Things for my foots

Drez

So I've more or less always bought non-durable, cheap garbage at Payless. But I bought a pair of shoes there about a week ago and they broke already. I've had enough.

I'm actually in a financial bracket now where I can afford something a little better. So I'm really just looking for brand or shop suggestions. I live in NYC. And yes, Deebaser, I know I should check Century 21.

I don't need something super expensive. Just comfortable, classy dress shoes for work (and maybe not-work). Nothing over $150.

Bonus points if they come with levitation pads.

Oh and I'm size 14. Though I can get away with 13W as well, usually.

Six

Hit up your local DSW.

Baron Dirigible

Two things:

First, maybe you already do this, but you need a solid rotation of shoes. Two pairs at an absolute minimum, because alternating shoes each day prolongs their lifespan (and not just because you're wearing them half as often -- shoes need time to dry out, both from wet pavement and your smelly feet). Also, shoetrees, shoetrees, shoetrees. They're cheap and they'll help your shoes hold their shape and also smell better.

Second, I don't know how the American shoe market is, but over here there's a wide gulf between the shitty glue-job shoes and ones that will actually last more than a season -- and $150 seems a fairly arbitrary amount of money. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're just having to replace more expensive shoes each year. There's a saying that "$150 shoes will last twice as long as $75 shoes, but $300 shoes will last forever", and while that's not strictly true, $300 shoes will last a lot longer than twice as long, especially because their construction (look up Goodyear welting) makes them fully repairable.

Drez

$150 is not really arbitrary, it's budgetary, but your points are noted and appreciated and I will look into those. The problem I'm having now is that a lot of these styles aren't available in sizes beyond 13 .

CelestialBadger

Expensive shoes won't necessarily be more durable. They might just be very fashionable.

Djeet

While I like DSW, they probably won't have much selection over size 12. I'd look up zappos.com. They don't discount much, but their service is pretty great (free 2 day shipping and very forgiving exchange policy).

You do need multiple pairs to rotate between to increase longevity and prevent smelliness. When they wear out have them resoled as so long as the upper is in good shape it'll be cheaper than buying new.

adytum

Zappos.com and endless.com. Free shipping both ways, huge selection, great return policy, good prices.

You can get some amazing deals when they have clearance sales.

spool32

Another vote for zappos. Amazon is slowly consuming my life and I don't care.

Figgy

Shoes are one of those things I consider not wanting to last forever. Styles come and go, and a really nice pair of shoes today might not tickle your fancy at all three years from now. So, I'm of the mind that you should be buying shoes to last 1-2 years tops. When you start getting into the crazy expensive shoes that last for years, I think it's a waste. Even if those shoes literally lasted for the rest of your life, you likely wouldn't want to wear them in a year or two anyway.

There are, of course, exceptions. Like a certain style of dress shoe, perhaps. But generally, shoe styles change.

Cultural Geek Girl

I recommend Aravon by New Balance. They're dress shoes made by... well... by New Balance, and they tend to be in the $100-200 range. They are the most comfortable dress shoes I have ever found in my life, and they last. I actually ended up buying a second pair in a different color a year after I bought my first pair, just so I had pairs to go with every outfit.

The best part is that you can find New Balance stores that sell them, and go in and have expert salespeople properly size you.

Baron Dirigible

$150 is not really arbitrary, it's budgetary, but your points are noted and appreciated and I will look into those.

Sorry, I didn't really mean to come across as "hurrr you need to spend more money to buy the good things", but I really just wanted to caution you against setting a hard-and-fast budget before seeing what's out there. (That, and as I said, I really don't know what shoe prices are like in the US -- the only US brand I've had recommended, Allen Edmonds, seems to start at around $250, so I'm sure $150 can still buy you some perfectly good shoes.)

Expensive shoes won't necessarily be more durable. They might just be very fashionable.

That's true: shoes, like many other things, are often priced solely according to the label. Avoid anything by Gucci, for instance. But I'm not suggesting he spend that sort of money in the first place.

Shoes are one of those things I consider not wanting to last forever. Styles come and go, and a really nice pair of shoes today might not tickle your fancy at all three years from now.

Shoes are actually quite resistant to the whims of fashion. A brown cap-toe Oxford is a staple style which every brand will make for good reason. And are you really suggesting it's a "waste" to try and get the most use out of your purchase? Do you throw away your plain white dress shirts because they're no longer "fashionable"? Sure, there are some hideous fashion-forward shoes out there, but by-and-large, "dress shoes" are all fairly standard and boring variants on styles that have been around the past, I don't know, two hundred years. And hey, if he does get bored of his dress shoes, there's nothing stopping him from keeping them in his rotation so as to get more wear out of the new shoes with shiny buckles he decides he now likes more.

[edit: I just had a quick look on Zappos and found these, which are $175 but otherwise perfect: it's the captoe Oxford style I mention above, Goodyear welted for durability and repairability, and it's got consistently great reviews. Also, hey! Sizing up to 16!

Indica1

If you are a 14 go into smaller stores and just ask what they have in 14. sometimes they will have old hugely discounted stuff because most people have little girly man feet.

Edit: I just realized you wanted work shoes. I have never bought work shoes, so YMMV.

Deebaser

Six wrote: »

Hit up your local DSW.

I was actually going to say this. Fuck century 21 for shoes

Salvation122

Cultural Geek Girl wrote: »

I recommend Aravon by New Balance. They're dress shoes made by... well... by New Balance, and they tend to be in the $100-200 range. They are the most comfortable dress shoes I have ever found in my life, and they last. I actually ended up buying a second pair in a different color a year after I bought my first pair, just so I had pairs to go with every outfit.

The best part is that you can find New Balance stores that sell them, and go in and have expert salespeople properly size you.

Pretty sure Drez is a dude, which makes me sad because holy crap I would buy the shit out of men's dress shoes made by New Balance