I realize that this is going to be a pretty open-ended question, hence no poll.
Let’s assume, though, a pretty decent quality of men’s dress shoes, worn five days a week, including 1.5 miles of pavement walking per day. How many years would you expect to get?
Are you willing to resole?
I only own one pair of shoes at a time (+ boots for winter) and I expect to be able to wear them every day for at least two years. I don’t buy cheap shoes since they always disappoint. My current pair (and my last one as well) are made by Camper [warning: annoying flash site].
Men’ shoes are made of a heavier leather, but I have a pair of Aerosole women’s heeled loafers, which I consider mid-grade shoes, and I use them as described above. They are trashed after 6 months. I’ve re-heeled them twice, and replaced the leather on the inside of the heel, and they are so stretched that I don’t need to unzip them to get them on.
Rather disapointing if you ask me. I expected a year out of them, especially since I don’t wear them much in the summer.
For these particular shoes, I might. The right heel is more or less intact, but all but one strip of rubber has come off the left, and that’s holding on by a thread. Unless a cobbler can fix them on a weekend, I’m going to need to get a second pair just so I have something.
The Camper shoes look nice, but that is definitely not my style. I’ve been getting Italian shoes that cost $75-100, so not the very best but pretty good. I get maybe 6-9 months out of them. This last pair I bought sometime in the summer.
That’s what I’d expect.
I know a guy here at work who’s had the same pair of Prada shoes for 6 or 7 years. I’d go for that but I’d hate to pay $400 for shoes that will wear out by spring.
I have a pair of Fluevog boots that I got off ebay for maybe a hundred bucks or so. That was back in 2003 or so. I wore, and still wear, them just about every day since they arrived in the mail. For a few years in there I didn’t have a car and would schlep everywhere on public transit. I’ve given them plenty of abuse and the only issue has been replacing shoelaces every few years when one wears through and snaps.
I realize that the shoe being asked about isn’t at the same level of construction, but nevertheless I would expect shoes to go more than one year, two at a minimum. Six months is just depressing.
Yeah, I’m thinking that it’s not normal the way I go through them. Maybe I’m just being really hard on them, but there’s not much I can change in my lifestyle to do anything about it.
You can easily just buy two pairs the next time you need shoes and alternate them. This alone will expand their lifespans, because you’ll allow them time to dry. Use shoe trees on the ones you’re not wearing that day too. Add your own insoles and re-sole them and they’ll last ya even longer. I do this for shoes for work and shoes for the gym. The gym shoes get new insoles when my joints start to hurt to make them last even longer.
Are you applying some sort of leather waterproofing too? That’ll keep the staining at bay.
Wearing dress shoes 5 days a week, I wouldn’t be surprised at the six to 12 month life. I wear my New Balance tennis shoes about 6.5 days a week, and get about 6 months of use out of them.
I think I am, but that’s not where the problem lies.
On all of them, the heels tend to wear quickly and the rubber comes off. On one pair (from Aldo. Never again.) the insoles moved around and bunched up, making them feel like I was walking on rocks. On one pair (Miraltos) the sole on one shoe cracked in half laterally.
They just don’t have time to rot.
I don’t know. It might be normal for New York City, where people walk a heck of a lot more than elsewhere (as for your coworker, does he live very close to a subway stop, or frequently take cabs?) My husband had never worn through a pair of shoes, to my knowledge, before moving to New York City. Now he goes through a pair a year and he doesn’t walk as much as me.
I’ve got a pair of Ariat sport clogs, made of heavy saddle leather with heavy lug soles (which list at $98, I got 'em on sale) and I’ve almost worn through the lug in a year and I only wear them on the weekends for the most part.
I’m not sure about my coworker. I’m pretty sure he takes the subway, but I don’t know how far he walks to get there.
City living definitely takes its toll. I suppose I could wear sneakers on my commute, but I’d hate to move through life carrying a shoe bag, and I’d look like a complete dork.
I know quite a lot of walkers that do that all the time. Heck, I know plenty that have a complete change of clothes, as the amount of walking they will look disheveled upon arriving.
Your other big problem is using the given insoles. Try some superfeet ones or polysorb ones. Both on Amazon. They’ll make you feel like a new man.
Missed the edit:
ETA: No doubt your feet sweat right through the soles and construct of the support of the shoe; the salt and sweat make the whole thing fall apart quicker.
I don’t know about that, I live in New York City and I’ve never worn through a pair of shoes. I have several pairs of Merrells, one of which I bought about 5 years ago and wore almost daily for months, and yet it doesn’t look that worn at all.
Re “5 days a week” your shoes are going to wear out much faster structurally (and tend to smell bad) if you don’t let them dry out and breathe at least 2 -3 days between wearings. 1.5miles of actual pavement (ie sidewalks) walking a day is going to chew up most shoe soles like a grinder. Good dress shoes are not made for that kind of abuse. Yoiu’ll get a year at most (probably less) before you have to resole.
Work shoes or work boots or athletic style shoes with synthetic soles will last much longer but they will not look all that sleek and professional.
The pair of shoes I’m wearing now I’ve had at least 5 years, and I’ve worn them almost every day. Then again I wear hiking shoes, even to work. The soles are starting to separate at the toes. I could Shoe-Goop them back on, but I should probably look into buying new shoes instead.
That describes my use almost perfectly (although, the shoes are kind of dressy, but not dress shoes). My current Red Wings are going into their third year of life with the main shoe in fantastic shape (I need to get them polished, though), and the soles still have plenty of non-slip grip left in them.