When it comes to shoes I often tend to do the typical "guy thing" and wear them way longer then I really should. They basically hit the point of needing to be thrown away, and then I give them another 3 to 6 months, maybe more, before I actually replace them.
Maybe I should just speak for myself here though. Maybe this isn't what most guys do and maybe I shouldn't lump all men into one basket like this. Maybe this is just a me thing?
So I had this pair of shoes at work that were getting a little more than ratty. It was to the point where I would periodically cut off any strands of frayed stitching and eventually I started even started to peel off the the outer layer of canvas that was developing holes. I share an office with two women, and I would make fun of myself for doing it. Then they would make jokes about me "cobbling" my shoes and we would all have a laugh over it.
This photo of them is actually at a pretty flattering angle. The other side is way worse with the canvas outer layer stripped off them. I was too embarrassed to even post what they truly look like, even to friends and strangers on Hive lol.
The day that that I finally decided I needed to purchase a new pair of shoes came when I was with a patient at the hospital. This person was living on the street at the time amd they were talking to me from their hospital bed, slumped over on the edge doing the old "fentanyl slump" and they said to me: "Dude your shoes are so bad. Do you want me to buy you new shoes?"
I basically ran to the store that same weekend to buy a new pair.
It was a struggle to find any anything that I liked at multiple stores and I just went ahead with an option that I considered the best of the worst that day. I went home with mixed feeling about them. Being unsure about a purchase is a sure way to feel buyers regret though and within 2-3 days of buying the shoes I absolutely hated them. They are "old man" shoes in my opinion. You can just picture something that your grandpa would wear and think are very stylish. I can't actually figure out why I bought them in the first place. I was desperate to just get something I guess.
I've stuck with the shoes for 3 months now and have recently started looking for a new pair that I actually like. I think I might be gun shy now though after my last experience because I've been to multiple stores again in different strip malls and then to the larger indoor mall twice over two weekends, and I still haven't found anything I want to buy.
I really don't like how shoes have such garish branding these days, like you need to know the type of shoe a person is wearing from across a field.
That being said I ended up liking, but being unsure about this pair of Adidas.
They kind of work for me but again, the branding is just so obvious and in your face that I ended up chickening out of buying them.
Once I got home I looked online at other Adidas shoe styles and found the same ones but in a more monochrome color scheme, with a toned down stripe branding.
I landed on two pairs that I'm thinking about and finally made a decision on Sunday on which to get and ordered them online.