Mens business shoes

[vagon]

What's your take on business shoes?
Do you buy a nice pair and maintain them well or buy several cheap pairs as they wear out?

I'm tossing up whether to buy a nice pair and get them resoled as needed, but looking at the costs I can essentially get a cheap pair each time for slightly more than the resoling.

[Papa bear]

When I was wearing my monkey suit everyday, I started with the cheap ones but they fell apart quickly and looked cheap.  I wasted money buying a new pair every 4-6 months.

I ended up buying 2 nice pairs, rotating them, maintaining, etc and they will last me for years.   They were purchased at an outlet mall / clearance so we're talking 90-100/ pair not 300$ shoes.  Will resole when needed.


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[houstonnative]

When I started having foot pain, I switched to wearing Clark's. Which are comfortable, but definitely look more casual / cheap than dressier shoes. I still have nicer shoes that I wear when meeting with clients or going to court.

BTW, when it comes to dress shoes, I have found that the expensive ones are often waaaay more comfortable than the cheap ones.

[Tjat]

I have two fancy pants shoes that I store at work and rotate daily. They are 6 years old and look relatively new and I honestly am extremely lazy when it comes to shoe care. The trick I found is to find the brand/style you want and keep an eye on Amazon, which routinely sells returns from their sister-company, Zappos, for MASSIVE discounts. The sole may look a day old when you get them, but they'll look like that for a few years.

I got two pairs of Johnston & Murphy shoes for <$200, compared to one pair that retails for $275. To me, this initial investment seems worth it compared to crummy leather Bostonians that I had previously and aged poorly in 18 months.

[grantmeaname]

I'm tossing up whether to buy a nice pair and get them resoled as needed, but looking at the costs I can essentially get a cheap pair each time for slightly more than the resoling.

This math only works out if you assume that expensive shoes need resoled as often as cheap shoes are worn out, which I don't think is the case. I buy only Allen Edmonds but get them on Ebay, used, for at or under $100. They also have an outlet store near me but those start up closer to $200 and that's out of my price range. Since the shoes are real leather and not corrected leather, the uppers look much nicer for much longer than if you buy the department store garbage - and at $100 or so you're probably not paying much more for nice shoes than you would have for cheap ones.

If you go the route of buying nice shoes and then maintaining them, you can also get a rubber sole protector put on with an adhesive if you don't want to pay for shoes to be resoled - the leather sole underneath with still be removable, so the shoe is still resolable.

[GuitarStv]

I wear cheap black velcro running shoes.  40$ pair lasts about three years.

[Jouer]

For sure do not buy cheap work shoes. Better shoes are much more comfortable if you know how to look. But this does not have to mean spending $200-$300 on a pair of shoes. I usually shop at outlets or sales so end up with high end shoes (Cole Haan are my favourites....Nike Air soles!!!) for about $100; the price of a shitty pair at Aldo or something.

I'm sure you could do better than $100 with some effort, especially if you live in USA. I'm in Canada so have to deal with crappy CAD/USD exchange rate and discount retailers that do not ship to Canada if I want to get the good USA deals.

[forummm]

I bought 2 pairs (black, brown) of pretty comfortable Ecco shoes from Nordstroms around 8 years ago during their semi-annual sale for about $100 each. Other than when I had a foot injury, I've worn them to work every day since. I'm wearing a pair right now. They are still very comfortable.

Clarks are great shoes too, but a bit more casual looking.

[Drifterrider]

What's your take on business shoes?

NEVER skimp on shoes (or in my case boots).  You only have one pair of feet and they will take you everywhere.

Skimp on food, clothing, whatever but never on shoes.

Plus, with several pairs you can rotate them and avoid foot stink.  You CAN have more than one pair of the same shoe.

[tarheeldan]

Like grantmeaname, I went with Allen Edmonds (seconds on clearance or at a sharp discount e.g. Amazon).

Not only do better made and better quality material shoes last longer, but because of the investment you will treat them better -I certainly do. They're never worn two days in a row and are never without a shoe tree if I'm not wearing them.

[mtn]

Funny timing--I just spent $320 on two pairs of shoes yesterday.

Both were Allen Edmonds, one made in Italy, the other in USA (Branded Brooks Brothers).

I have a LOT of shoes, some inherited from my dad and grandpa, some I've bought. I have 2 pairs of shoes that I wear to death--Ecco's. These were bought at Nordstrom Rack or an Ecco outlet for about $100 each, same shoe, one brown and one black. I've been wearing them 4 days a week (2 days each) for about 3 years now and figure I have another 3 years in them based on the wear so far.

My Allen Edmonds (about 8 pairs) are almost all WAY dressier--I wear these when I meet with executives, for weddings and funerals, interviews, or nice dinners. Figure they're worn each about once a month. I have 2 pairs of 2 different styles that are exactly the same, and keep one at work and one at home. Most of these are at least 20 years old and would wear MUCH MUCH better than my Ecco's, but aren't quite as comfortable--but still way better than the Steve Maddens I bought one time.

Fact is, my grandpa passed me on some AE's that we figured out were at least 25 years old. The things are built to last. I'll happily pay to have them resoled when the time comes, on all of them.

Now, to get political here: I think that the USA needs to either do away with the minimum wage, or impose enormous tarriffs on countries without similar labor laws. It probably cost Steve Madden $3 to make the shoe I pay $60 for. It probably cost Allen Edmonds $50 to make the shoe that I bought for $200 yesterday. I will happily pay a living wage to a guy in Wisconsin instead of lining the pockets of some investor.

[MrMoogle]

I've worn the same pair of shoes 5 days a week, for ~5 years, and I just took them in for the first time for repairs, although I did replace the inner sole once.  I got them as a gift when I graduated college, but I'm guessing they would cost ~$200 not on sale.  I polish them every few months.  It doesn't take much time.  I don't plan on buying a new pair before I retire. 

[vagon]

Thanks guys! Seems like the vote is for quality here, good to know :)

Now I just have to find the good ones at a bargain price.

[mtn]

Thanks guys! Seems like the vote is for quality here, good to know :)

Now I just have to find the good ones at a bargain price.

Shoebank.com right now for Allen Edmonds. They're having their annual tent sale, and these are the best prices you will find without searching. But this is basically just a catalog, you pick your size, it shows you what they have, then you pick the shoe and it shows you what store has it--call them and order. Don't know about shipping to Australia though.

Note: Allen Edmonds isn't the only good shoe maker out there, or even the best. They work for me, and they worked for my grandpa as his standard issue wwii boots. So I am biased. I also have loved my eccos, my friend swears by Alden, another guy I know just goes and finds the cheapest shoe on zappos that was made in a first world country.

[tonysemail]

thanks!  This made my day :-)

What's your take on business shoes?

Plus, with several pairs you can rotate them and avoid foot stink.  You CAN have more than one pair of the same shoe.

[Gone Fishing]

I had a pair of Allen Edmonds wingtips that I got back when you could get demo pairs off of ebay for $40.  I probably got 5 years out of them, wearing them almost everyday, and walking a fair bit in and out of appointments (parking lots, sidewalks etc).  I think I put 3 soles on them for a cost of $35-$40 each time.

 I changed offices and people don't wear as fancy shoes so I replaced them with Dockers "Gordon" style.  The first pair had a toe that was creased, so I didn't resole.  I probably got 2 years out of them though for $50.  My second pair came with a softer sole that wore out pretty quickly.  The uppers were in good shape so I had them resoled for around $50 (high but the only guy in town), the resole was soft and probably lasted less than a year.  I am probably a year into a second, harder, sole that is holding up well, but there is a small tear in the uppers near the sole so another resoling is probably out of the question.  Online reviews say quality may have gone down though since I bought the current pair.  I would recommend buying them from a place where you can inspect before purchase.  These timeframes on soles may be short, but I typically walk 1-3 miles on my lunch break and the shoes are comfortable to enough to keep on, saving me from having to buy as many sneakers.