About Shoes

Dec, 2016

Some thoughts/experience with shoes

Note: I am not a cobbler, this is from my experience only and mostly trivial.

Buying Guidelines

Prefer smooth leather that can be easily cleaned, as then you will actually clean your shoes. This looks nice even if your style is casual.
Do not mix different types of leather. See above.

If you see folds anywhere when you wear a shoe, it is a strong sign that the shoe is too large.
Your feet vary in size over the day. The amount of walking/standing you do might have an influence on this. Take into account when trying shoes in the morning or the evening, or when you walked a lot or not at all.

For shoes with smooth leather, first clean with a brush, then use simple bees wax. It seems even cheaper shoe stores will (reluctantly) sell this instead of the fancier, more expensive stuff if you ask for it.
Prefer to polish with less rather than more wax, and wax-polish several times instead.
Regularly remove the inner sole so some air gets to the lower parts of the shoe. Especially after hiking.
Clean of salt as soon as possible, otherwise it will destroy the leather surface

Bicycle shoes should be tied quite strongly
Hiking shoes can be worn tightened looser even though you can tighten them a lot. I hear this is useful when going down hill.
Really basic: make sure your socks do not form creases where you can potentially get blisters.
Check the back of the outer sole to see if you walk too much on the outside or the inside of your foot. Try to focus on how you walk, and try to make a conscious effort to have a good walk.

In case you need to replace your shoelaces: