“Marty you have to wear the boots - you can’t wear those futuristic things back in 1885! You shouldn’t even be wearing them here in 1955!”
Right now I’m wearing a cheap pair of old running shoes, looks a bit like this except dirtier and a more haggard, a few seams loose here and there and a fair amount of wear and tear. Not a fine pair of shoes by any stretch of the imagination, but very comfy to run in.
In what periods of history would they be seen as unquestionably the finest pieces of footwear on the planet, preferable to anything even kings or emperors could get their hands on?
Shoes have two functions: ornamental and practical.
Those tennies are not more ornamental than something even the most primitive societies could have deco-ed up. They aren’t too practical for most of history, since they are essentially made for dry conditions and paved surfaces.
A decent pair of boots would get more traction across history, I’d say, even Texas Steers.
Maybe the Tarahumara or the Kalahari persistence hunters or the like would put 'em on a pedestal as functional shoes. I’m not sure they’d be big sellers elsewhere compared with the “finest pieces on the planet” at any given time.
