Proper leather shoes

My daily beaters, I enjoy not having to think about what to wear. Just pull them on and leave the house.

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Am I gonna have to post my leather crocs?

No cause they're crocs. Love my blunnies too. Perfect default.

I've got some of them in a square toe. So comfortable

Where's the best place to pick up some slightly thicker insoles for my Blunnies? Debating about either the winter ones or something just to take up a little room.

• Lighter
  
• Better made
  
• Better fit
  
  

Obviously not boots, but any height over the ankle is not required anyway for most situations.

Shots fired.

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I think it's actually spelt Birkenstock.

Is that a pair of crocs?

This page

Restoring the balance for you. The now discontinued Alden Madison exclusive Color 8 Moc Toe with leather sole. Adore these shoes.

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👍 that’s more like it. What last are they on?

Van. Exceedingly comfortable.

I have some nice (ish) leather boots from Berwick 1707, which have started to wear through the inner heal. This happens on every pair of shoes I have ever owned, on my Barkers I had a reinforced leather heal piece put in as the wear started, and this has lasted about 18 months. The problem is, an equivalent piece on a boot will get damaged every time I put the boot on and off. Has anyone found this a problem, and found a solution?

Every pair of shoes or boots, except my meindel walking boots, have the same area wear out very quickly. I must be pretty hard on my footwear as soles on trainers last a max of 6-8 months, heals get holes worn through in around a year, and most leather shoes eventually die on the toe crease.

How do you care for your boots? And apologies for the personal question, but do you have a lot of hard skin on your heels that might cause the increased wear?

Cheers for the response;
Care, I feed the leather occasionally, and use a neutral bees wax polish, probably every month. I dont do anything to the inner linings. They also dont get worn 2 days in a row, except possibly when I am away over night.

My heals are pretty normal looking, no hard skin or anything.
When getting my walking boots I had a long fit and consultation thing with a specialist, who said i bend my foot more than average across the ball. His help let me find the comfiest walking boots, but walking boots always seem to last better anyway.

Do you use shoe trees? I’ve heard that tight ones made of unvarnished wood can be abrasive to the calf lining. Other options, go MTO and request goat skin lining or get unlined boots like redwing.

I do use shoe trees, they are not super tight but are unvarnished, maybe a plastic set would be smoother, cause less damage?

I like the idea of some goat skin lined boots, but that isnt an option right now. Cant afford to be buying any MTO at the moment, but I might add that to my list of things for after CoVid chills out.

@AWu-Tang If you’ve got heal rub on the inside of the shoe, this is usually caused by the shoe not following your foot as you go through the normal walking motion. Your foot moves but the sole is too stiff to follow and thus there’s rubbing as the sole resists the movement. Goodyear welted, and well any decently shoes are incredibly stiff when they’re new and take a long time to bed in and get enough flex to follow your foot. I can’t remember where I saw it, but there was an exploded picture of a pair of Goodyear welted shoes, and there’s something like 5 layers of leather and cork on the sole. The final outside layer, whether it be rubber or leather is properly thick and solid. These materials don’t flex well at all, let alone altogether.

For breaking in a pair of new shoes, last time I was in C&J, the guy there was explaining to bend the shoes in half 5 times (or more) each time before you wear them as the soles are just too stiff and won't follow your heel movement. You need to keep doing this before each wear until they become supple enough. The amount he flexed a pair of £450 shoes I was trying on made my eyes water! But following his advice has really worked, and heel rub is a thing of the past! You can be quite forceful, as the movement from walking along doesn’t seem to be enough by itself.

Excellent, thank you. I did not know this I will start doing it before I wear them now.

@kboy and @hugo7
last one I promise

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^ reminds me I've been eyeing up a pair of Solovair boots (or DMs - but various forumengers have said nice things about the Solovairs) to replace some cheap & nasties that fell apart... Is it worth the hour-or-so trip to Northants to the factory shop or not (if they're actually open at the moment, obvs)?

Edit: over 1 1/2 hrs actually

#csb
In 2010 I worked in a fairly grotty casino in South Ken alongside the son and heir to Doc Martens (Grigg family). Nice enough bloke, just did the job to get out the house - his chauffeur would drop him off.

Moar leather TK Maxx splurging...picked these up for the 4 year old. I’m sure they’ll get days if not a whole week of wear.

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That’s gonna be one cool kid.

Moar leather TK Maxx splurging...picked these up for the 4 year old. I’m sure they’ll get days if not a whole week of wear.

Yet still look decades old

I may be wearing these jeans (Edwin) and boots (Wolverine) for the rest of my life.

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