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[theinevitable]

Sometime recently I passed into being A Dude With Too Many Pairs of Shoes.

My everyday shoes are brown suede shoes. They are "desert boots" but don't look like any pair I can find online. I wear a pair of black sambas to work, so those are kind of ruined forever for me now. They are also literally ruined, with holes in several places and soles that are nearly worn through. This summer I have been wearing a pair of red canvas boat shoes, but now they are incredibly smelly so I might have to figure out another option. I washed them out with soap and a day later they smelled just as bad again.

I am really into the shoes with no socks thing in the summer, but it is straight-up DESTROYING these shoes. Even with some foot powder in there every day.

[Choop]

i'm a dude with too many shoes and not enough that work for me. i alternate between these and these but rely a bit too much on the former, as the latter are a touch tight. i also have a pair of black leather high-tops with a red velcro strap across the laces that i like to wear with my black suit and a red tie. some pseudo-retro nikes, a pair of laceless low-top chucks that are NOT comfortable, orange-on-brown pumas that are awesome but make me clumsy, some standard black boots, and more.

but given that it's summer, my daily wearers are these teva flip flops that weigh about half an ounce each and have a nice spongy sole. this is going to be their third summer unless i can replace them.

i have two old pairs of these fantastic sport oxfords by cole haan for nike air that have just fallen apart but they were seriously the best shoes i've ever owned. the missus's dog ate my first pair and gnawed a little bit on the third, but the second pair (blue! not suede!) lasted until the soles were slick and a thread popped between the tongue and the ... toecap? what's that part called down at the front.

* Choop goes and buries shoes in the backyard

[Arachno-capitalist]

Funny we're talking shoes because I just worked with a guy from UK and the man judged me immediately by my shoes. Evidently our friends on the island take shoes seriously and will think nothing about dropping half a grand on two shoes.

[jaydub]

Skechers runs a literal sweat shop in Ontario bringing those shoes into the country.

I was having serious problems wrapping my head around this statement until I remembered that there is an Ontario, California in San Bernadino county.  I mean, I guess there's nothing preventing Canada from having sweatshops, but it doesn't seem to fit the business plan.  Plus the commute for Ash would have been monstrous.

[theinevitable]

yup. Once I started paying a tiny bit of attention to shoes I was amazed at the shoes men wear. My biggest issue is the amount of junk people put on shoes. I just wanted some damn brown shoes. Lace-up. No weird seams. No fancy stitching or punched-out designs. fuck*ng brown leather shoes, guys. That I can wear to a job interview without looking like a cowboy or a weird punk dad.

[KeithHernandez]

Once I started Paying attention to clothes at all I noticed that.  It is kind of really fuck*ng hard to get like simple, cool clothes.

[littlefallsmets]

Well, they couldn't put it in Fontana.

People in Fontucky ain't even HEARD of shoes.

[theinevitable]

I think it is getting better. We are definitely in a cycle (due to Mad Men and other cultural factors) where simple, classic style is back in fashion. I still have situations where I can't find a simple thing that I want, though. I finally found a plain blue bathing suit at K-Mart for 6$.

Luckily for dudes, at a certain point in your life it becomes acceptable to kind of develop a "uniform." I think I am going to wear a blue or white or grey oxford shirt with jeans or corduroys for the foreseeable future, and no one will say boo about it. Boots and a coat in the winter, sneakers and shorts in the summer.

Have we had the boxers/briefs discussion on here? I have one pair of boxer-briefs that I love and I have never been able to find other similar ones. The rest are all dorky plaid boxers.

The boxer-briefs have these radiating lines and my ex said that when I wore them she couldn't stop staring at my junk. So basically I want to add 13 identical pairs to my wardrobe.

[jaydub]

My shoes for the past year.  Yeah, that label says Craftsman. Got them at Sears, primarily for commuting on my motorcycle .  They're no good for dancing, and I won't win many foot races in them, but I wear them with jeans or Dockers and no one at work has looked at them twice.  Haven't slipped setting my foot down on rainy street or oily gas station pavements either, and my right ankle has been protected from the exhaust pipe.

I carry sneaks in the saddle bag in case I need to dance or race (or go to the gym)

[Arachno-capitalist]

If a brother is looking for some plain American walking-around clothes park over at Brooks Brothers.

[greenkoolayd]

i wear these in the spring and summer when im out and about.  mine are charcoal/turquoise and ivehad them for about 3 years.  theyre hella comfy for just walking around and they are good for the minimal nature adventures ive been on.  i havent really put their rugged, outdoors-y toughness to the test, though.

also, they have anti-odor-causing-germ/whatever properties that are legit.

[AugustWest]

Black loafers to work.  Reebok running shoes to run in.  Addidas to play tennis in.  Birkenstocks to clomp around the house/garden/truck in. 

[jay-ell]

...see Brave with Chaos Girl and my mom. So good. So very very good.

I dare not say more, for fear of The Wrath of Ash. But if you have the chance to see it, go. It's not just for little girls.

[miles]

Built to Spill was so good. Very heavy on the "There's Nothing Wrong With Love" album.

STAB and IN THE MORNING were punishing in particular.

Very very very good. The guitar is not supposed to be able to do those things.

It turns out that this was the first stop on their East Coast tour and maybe that explains why they did a free show sponsored by a medium sized city to get people to a downtown being refurbished, to have a lower pressure situation if there was some rust on the gears. There wasn't as far as I could tell, you know, but they did apologize for "looking like they weren't having a good time"... according to Doug, they were having a great time it was just that they hadn't played together in three months, they were just concentrating.

Fantastic. For years their shows have been way too light on Ultimate Alternative Wavers material for my taste but if they are heavy on stuff like Stab and In the Morning I can manage.

[miles]

Once I started Paying attention to clothes at all I noticed that.  It is kind of really fuck*ng hard to get like simple, cool clothes.

I've had tremendous difficulty finding black t-shirts that I really like. That used to be like my uniform.