My sister scored a pair of secondhand, strappy silver Blahniks to wear for her wedding. They made her big, buniony teacher feet look good. I got to try them on, as we wear close to the same size. They made my big, bony, veiny feet look good. And were comfortable. I have a cheap pair that on the surface are a similar style, but there was just no comparison, lookswise or comfortwise. I am the last thing from a shoe expert, but there is unquestionably a difference between cheap shoes and high-end shoes.
Right, Coach and Nine West are both examples of paying for the name instead of quality. I was referring to brands like Naturalizer and Clarks (though I was unaware of the recent sole problems that Broomstick mentions). They cater more to the classic and comfortable market than high fashion. Their shoes in the $100 to $200 range are much better materials and fit than the cheap ones. There’s a number of European brands like Born that fall into that category too. Though I will happily defer to Broomstick’s opinion here.
Unfortunately I’ll never be able to find out how much better the $600 shoes are. High end designers don’t make wides. 
#firstworldproblems
Ah, that’s a shame. My AEs might be ineligible for their in-house service because I have metal taps installed in all my shoes. I was hoping if that were the case someone might be able to do a complete refurbishment locally.
I’ll second that and say bump it up by 5 or 10 years.
I am talking about men’s shoes. If you buy a quality men’s shoe; where you can replace the sole it’ll give you years of life. I still have two pairs of shoes that I bought back in 1999 that have had multiple sole and heel replacements that look better than some of the cheap-o shoes that I bought in the last five years.
There’s a lot to know about the construction of the shoe; and that’s one thing where I look for experts. I generally try to shop at Bennie’s Shoes. Some of their shoe salesmen have been on the job for 20-30 years. They’ve always done right by me.
So, to specifically answer the OP’s question. I can’t comment on the differences between cheap and expensive; but having a person knowledgeable to tell you what to look for, and what to avoid is priceless.
I bought a pair of brown Born shoes 3 years ago that still look brand new and show no signs of wearing out. Last weekend I bought the same style in black and hope to get the same longevity from them.
Yay! I just got a pair of Born boots. I had been trying on every pair of medium-heel boots in DSW, and none were really clicking with me. Then I put on the Borns and it felt like they were made for me. It sent a sensation of “comfort” all through me. The heels are only three inches, but I walk several miles a day and even three inches can be become painful with so much walking.
Good materials and good manufacture last longer and deliver better performance over time. Payless shoes can actually cut it as to style and function, except that their el cheapo shoes wear out so fast you have to keep going back more often. It’s a tradeoff.
La cheapa Payless customer
I work in healthcare and stand/walk on hard floors all day. I have flat feet 
and need a supportive arch.
I have been happy with one pair of Born clogs (although a different pair were not nearly as good) also Alegria and Dansko.
I’d be interested in Broomstick’s opinion of these brands. 
Coach shoes are “paying for the name”, Coach purses, however, at least the leather ones, are still of very high quality.
I don’t have an opinion on Born, just haven’t seen enough to form one. There are several Italian makers that make excellent uppers, but while they do use traditional leather soles their soles are thinner than American makers. This means they will need to be re-soled sooner. I’ve also seen some very nice Mexican-made boots that are high quality, but I’m not aware of any name brands from Mexico.
If your feet are just wide and not very wide a good leather shoe can be stretched to provide more room from side to side. There are limits, of course, but for those near “medium” we can usually help them out. We can also spot-stretch over the bunion area, or any other lump you have, to allow more room for your foot’s oddities.
We don’t do it because we don’t have the proper tools for it. There might be cobblers out there who do have the tools.
If the taps are external they should be easily removed. Ask AE if that renders them ineligible, as I don’t see that as causing problems with reworking the shoes.
Nothing particularly interesting, he’s just chronically ill. It means he doesn’t follow normal patterns for sleeping or living, because he’s either in too much pain to function properly, or passed out because he’s been in too much pain to sleep for the several days previous. He mostly just drops where he falls and sleeps in what he’s wearing at the time, shoes and all.
The most important thing about a shoe is that YOU are comfortable. I do see nurses and other medical personnel wearing those brands. The downside to those is that the soles are molded and heat bonded to the uppers - the stitching partially holds them on but are arguably more cosmetic than functional. We can not replace those soles. What we can do is put a new heel cap on the heels if you don’t wear them down too much because the materials they’re made of are not conducive to us rebuilding the heels to re-level the shoes. When the welt/stitching (really, it’s a false welt and not an actual welt) starts to go - and it will - if you get to a cobbler early we can fix that as well, but, again, past a certain point we can’t save them. Aside from that, the uppers are pretty good, even the ones made of synthetics. I have been able to repair rips and tears in the uppers by patching from the interior, drawing the edges together so the tear looks like a scratch rather than a severe form of damage.
Oh, and we can retread the forward part of the shoe by adding a layer of textured rubber. Again, as long as you don’t wear them too far down to begin with.
You can also get over the counter inserts that provide excellent arch support, but they are going to cost you more than Dr. Scholl’s (on the upside, they’ll last longer, too). We carry Spenco brand so that’s the one I’m most familiar with.
“Only” three inches?
This isn’t it, but it’s close:
They don’t exactly feel like sneakers, but are surprisingly close.
Personal story: years ago, when Bass Shoes was an American owned, American made product, I bought a pair. Those shoes were the best! Comfortable, and 100% leather. Now Bass is Chinese-made, using cheap split hide leather, and cheap synthetic soles. I bought a pair-bad fit, uncomfortable, and fast wearing soles. I tossed them after 2 years. My American-made Bass shoes lasted 24 years-I had them resoled twice.
Which was the better product?
The Bass shoes are now sold in KMart-complete and utter junk.
Manufacturers will decrease quality to keep the price point the same, time and time again. It’s really depressing, frankly.
I spent a lot of time car shopping this past year and saw it in boatloads. I have lots of close friends who have early 2000 era Subarus – which I’ve spent a lot of time riding in. These cars have vastly better fit and finishes than their present-day Subaru models, which I witnessed in my test drives. My early 2000 era 3-series BMW had vastly better hard-touch plastics and thicker leather than my mother’s 18 month old 5 series BMW.
But, their claim to fame is that the price point has remained unchanged for years. :rolleyes:
On what planet does the BMW price point remain unchanged? That’s their claim to fame? I’m totally lost.
I bought my first BMW 20 years ago, and I definitely don’t notice a decline in quality from then to now. The leather in the current 5-series is softer now, but not of less quality. BMW has never been afraid to raise their prices. If they were looking to cut corners, they’d probably start by revoking all the free service.
pTerry said it best:
*The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.
Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.
But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet fee*t.
This was the Captain Samuel Vimes ‘Boots’ theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”
I have small feet. I wear a 5 or a 5.5 women’s shoe. I have come to really like Cole Haan for both casual and dressy shoes. They wear very well and are comfortable, best thing about them is that I can actually find shoes in my size that fit well. I shop the sales and get coupons for 25-40% off all the time.
I hope their women’s shoes have maintained some semblance if quality. I have had nothing but terrible luck with their men’s shoes over the past 6 or 7 years. It’s like they went to hell overnight. I know they either partnered with, or were purchased by Nike. Maybe that has something to do with it.