OT - work shoes

You get what you pay for. I don't think you're going to find _anything_ decent for $15. Figure about four times that, but figure that you can easily get something that'll last four times as long.

Walking shoes work well for me -- think low-rise hiking boots, not subdued tenny runners. They're made to be comfortable for long, hard walks, and they generally wear well. On the minus side you're looking at something like Rockports (Rocksports?), which go for yuppie prices. On the plus side my last pair kept going for five years before the soles gave out (and it only occurred to me after I tossed them out that they were the right sort of construction to be re-soled).

If you can't find a real old-fashioned small shoe store that caters to working people, try REI. Yes, they're an out door store that sells to yuppies, and there's a lot of glam there -- but they don't sell much that doesn't have substance to back the glam, and if you look you can find plain old good stuff.

If that doesn't float your boat, I've found that New Balance running/walking shoes seem to be the longest-wearing tenny-runner style of shoe out there -- but you should still consider yourself lucky if you get a pair that holds out for more than a year.

Redwing works good for me tho they are pricey. I wear like a 6" boot . They have one of the best insoles in the business. I got about the same thing going on, ladders, concrete floors etc and a pin in my left leg. :-) Good Luck Lyndell

With shoes, what you pay is what you get, and $15 walmart shoes are only shoes in appearance.

Anyone bought any Red Wings lately? I like the Wellingtons with the steel toes, but they probably cost a lot now. I always wear out the right toe from kneeling on my right knee to weld under pipe. I guess I can get some cheaper ones on sale somewhere. Which is probably what I will need to do at today's prices. I used to go through a pair a year offshore. After a year, the soles would just fall off from the salt water and drilling muds.

Steve

On Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:48:20 -0700, Tim Wescott wrote: at something like Rockports (Rocksports?), which go for yuppie prices.

Comfy shoes are such a precious thing that when I get a good pair I keep the soles fresh by rebuilding them with the GOOP glue. I stick a band of Scotch tape as a dam along the outside perimeter, and squeeze GOOP onto the worn part of the sole. I try to lay down 2-3 mm layer by squeezing and moving the tube sideways, in parallel tracks feathered at the beginning and the end. It's possible to fix small mistakes and smooth the work with a wet finger when the glue is still soft.

The glue usually lasts few months, and then I reapply it. It looks redneck-ish but only if you put up your shoes which my mom told me not to do anyway.

I prefer Red Wing model no. 2233. Mine are a year old now and are Made In USA. ;>)) phil

The A-number-one absolutely most comfortable nothing-else-even-comes-close work shoes that I have ever worn were a pair of combat boots. Check local Army-Navy surplus stores.

If you're looking for something that looks more like a normal shoe, Rockport makes a few pretty decent work shoes. You might also check for an Iron Age dealer near you.

I had a pair of Buster Brown Bounce's once that were awesome. Sadly no longer made.

For a number of years I wore Caterpillar safety shoes that were so comfortable I wore them all day and on weekends.

My current safety shoes has me wearing sneakers during my down time. I have calluses on my feet from those damn things.

I hate buying shoes, I never know if my feet will like them until it is too late to return them.

If you find a shoe you like, buy another pair while it is still in production, maybe two pair.

Wes

Try Merell Shoes

I spent my first 30 years wearing Hush Puppys, Now Merell Shoes are more comfortable and last longer.

I got flat feets--Redwings they hold what I got left better'n anything else--20~25 years

Tom

If you are into wide width shoes, EEE or wider try "wideshoes.com". The New Balance shoes on my feet right now have lasted 4 years. Everyday wear except for Sunday. Con is $90.00 but they fit my wide, EEEEE, feet. I actually have two pairs of them since I beat them but good. So I will be4 good for at least 8 years with the two pairs. When they get too scroungy looking it is clothes washer time.

Bob AZ

Merrell! My one pair were the most luxurious shoes I've ever worn. I still think of them, 20 years later.

But HI-TEC are cheaper and longer lasting.

Here in UK, most postal workers wear Doc Martins. I wear safety shoes that cost about =A330. They last about a year but are waterproof, very comfotable with padded linings and cuffs. Obviously I can't help with a supplier.

John

I'll second Doc Martens, wore them for years as a lineman up and down ladders, tramping across fields and down streets with ladder on one shoulder and toolbag in my hand - they're available with steel toecaps, used to last me upwards of a year a pair. Witha bit of dubbin regularly applied they're pretty waterproof, and they're rated "Cool" by most subcultures ;) Come in some funky colours, too - you want fluoro pink, you can get 'em! Only downside is that they can puncture, repairable with a hot knife, and don't have a steel midsole, so you can puncture too - not so easily repaired...

Dave H.

Well put John - I have some doubts about our American Cousins, to even consider buying SHOES is close to heresy where I come from. Men wear BOOTS. Working men wear Boots. None of this shoe rubbish - effete liberal crap. If you wear shoes, you sit on your arse in an office and dont do very much. (Investment Bankers wear shoes - see where that got us all!)

Boots are functional - they keep the weather and the nasties out, and your feet warm and comfortable inside. All else is secondary. But I do concede, with Globalisation and Free Enterprise etc its becoming hard to buy a decent pair of boots, ie a pair that will last 3 winters before they start to leak. Real boots. And elastic sides - none of this struggling with 5 yards of laces on some fashion crap that looks like it could storm the walls of Baghdad. Elastic sides mean easy on/ easy off if you have to go inside someones (even your own) house. And you can pull your feet free of them if you fall and get stuck in the stirrups when your riding. Distinctly different from the Western and English styles. Have evolved.

My brand was always Blundstone, made here, my great-grandfather worked for them. Good quality, well made, consistent. Had a plain leather pair, and a pair with steel toe caps. But they "offshored" their production (Gee, dont you just love newspeak) and sacked all the workers and started bringing in crap ones from half of Asia. Still got "Since 1885" on the box. Dont know why. Took ages, but found possibly the last remaining boot manufacturer left here - Red Back - pretty good so far, but their coming up to the first winter so time will tell. The steel cap Blundstones are still good for a few more years.

I got 3 pairs of boots, and a pair of slippers the kids got me. They are

Leather work boot - everyday wear, can wear them out visiting if you give them a clean. Leather steel cap workboots - worth it, saves toes (mostly) from falling 4 jaw chucks - and big chucks too, ones on real lathes. Dress boots - by R.M.Williams. Cost me $300 , but worth it - stunningly well crafted, each one is made from a single piece of leather. Put them on, your feet swoon with the sheer comfortableness. Will be buried in them.

Anything costing less than $60 is crap. You get what you pay for. Simple.

I do hear that Redwings are a good boot - no idea, never even seen a pair. Hope their not made in China now. Doc Martens are good (John - "bovver boots" - ring a bell) but too expensive here. Can see why posties like them - they can deal with the "little incidents" on a posties round.

Thats my slightly irrelevant take on all this. Now, does anyone want to know about socks, for wearing in boots.

Andrew VK3BFA.

$12 WalMart sneakers are more comfortable to my abused feet than any of the the Merrill, Dunham, Chippawa etc boots I have. The steel-toed Wolverine boots I've been using for logging leave me barely able to walk in the evening.

The $12 ones last about 6 months unless I kneel down and crack the sole.

jsw

For just walking or casual shoes, try Rockport. They last me 3 years of daily use and are very comfortable. Price is usualy $60-80 and up.

I've had up to six pairs of NBs at a time. They are all on a shelf in different states of decay, and SWMBO reminds me when I wear too new a pair for the activities of that day. Reminds me of being a kid and having "school shoes" and "play shoes." Dad was good about it, tho. We got a replacement every year. I loved Keds for play shoes. "Run faster and jump higher" I think was their slogan.

"Are those your SCHOOL shoes" was dad's slogan.

Steve

John

My company set up their "booth" at the Las Vegas conventions for three years. Massive display the size of a house. Took four or five days. They were very cheap, never a perk or a lunch or a tip. I thought the shoes were overpriced, but have to admit I never bought a pair because of their attitude.