Yes. Go laceless. I only discovered a few years ago that there is such thing as men’s close-toed shoes that can be appropriate semi-formal workwear yet never need to be tied. I wear something roughly similar to this at work: Amazon and a more casual variation in my free time. Very comfortable, loose-sneaker feel on the inside. An elastic-bound tongue ensures uniform snugness, rather than fluctuating between too tight and too loose. Once broken in, you can slide them on and off without hands, as you might with slippers or flip-flops.
But more importantly than the ergonomics… why waste time time tying shoes? Why risk injury tripping over laces, or getting them caught places?
I’m going to check out the Scholl’s shoes for women.
Meanwhile, if you happen to have lace-up shoes, there are permanent elastic laces. I agree that normal shoe laces add unnecessary work and risk to one’s life, though I still think cloth laces are better looking.
Seconded. In particular if anyone has recommendations for comfortable plain black heels or heeled boots of medium-low height (2-3 inches), please share! I have flat feet and have been looking for un-painful heels my whole life.
I don’t have flat feet myself, so I don’t know what the requirements for that are. I’ve had good luck with Clark’s, but I usually only wear a 1-1.5 inch heel. (My work shoes are Clark’s bendables from a previous season.) Does this fit your requirements?
Running with the Whole Body—I did the exercise about understanding the connection between hip movement and feet a couple of times, and had arches for a while.
I’ve gone in the opposite direction. I have wide feet (8E), and now that I’ve found cheap but not terribly durable sneakers that fit, I just keep buying more of them.
Yes, some very cheap shoes aren’t very resistant, but I seriously doubt that the kind of shoes that minimizes cost divided by durability is in the range people think of when they hear “expensive shoes”.
Is that really true though? I’ve found with sneakers the sole lasts 250-500 miles, so buying a shoe that costs more than $40 is almost certainly bad value from a durability perspective.
For shoes that can be resoled, this number increases, as you want an upper that will last through a number of resoles, but the shoes with highest durability/cost are still not going to be on the expensive end of the shoe type.
Should shoes be added to the list?
Yes. Go laceless. I only discovered a few years ago that there is such thing as men’s close-toed shoes that can be appropriate semi-formal workwear yet never need to be tied. I wear something roughly similar to this at work: Amazon and a more casual variation in my free time. Very comfortable, loose-sneaker feel on the inside. An elastic-bound tongue ensures uniform snugness, rather than fluctuating between too tight and too loose. Once broken in, you can slide them on and off without hands, as you might with slippers or flip-flops.
But more importantly than the ergonomics… why waste time time tying shoes? Why risk injury tripping over laces, or getting them caught places?
Seconded. I strongly prefer laceless because I know that my laced shoes get worn much less often because of it.
I’m going to check out the Scholl’s shoes for women.
Meanwhile, if you happen to have lace-up shoes, there are permanent elastic laces. I agree that normal shoe laces add unnecessary work and risk to one’s life, though I still think cloth laces are better looking.
Seconded. In particular if anyone has recommendations for comfortable plain black heels or heeled boots of medium-low height (2-3 inches), please share! I have flat feet and have been looking for un-painful heels my whole life.
I don’t have flat feet myself, so I don’t know what the requirements for that are. I’ve had good luck with Clark’s, but I usually only wear a 1-1.5 inch heel. (My work shoes are Clark’s bendables from a previous season.) Does this fit your requirements?
This one is really close to my ideal style (though a bit taller/thinner heeled). Thanks for the rec!
This probably isn’t the best place to ask—the proportion of women is fairly low.
Possibly useful: Orthotics for high heels
Running with the Whole Body—I did the exercise about understanding the connection between hip movement and feet a couple of times, and had arches for a while.
This probably isn’t the best place for asking—the proportion of women is pretty low.
Might be useful: http://podpost.us/issue/nov-dec-20122013/article/best-five-orthotics-for-high-heeled-shoes
I did the exercise for understanding the connection between hips and turning feet side to side a couple of times, and had arches for a while. http://www.amazon.com/Running-Whole-Body-30-Day-Program/dp/1556432267/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=05VZBT6K13PSF9JNNDHZ
I’ve been trying to convince various people to buy more expensive shoes because their amortized cost winds up being similar to cheaper shoes.
I’ve gone in the opposite direction. I have wide feet (8E), and now that I’ve found cheap but not terribly durable sneakers that fit, I just keep buying more of them.
Yes, some very cheap shoes aren’t very resistant, but I seriously doubt that the kind of shoes that minimizes cost divided by durability is in the range people think of when they hear “expensive shoes”.
Is that really true though? I’ve found with sneakers the sole lasts 250-500 miles, so buying a shoe that costs more than $40 is almost certainly bad value from a durability perspective.
For shoes that can be resoled, this number increases, as you want an upper that will last through a number of resoles, but the shoes with highest durability/cost are still not going to be on the expensive end of the shoe type.
if you want/are able to wear running shoes all the time the advice doesn’t really apply.
Probably not, but my point still stands for most leather shoes and other sneakers.