velvet DMs which I loved so much in the late nineties did last an awful lot longer, but that’s because I absolutely treasured them and only actually wore them on very special occasions.

07:58 / 26.04.06

Another light stepper here. I have a pair of trainers and a pair of Converse gym boots that I've had for over 3.5 years and they're still hanging in there (slowly falling apart though), although they mostly get worn on the weekends.

But DMs are indestructible. I have a pair of (non-leather) DM shoes that I have worn to work five days a week for 3.5 years and they're still fine.

The Return Of Rothkoid

04:07 / 27.04.06

Jesus, Loomis - you STILL have those? I seem to recall you had about two pair of shoes throughout university, too.

Me, I am Teh Shoe Destroyarr!1!. They just seem to wear through. Only ones that're still good are my RM Williams boots - they're expensive (compared to the rest of my wardrobe)and have leather soles so they can be resoled at will - that's happened twice. The Birkenstocks I've had for the past year for summer/around house wear have already been half-soled, so it looks like that'll be a regular thing.

No, I tell a lie. I've a pair of green ex-demo Campers with crepe soles that I've had since I was in the UK that're still in good nick, and a pair of absolutely great headkicker Grinders boots that're still OK, probably because the sole is an inch thick. They're about all that survive, though - things like sneakers (including the awesome flame-covered Cons I have that're sadly on their way to Shoe Heaven) just get churned through in less than six months.

I totally destroy DMs. More than any other shoe, I think - I'm pretty sure I'm very heavy on the balls of my feet, as that's where the soles wear through. And as you'd know, once those things get through, there's not really any way to fix 'em. I'm reasonably heavy, though, so that probably explains it.

Bah. Maybe I just have to move to the Nick Cave school of dress, so I've an excuse for wearing white leather pornoshoes for ever.

10:49 / 27.04.06

I have several pairs of shoes but only wear 2 pairs - black for work and Solovair tan dealer boots for non work. I bought a pair of these about 8 years ago and have worn them loads. They are without doubt the best bits of footwear I have ever had. Finally they are starting to give up the ghost and there is a hole in the sole and the stitching at the back of one of them is starting to go. However, I have already got a new pair that I am breaking in. I really don't like giving too much thought to what I wear.

11:19 / 27.04.06

I'm a lightstepping pirate, I arrrrr! (Or does my light step signify a ninja-like dexterity?)

The trainers/running shoes--not leather--I'm wearing as I type I bought...in 2000? Or possibly when I was partying like it was 1999? Sometime back then. New Balance. They DO need to be replaced, that I know--the sole has lost its tread so they're slippery on some surfaces--but they aren't splitting, no holes, etc. The uppers are perfect and really, the soles don't seem to be too compressed--I can feel the arch on my instep, and there's some bounce in the heels. And although I definitely cycle shoes--I have another newer pair (still spanking brand new looking; purchased in 2003) that I leave in my locker at the gym (I just use them to work out 2 or 3 times a week, for like an hour typically so they could last a zillion years at this rate)--I wear these a lot, taking my dogs on a 1.5-2 mile walk just about every day.

Partner has flat feet, however, and so I sympathize. He rips through shoes.

11:31 / 27.04.06

I have a pair of trainers that I've had for at least twenty years. They're not exactly the height of fashion any more and they look a little tatty but I reckon they've lasted quite well.

11:43 / 27.04.06

When I were younger and a dedicated follower of fashion I probably brought 2 or 3 pairs of trainers a year (shoes? Shoes were for old people), these days whilst still liking me clothes, I'm not quite as concerned about being up to date and tend to buy trainers/shoes that will have some longterm appeal - somewhere between 8-12 months. Being quite light of step I don't tend to wear 'em out, although I brought a pair of Green Flash a few years ago that were dead and buried in a matter of weeks.

Regrettable Juvenilia

12:30 / 27.04.06

I destroy shoes quite quickly as well, partly because I don't tend to have "many" pairs at any given time, partly because I buy cheap ones, but mostly, I think, because I am an oaf. I tend to put them up on things, bump them into walls, rub them against table legs, scuff them when drunkenly stumbling about... It's a hard-knock life.

12:38 / 27.04.06

The best way to beat the shit out of your shoes is clubbing, I reckon. Even worse than skateboarding in my estimation.

Those of you who never wear shoes out, have you always had quite a few pairs? It would seem to me that if you own a whole bunch of shoes, you'll wear the individual pairs out at a slower rate than if you own, say, a single pair.

Jawsus-son Starship

12:49 / 27.04.06

Does any one else notice that Converse Chuck T Boots last about four minutes in the real world, but the non-booty things last forever? It's the age old balance between cool and lastability. Dagnabit.

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

18:58 / 27.04.06

Green Flash are indeed the most fragile of all shoes. I bought a pair last summer and even by my standards I destroyed them with incredibly efficiency. Inside of 12 hours they were visibly damaged and inside of a week they were my normal ‘down by the bins’ chic.