IME there’s a huge difference between $150 and $25 shoes. $25 shoes are vaguely foot shaped pieces of plastic. Anything from about $70 on up gets you real leather and a shoe that can be repaired when they start to wear. I have a pair of Naturalizer dress shoes that are ten years old, as comfy as sneakers, and look new. $100, perhaps $200 for boots, is a reasonable amount of money to spend on shoes in my mind as long as they’re a classic style that you can live with for a few years.
(I have a similar approach to purses. My last purse/commuter bag lasted for five years, so I’m okay with spending $100-$200 on a leather bag to replace it, expecting it’ll last at least as long.)
Like Qadgop, I wear Allen Edmonds, and I will say they are worth the extra money for the durability if nothing else. They just seem to…age better. However, unlike him, I don’t find them particularly comfortable. But to each his own.
Well…yes, but that “fraction” is 37.3% and you can only re-stretch them over the last so many times. Three, maybe? I’m still wondering whether it’s a better idea to get cheaper shoes that I replace more often.
“Forever” is a bit stretching it. I own several pairs of Allen Edmonds and they usually last about a year before they have to be restored by the company. They will rebuild the sole and rework the leather, but they can’t do it an infinite amount of times. But even when they can no restore them, my local shoe guy can still fix them up so they are wearable.
By comparison, a cheap pair of Kenneth Cole Reaction shoes will typicall fall apart after 6-18 months and you can’t do much with them.
Keep in mind, I work in NYC and walk everywhere, so I tend to wear through shoes much quicker.
What you didn’t mention is that Allen Edmonds shoes are stylish and classy as hell. I’m a shoe freak, and at my current salary haven’t been able to justify the cost, but I have been known just to browse an Allen Edmonds store just to look and murmur, “God damn, those are some nice shoes. Someday.”
$150 shoes aren’t much different in my opinion. The only shoes I can think of, there’s more but from my experiences, are Nine West and Coach. Neither of those brands makes comfortable shoes. They’re both really just garbage. Coach is little more than an overpriced sweat shop these days, but it was always the status symbol for white trash and wannabes. I think Manolos and Louboutins are truly the best and it shows it quality. You will have those shoes your whole life.
Cobbler checking in. I’m not a fashion expert, but I now know something about shoe repair and durability.
I have to concur with this - Allen Edmonds are great men’s shoes, they’re made of quality materials, and can be repaired. I regularly resole, reheel, recondition, and repair AE shoes 20 years old and more. The leather is thick enough and of high enough quality that you can buff out scuffs and scrapes. The soles and heels are of hard leather (some people think it’s wood but it’s not, it’s hard leather) and thus can be rebuilt when worn down.
Whether or not they’re comfortable probably have more to do with whether or not you purchase shoes that actually fit you - I’m constantly amazed at the number of people who insist on wearing shoes too small or too narrow.
Yes.
Not the very best, but they can last years if you take care of them. Some models have soles/heels that can’t be repaired, some do. The seams on the uppers are more likely to split than on high end shoes like Allen Edmonds but if they do they can be repaired (I stitch up a lot of shoe and boot seams every week). The leather isn’t quite as high quality, and as I said, some of the soles/heels are cheap rubber/plastic joined to a leather upper, but they can be a good buy. I’ve seen 10 year old Nunn Bush but no 20 year old Nunn Bush.
You have to be a little careful with some of those. Rockport hasn’t changed much, but Florsheim have recently switched to much cheaper soles/heels. Red Wing has been using this weird crepe type sole on some work boots. They’re very comfy but don’t wear nearly as well as a rubber sole, and after about 2 years some of those crepe soles just simply crumble away no matter what you do.
Women’s Clark’s had the same problem in recent years - whatever they were using for soles would just simply fall to pieces - literally - after about 2 years. I’m not sure if they’re still using it for their current new shoes or not, but it’s really annoying to us cobblers and worse for our customers who often love the fit and the uppers, but we simply can’t repair those like we could Clark’s that are older, before the change in materials.
Where are you getting Manolos for only $500? Most I see start around $750 and go up rapidly from there.
That said - Manolos are a quality shoe. I’m not entirely convinced they’re worth quite as much as they’re priced, but uppers are almost always of quality leather, well molded, thick enough to wear a long time but thin enough for a dressy woman’s shoe. The heels are very well positioned, so the heel is under the heel, supporting the point where the body’s weight in focused instead of out toward the back of the heel which only exacerbates the problems of high heels. The shape of the heel can make putting new rubber tips on a bit more difficult than for cheaper shoes (we frequently have to put a rubber tip on that’s larger than needed then trim it down to fit the not so standard shapes), but the shoes are made consistently and are level so the heels usually wear evenly and you get more out of them. The heel base (the part above the rubber) is made of quality materials and well secured to the upper - I’ve seen all manner of cheap shoes with the heels broken off but never a Manolo. We’ve only ever had to drill out the shaft of one Manolo, but it’s much more common with cheap shoes. When we did have to drill out the Manolo the quality of the materials meant we did NOT melt the plastic heel base, or crack it, or otherwise have problems. Manolo seams don’t ever blow out. Manolo elastic lasts years. The hardware/buckles don’t break. The zippers don’t jam.
In other words yes, you ARE getting better quality in a Manolo. Is it worth $800 a pair? I don’t know, you have to decide that, but they sure as hell last longer than a cheap pair from DSW or Payless.
There are two approaches to heels: buy lots cheaply, or buy a few of high quality and price.
There are cheap-ass heels that are…well, they’re hideous. They’re plastic top to bottom, and they aren’t made consistently. People bring me these deformed things, often defective at purchase, and ask me to fix them. If it’s not terribly expensive I’ll do it, but really, these shoes suck and they hurt to wear. You might use them once for a party or special occasion but they won’t last more than a few wearings, at most. Don’t pay more than $10-20 for them, if that much. Actually, if you’re smart don’t buy them at all, but some folks like bling I guess.
There are the $20-50 dollar heels. They may or may not be more conservative in style. They might have a leather upper joined to man-made soles and heels. They’ll last a while, the two shoes in a pair will actually be a pair (as opposed to some pairs of cheap-ass shoes I’ve seen where the left and right of a “pair” were visibly different sizes), but they may or may not be comfortable as the engineering isn’t wonderful and a really comfortable pair is likely to be more luck than intent. The back of the heelbase will erode while you drive (the right heel base wears down fastest, often with a white streak where the outer wrap is worn off, because of the tendency for it to rub against the floor mat when your foot is on the pedal.) We can repair them a few times, maybe. Certainly once, if you don’t wait too long. But the heel base material is cheap and prone to melt if we ever have to drill out the heel or sand it down during repairs. The leather is thin, if it is leather.
There are the $50-200 heels. These are real leather uppers, usually with well placed heels that make them more comfortable and built of materials that will last a while. These tend to be conservative in style and if cared for can last 10 years (sometimes more). Some of the women in this thread have already referred to them.
Finally, we have the Manolo Bhlanik’s and Jimmy Choos. You’re partly paying for the designer name. On the other hand, they really are of higher quality materials. Personally - and this is solely the opinion of a cobbler who more often wears flats or workboots than heels - I think Manolos are better suited to “normal” feet than Jimmy Choos. Which is not to say Manolos are good for you - they’re still heels - but you don’t need to get your toes shortened to fit into them.
That’s not a problem of gluing the uppers to the sole so much as using bad glue. Even brands like Allen Edmonds utilize glue/cement in joining upper to sole, even when the welt is sewn. Properly applied proper cement will NOT be ruined by some exposure to water. The problem is that cheap shoes either 1) didn’t apply the adhesive properly, 2) used the wrong adhesive, or 3) didn’t use enough adhesive.
I glue a surprising number of soles back onto uppers every week. When I do it they stay attached.
True.
Often true.
Also true.
I have a pair of workboots that have been resoled at least 6 times. I’m still using them, although after 34 years the uppers are getting to the point they may no longer be worth saving. I don’t have to “stretch” a shoe over a last to resole it. Yes, there are limits but for something like an Allen Edmonds you can resole more than three times. Cheaper shoes the welts start to crumble or the leather uppers deteriorate and thus it will no longer be economical to fix them.
^^^You said too much to quote, but last time I checked at least means that price and up. There are several Manolos for under 600 (which I consider th 500 range). I find them at Neiman Marcus. If you catch their incircle events, you can get them on “sale”. Which isn’t that much cheaper, but still.
Some years ago I scored a practically unworn pair of Manolo Blahniks at a resale store. (The soles were pristine. If those shoes were ever worn, they were worn for minutes, on a very soft carpet.) What I thought I was doing was getting a $450 pair of shoes for $65, which is around what I typically spent on heels.
What actually happened was that I got extremely addicted to high-end shoes.
Those shoes–they felt fantastic. I could have climbed mountains in them, seriously. Plus they were very, very cute. Plus a lot of people who know shoes knew what they were and complimented me. Plus they have lasted forever (because I did not climb mountains in them.)
Not only that, I had to upgrade my wardrobe in general to be worthy of my shoes. So what looked like a bargain was…not.
I sell a lot of upper end shoes on the Internet as a hobby business. The better women’s shoes will wear longer and not fall apart as fast. I think it’s stretching things to say a pair Louboutin’s or similar will last anywhere near as long as a pair of Allen Edmond’s, but they will (with care) give you several seasons of occasional wear vs being destroyed in a few months of wear.
One of the cost factors with the really upscale women’s shoes is the engineering balance involved to make a comfortable, long wearing shoe that is still lightweight and aesthetically pleasing. It’s a tough engineering and manufacturing challenge.
To answer the OP the main differential between the cheap shoe and the better shoe is that the better shoe will be more comfortable, keep it’s shape better and wear longer. This is mainly due to better and more expensive (in same cases much more expensive) materials, better engineering and typically, more labor intensive manufacturing techniques.
My ex has a pair of Docs shoes. He purchased them about 8 years ago and has worn them every single day since then. He wears them to bed (don’t ask) so he can end up going for days at a time wearing them. He wears them for everything. They are just now starting to come away at one heel. The soles are still solid and not worn through. One might be starting to crack IIRC, but that’s about it.
I paid $50 for a pair of Target branded men’s boots. The right heel started to come away in 10 days. I returned them for a refund in under 2 weeks.
And that’s why I’m willing to pay between $130-250 for a pair of Docs rather than a cheap department store brand.
Thanks for the info Broomstick!! Even if I get 5 years out of these Nunn Bushes, I think I’ll still be money ahead as I’m used to Walmart and Payless type shoes. They are pretty nice and comfortable, so I hope they do last awhile. No more cheapies for me!!
