Winter hiking boots, telemark ski boots, and possible a pair of 3-season hiking boots. My usual summer hiking boots are lightweight and much less expensive than my old waffle stompers, but I still have a pair of Limmer Standards which retails for over $300 today but were cheaper when I purchased them 25 years ago.
I have some dress shoes that are close to $200 but I don’t think any have actually gone over the limit.
Nope.
My most expensive are Cocoran boots that I got for $175, my wife’s most expensive (perversely) are a pair of the brown leather to the knee boots that I think we paid $119 for.
Nope. Not even for nice hunting or work boots.
If you’re asking if I’ve ever paid that much for "padding’ between me and the ground: no. But I’ve loaned that much to friends.
I like fashion. I pour over books about turn-of-the-century styles. The 1900s.
But I’ve never yearned for something for myself that cost almost the price of my first car.
Please don’t pit me, but my dad’s ex girlfriend bought me a pair of Christian Louboutins because she knew I wanted some. I ended up selling them back to my dad for his new girlfriend because I needed the cash (yeah, I know, right?). I really wanted to keep em at the time. Now I just find CLs rather trashy. Kim Kardashian ruins everything.
I have some $100 pair of work shoes. I like Clarks and Ann Klein for shoes. I’m a teacher. I’m female, I have a lot of accessories, I like to mix. I have purses that were $200+…but there’s no fucking way I’d ever riot over them. Good heavens, no.
Thirty-odd years ago I paid $100 for some Florsheim shoes in Switzerland; would that be $200 in present dollars? They were beautiful shoes made of braided leather and, when they wore out, I would happily have bought another pair if I could have. (The guy with me when I bought them thought I was nuts.)
(After wearing sandals for years, it is very hard for me to find non-sandal shoes that are comfortable. In fact, it’s even hard to find comfortable sandals, or pay less than $20 for them; e.g. I can’t walk in sandals with a plastic strap.)
Regardless of what the poll says, anyone who claims that there is no benefit to paying more for shoes is totally overstating his case.
For years, I bought the standard dress shoes for about $70 to $100: Clark’s, Bostonians, etc. They would last about 7 to 9 months, and sometimes require a new sole to be put in during that time for about another $40 or so. After that, they were just trashed.
Then I bought a pair of Allen Edmonds for about $300. In three years, they have not required a new sole, and are still in quite good condition. They are starting to show some wear, and when it is time, I do not need to replace them. I pay $100 and they get totally refurbished. Plus, they are much, much more comfortable than any other dress shoe I’ve had.
You tell me what makes more sense: (1) Paying $400 for approximately six or more years of use for dress shoes that look great and are very comfortable, or (2) Spending $600 to $800 over that same period for shoes of lesser quality.
I think the odds are that if someone has never worn well-made shoes, they probably have no idea what they are missing.
This is related to “Vimes’ Boots”.
Like everything else, there’s a price below which you’ll only get cheap junk, and a price above which you’re talking about being taken advantage of. In between those two extremes, higher quality means higher price.
I paid $250 or so for a pair of motorcycle boots. I used them so much that I bought a second pair. I still have both pairs and use them. They are waterproof, but the soles have worn down on the older pair so I don’t wear them when it rains.
Not yet, but I’m trying to. I’m looking for a classic pair of riding-style boots, in leather, that will last at least five years, so that’s automatically close to $200 right there. I am a convert to good quality shoes since I got a pair of $70 dress shoes (which were very expensive for me at the time) that have now lasted seven years and are as comfortable as my sneakers.
However, it doesn’t seem to be possible to find boots that a) fit my very, very wide feet, b) are NOT also wide calf and c) look good. Since no-one but Naturalizer seems to carry wides in stores any more, I’ve been ordering shoes online. They’ve all been in the $200 range, or were before going on sale. Four tried, four returned… I hope the next pair works!
(Yes, leather stretches. But a nice lady’s boot with an extra bulge where my little toe is pushing out the side isn’t attractive. Not doing that.)
Kangaroo lather boots. They were around $250 and worth every penny.
I paid around $175 for a pair of Harley Davidson bike boots. I loved them. I brought them back to the place I got them when one of the zippers failed after a year of hard use. I would have happily paid to have the zipper fixed, but the guy at the store just kept them and refunded my purchase price.
Secret option (3) Paying $40 for a pair of JC Penney dress shoes that I only wear about three times a year.
What, you want me to change careers so that I don’t have to buy nice dress shoes that I wear every day? I guess that’s option 3… 