So I consistently buy 2 – 3 pairs of shoes for work in the X-mas Next sale £330 – £40 each) and and repeat year on year….however I’m contemplating getting a pair of Crockket and Jones / Church’s as an investment. Anyone wear these, or maybe some Loakes as a more affordable option?

FYI: I’ve tried a pair of Samuel Windsor’s and they are worse than the £30 pairs I get from Next, basically shite!!

Shoes as an investment ? Really 🙂

I tend to buy Loake or Barker. Usually not more than £150 a pair.

C&J and Church’s are a step up in price (as are Cheaney, Trickers, decent Grensons, etc).

The key is still to have more than one pair, otherwise you’ll still trash them and the refurbs aren’t cheap.

Worth buying decent shoes – but only if you look after them. Polish and re-soling when required otherwise stick to cheap crap. I have a pair of Cheaneys on right now and they are a much better shoe than the pish the high street chains turn out.

i bought some Barkers from their factory shop last year for £100. Not worn them yet though 😳

I’ve got a pair of Grenson shoes at the moment. Not that impressed to be honest.

Loakes here.

Bought some for me upcomming wedding, then found they where that comfy I wear them all the time.

Will be buying another pair in October for my wedding.

A word on Loakes…

They moved a good portion of production of their range to India and those models have suffered from some durability issues that were not typical of Loakes.

I’d steer clear of those with Made in India printed on the inside of the tongue. That said, I have a pair which have been OK for occasional use over the last year, but I’m basing this on reports coming from one of the biggest menswear chains in the UK.

buy 2 (or more pairs) and use cedar shoe trees.
i have a thin indian rubber sole put on the front so a long time between a full resole of the goodyear welt.

worth spending the extra on cheaney/tricker’s i have several grensons and while the double sole and commando soled ones are lasting well the single sole ones are starting to warp, not for wearing everyday (the single sole ones)

Grenson also make some of their range in india now, i think they are finished off over here. saying that a pair of grenson ‘fred’ with commando sole have been worn all winter and still show little sign of wear.

Do you people buying fancy shoes actually walk in them much? I’m sat down all day and generally couldn’t give a hoot if my £50 rockports aren’t quite as comfy as some £300 jobbies…

Grenson shoes at the moment. Not that impressed to be honest.

Made is Asia now. Not bad but get what you pay for – they’re pretty cheap compared to UK makers.

Loakes, got a pair of princetons on just now 😀 Buy more than one pair and wear them in rotation,decent polish and resoled when they need it. My reason for this indulgence is that I was a plasterer for 20 years and wore minging steel toe caps every pigging day.

Do you people buying fancy shoes actually walk in them much? I’m sat down all day and generally couldn’t give a hoot if my £50 rockports aren’t quite as comfy as some £300 jobbies…

Appearance and durability at least as much as comfort. Rockport for smart? Not a chance. Rockports lasting several years with only a re-sole in between? Unlikely.

Church’s here, love ’em

Cool, thanks.

I noticed on the Loakes site they actually state which ones are made in India and the UK. I’ll check out the Cheaneys.

The guy sitting opposite me has 2 pairs of C&Js he rotates, he has had them for 11 years with 2 re-soles each….not back for circa £40 a year !

Rockport are not smart shoes.

northampton made brouges are.

I have a pair of C and J chukka boots, the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn, excellent quality, got them in a sale for £150, would recomend them if you can afford the initial outlay, the styles are probably the best of all the British shoe manufacturers.

Computer programmer shoes right there 🙂

There’s a lot to be said for good quality shoes. I have very broad feet and it wasn’t until I dropped a few hundred quid on a pair of Church’s shoes for my wedding that I remembered what proper fitting shoes feel like. I am an ‘H’ width; most cheap shoes don’t come any wider than F.

I’ve got two pairs, I wear them maybe twice a week and have them resoled at Church. The wedding shoes are now five years old and other pair are four years old. Rotating them is key as is using good quality shoe trees to absorb the sweat.

Wear a pair of Jones boots at work. They’ve lasted about 5 years now and still look good. On their second set of soles and about their fifth heels.
Also have a pair of Next boots for commuting in most days, esp if the weather is rubbish. Change into the nice shoes at work.

As others have said, just look after them and they’ll last a long time. Use decent polish/protector and shoe stretchers when not wearing them, obviously.

Mr Smith….
Picking a particularly ugly pair (even for Rockport) of Rockport shoes and comparing against a particularly nice pair of classic brogues is hardly comparing like with like is it ?

Here is a fairer comparison. Just for balance like.

.

Rockport make smart shoes for £70. 

Or you could buy these for £275

Your choice. 

my choice would be goodyear welted so i could resole them 2-3 times over 10-15years.
you pays yer money…

I have spent anything from £30 to £100 on shoes and find that they all last between 6 and 12 months max. Even keeping them polished etc they still look like shit after a year. If I spent 3x this amount would they last 3x longer – I don’t think so and I’m not going to spend the money to find out.

I’m not adverse to spending big(ish) on suits / shirts – My last suit was £400 and I have some £50 shirts.

I don’t think so

other peoples experience would suggest that generally this is not the case. however spending £200+ on ‘fashion trainer shoes’ with a large logo recognisable to pavement cycling drug dealers and workshy blue sportswear wearers would not guarantee durability.

I have spent anything from £30 to £100 on shoes and find that they all last between 6 and 12 months max. Even keeping them polished etc they still look like shit after a year. If I spent 3x this amount would they last 3x longer

Stop playing footy in the park on your way home from work then! I have no idea how poor the leather is of the shoes you buy or how bad your polishing technique is. Kiwi polish only I hope.

STW cracks me up.

All this rhetoric about bleedin’ shoes!

*off to Matalan*

my choice would be goodyear welted so i could resole them 2-3 times over 10-15years.
you pays yer money…

That’s fair enough, And very wise.

I was just drawing attention the unfairness of your original comparison, and showing that Rockport do actually make smart shoes.

Personally, I wear dress shoes maybe once a week.

For the £275 the Cheaney shoes cost I could have maybe 4 or 5 pairs of almost identical looking Rockport Brogues, they would last me well beyond my death from old age

(although I do wear £200+ footwear at work, so I see your general point)

I have spent anything from £30 to £100 on shoes and find that they all last between 6 and 12 months max. Even keeping them polished etc they still look like shit after a year. If I spent 3x this amount would they last 3x longer – I don’t think so and I’m not going to spend the money to find out.

I’m not adverse to spending big(ish) on suits / shirts – My last suit was £400 and I have some £50 shirts.

‘kin hell! Cheapo pair of shoes on my feet (dunno where from? Probably Next? Hmmm… Currently could do with a polish!) are years old and have plenty of life in them. What do you do?

Indeed fail @ posting a gopping pair of Rockports when there are plenty of normal/smart looking models in their range. Mine are 5 years old now but admittedly only see light use as I don’t have to walk far to get to the office… I’m not even particularly a Rockport fan, just they seemed comfy and quite light in the shop.

As for snobby ‘not for smart’ comment oh please, you sound like you’re trying to broker a multi-billion deal with a Saudi prince – what exactly do you do?

I just buy some from Office when they have a sale one – cheap but only last about 6-12 months.

£20 black/silver/orange trainers from Winsors World of Shoes here; they’ll last about 12 months being worn 12-14 hours at a stretch, only get cleaned when someone bleeds/sicks/poos/wees on them.

Gotta laugh at the shoe one-upmanship, presumably that’s why we pay them so much?

derek_starship – Member
STW cracks me up.

All this rhetoric about bleedin’ shoes!

ah, you ain’t wrong. I remember a recent thread about people spending £70 on wellies… wellies FFS!!

you sound like you’re trying to broker a multi-billion deal with a Saudi prince – what exactly do you do?

I know it’s not directed at me, but I reached financial close on over US $5bn of PPP deals in the UAE in the last couple of years. Does that count? I wear one pair Loakes that I got for half price from my uncle’s shop and a another pair of Loakes that were a xmas present. Do I need to rethink my footwear? 😀

Church are worth the money but get them in their excellent sale, usually 20% off. Each to their own but I like good shoes, I have a pair of Oxfords on I have had for 9yrs, resoled several times and look better than ever.

Saving my pennies for a pair of these, Edward Green of Northampton.

Grenson rubber soled boots are good for winter but I think their regular shoes are nothing special, not impressed with a pair I have.

Do I need to rethink my footwear?

No because I believe you were advising on them, my observation on the many lawyers that I used or were used by the other side was the quality of the advice was inversely proportional to the quality of the suit.

No because I believe you were advising on them, my observation on the many lawyers that I used or were used by the other side was the quality of the advice was inversely proportional to the quality of the suit.

I’m quite concerned that I’ll have to attend a mediation soon, and I no longer own a suit.

No because I believe you were advising on them, my observation on the many lawyers that I used or were used by the other side was the quality of the advice was inversely proportional to the quality of the suit.

Ha ha too true!

I worked with a guy who got made up to partner just after I started and he spanked about £10k on 5 suits. But then he was on a constant cycle of eating out/take-aways while away on business, followed by wife imposed dieting – his tailor couldn’t keep up with the constant changes in his weight so his suits all just looked crap 🙂

(I’m too young for a pair of Church’s anyway)

We are only issued with one pair of feet at birth (if we are lucky) it is therefore important (imo) that we need to ensure that these will be fit for purpose for as long as possible, therefore good quality footwear is surely a good investment.
Modern fashionable shoes are exactly that – modern and fashionable, therefore not fit for purpose.
Fashion is a quick and easy way of separating gullible people from their hard earned cash in the false hope it may make them interesting.
Modern now means poorly made and therefore disposable and suitable for the fashion concious.
Poor footwear selection will have a detrimental effect, act now ….