You all gave me such great advice on hiking shoes for S24, now I need advice for my husband.
With his new role at work, he has to start dressing nicer than he is used to. He has always bought the cheapest work shoes possible because “they all wear out in the same time, I’d rather pay $40 for shoes that I’ll replace in a year than $100.”
The thing is, his shoes always look TERRIBLE—lots of scuffs, frayed laces, literally falling apart at the seams. Since he has to do more meetings with customers now he is willing to let me try to find him some shoes that will look nicer. He is willing to pay more to get more (longevity, comfort, ease of care etc), he just hates to pay more to get the same.
He’s looking for shoes that
he can wear with casual slacks/khakis. He has terrible shoes he wears with his suit…once a year or so
will look decent with little care. If they require monthly polishing, it isn’t going to happen. He won’t do it, I won’t, and I have never seen a shoe shine stand in our area.
will last a reasonable time while looking decent (what he will think reasonable depends on how much they cost)
are fairly comfortable
He has wide, fat feet if that matters. In cheap shoes he often buys a bigger size to accommodate them, but that makes them wear faster because they don’t really fit his feet well.
I’m I pretty excited about this because I’ve been trying to get him into nicer looking shoes for the past 20+ years. He has even said he’ll spend hundreds of dollars if he can get comfortable, nice looking shoes that will last.
Does he need like a leather casual or leather dress shoe? Like a boat shoe vs a tie leather Oxford? Or could he wear a nice neutral athletic type shoe - but not like with a big Nike swoosh! Like an Allbird?
He’d be open to something else I’m sure if it was a better fit for his needs. I’ll look at what Allbirds are like. He is an engineering director now (step up from manager, step down from General Manager) so he has to do a lot more customer interaction, as well as meetings with company VPs etc. He says business casual is appropriate, but he really can’t look ratty anymore.
It’s funny - my son tried on these cheap Nunn Bush - $40 - I forget the name - and they fit but were a tad too small. Found at Nordstrom Rack. So we ordered some from Zappos - also $40, a half size larger and he loves them.
I wear some Mephisto casuals…very comfortable. But I’m lucky - they are $300 plus but their HQ and neighboring outlet store is in my town and most everything is under $100.
I’d hit a Nordstrom Rack or Rack Room or whatever store near you that is “discount” shoes…there’s more brands then you can imagine.
Look up the New Balance 928 in brown/black leather lace up shoe. It is a walking sneaker but looks more like a shoe. Not the most stylish shoe or cheapest shoe but very comfortable and holds up pretty well. The big plus it comes in widths all the way up to 6E.
I wore a pair of Clarks leather laceups for years. Super comfortable, and the darn things lasted forever until I got tired of them - I still have them in a cabinet and they still look fine, although definitely getting scuffed around the toebox. I think I got them shined a couple times in airports, but literally like twice over a 6 year period.
Really anything with a leather upper will work as business casual, and the rubber sole should be fine as well. There’s a zillion choices out there as this type of style is currently very common for men.
If he wants to go even more casual than the Clarks, that puts you closer to the “dress sneaker” category like Sketchers with a leather upper.
I mostly wear these olukai these days when I feel like I want something a little nicer than a plain sneaker. If you walk a lot the sole will wear out faster than a sneaker though. Honestly though, post-pandemic I’ve taken it down a notch and just wear nice-looking Allbirds for work.
My husband had a few pair of these over many years. I think brown, black and cordovan…… though I think he mostly wore the brown and wore those out. If a model stays around decades, that must say something…
In today’s choices, I think I like the “Brown Tumbled” (dark sole).
We used to go to a local Rockport outlet, great for trying on (though less necessary after the first pair) I see on the website the offer 4 widths - M, W, XW and N. Wow… .sizes 6 through 17!
My husband really loves his SAS lace up shoes. They wear pretty well and are comfortable for his wide feet. They look pretty decent even without polishing of shining.
My husband has worn a version of the rockports linked for the last 30 years.
His golf shoes were Ecco’s and he really liked them, they make the same shoes that aren’t for golf.
He has narrow feet and so all of his shoes have to tie. Can’t do any slip ons.
The Rockports last a long time. I would replace them every year. Now that he’s retired, he wears a pair of waterproof Merrill’s that may be too casual for your husband’s work situation.
I’ll put in another word for Clarks. I’ve gotten many nice shoes for my husband there over the years and they are comfortable and stylish. He does have formal shoes for the times he wears a suit (which used to be often, but is now only occasional) and for those he likes Cole Haan. For Clarks you can sometimes find them at outlet malls, otherwise if cost is a consideration they go on sale a few times a year - the regular price isn’t too bad though.
I was going to respond the same. Clarks! Definitely hit up a Nordstrom Rack if you have one nearby. You can also search for wide width on their website and returns are pretty easy.
Those look a lot like Clark’s “Unstructured” shoes. Very comfortable. Mine typically last a couple of years. A lot of shoes today have leather tops and a sneaker type of sole. I haven’t shopped lately but I’ve heard them advertised and seen a lot of men wearing them with suits and casual wear.
If you’re not into shopping online, my H has purchased several pairs of nice men “dress” shoes from Kohl’s on the clearance racks. To be honest, he buys them and then sells them on eBay, lol, but point being, they are marked down enough that he can make a nice profit.
I will say there is nothing worse than waking up every morning to put on a pair of shoes you don’t like or that don’t feel good. Make him try a few on. Maybe have him decide if laces are important to him or color or slip on…and then go from there. If he’s not fashion forward then look for a good basic leather shoe that feels great on his feet in a neutral color that will go with everything - probably a shade of brown or black.
But he usually buys a leather casual shoe, like these:
