to wit: Nike to Increase Prices & Cutback On Boxes

meanwhile as I googled to find this article I realized (as I've known for a while but this materializes it) there are huge sites and subcultures devoted to sneakers, I should read up a lil.. then again what I know about sneaker aficionados is that they often fetishize designs or iconic models, not construction quality necessarily

I've never seen those ads but I've never found a Nike shoe that fits my giant clown feet anyway. Actually I've never found a sneaker other than New Balance that fits my feet.

yeah that sort of practical consideration is much more important/low level in the hierarchy of sneaker needs. I've found myself wearing Reeboks for a while just cause I kinda prefer the look on some of 'em.

Yeah, I find that Nike shoes are too narrow for my giant feet, also. New Balance seem to fit best, with Asic a close second (although they tend to the narrow as well). I always buy running shoes in the 'discount stock' or 'run-out' bins anyway, so I do restrict my choices somewhat I guess.

My feeling is that the 'big name' brands are better quality and better fit than the cheap brands that you buy at discount stores. If you pay full price for them, the cheap brands are probably better value for money if you just want sneakers. They are pretty hopeless if you are going to run or walk any distance in them, though. TMMV and some people disagree, I know.

oh for sure I wouldn't suggest going to Payless lord have mercy. I was more mulling if there's value in going the other way (more expensive, not cheaper.) I'm just thinking I might be reaching for something that's not really 'there'.. what I want these days are things that *last* so maybe the key is to pick the regular big brand shoes, make sure they're made of nothing too flimsy or fancy and are regular conservative long running models, then keep them clean over the long term. They don't really disintegrate; the reason they reach the end of their lifetimes is cause they get dumpy looking so if you take care of them they should look good longer I suppose. Other tricks are picking something that's more black than white, things like that.

Are you planning to go running them?
Or is that a very European question to ask? :-)

If so; at some point the soles harden, lose their shock absorption. That's when they no longer suffice for running. I can't tell you how soon or late that is though. Probably years.

My sneakers only last me a quarter or so but I only wear them for running and they get beat down pretty quickly.

Are you planning to go running them?
Or is that a very European question to ask? :-)

Ha. Yeah I don't necessarily care whether shoes I wear in the gym last forever or not, if they don't work I'd get something else and work with it

I guess what's going on these days is that I'm having a strong reaction against clothes or accessories that get made in huge batches, millions, tens of millions, etc. Of course it's going to be very slow and extremely expensive to break out of purchasing in that mold but it's a breaking out process I'm kinda engaged in these days. Sneakers just happen to have come within the crosshairs of this new aesthetic sense and I've come across a halting barrier that makes me ponder whether just applying this anti-mass-production bias indiscriminately is as superficial as its opposite of buying stuff without thinking about its qualities and provenance, because at some point there's a sort of quality curve we're going for, and if the quality improvement, or improvement in intangible characteristics, isn't there with huge step-ups of price and exclusivity then it's just as much of a fetish to chase after it as it is to chase after the Nike check.

It's one of those things where you can say this-chain-restaurant sucks cause it's mass produced and this restaurant is good because it's more 'authentic' but what you really want to develop isn't the structural bias against production methods but a gustatory talent to taste or perceive the actual difference in the output quality, which is harder to cultivate.

My long wide feet feel good in Brooks, with New Balance second. I don't really like the way Nikes look, which makes it an easy choice. I often wish Adidas felt better on my feet, because I like the way many of them look. For just kicking around, board sport shoes like Vans or Takais are durable (at least the leather ones are) and if you rip out the factory insole and replace it with an aftermarket insole that feels good underfoot, you can get a lot of mileage out of them.

Sometimes using a stitch remover you can carefully efface the brand logo from your shoes and they look really great, the line of the shoe is much cleaner and you no longer pay for the privilege of being a billboard. This is possible with most New Balances; apparently Nikes/Adidas/Converse logos are more likely to be integral to the shoe itself.

I wish I knew, but I've been an Asics girl since I was wee (and buying a new pair of volleyball shoes every season until I started refereeing big enough tournaments that you'd get a new pair of shoes at each tournament to wear then) and I'm faithful to shoes that somehow manage to fit my strange feet (narrow, but not narrow enough to merit narrow shoes), even if the pair I bought from Zappos for Couch 2 5k meant I had to go up a whole size (to a women's 12).

I buy Asics also. Strange that they run narrow for some people... they do great on my short and wide feet. Recently I bought sneakers from some small, eco-conscious brand and they were a disaster. They immediately hurt my knees and back. So going with a small company is not always good.

There are lots of brands whose business models are actually based on value rather than hype. Asics, New Balance, Brooks, and Saucony come immediately to mind. However, a shoe store worth its salt will tell you that the final criteria is the fit of the shoe on your foot. You must buy what fits, even if they are (gulp) Nikes.

...if you are planning to use the shoes for exercise. If not, then feel free to shop as your politics dictate. At the moment I'm wearing a pair of boots from Simple Shoes: organic cotton, recycled car tires and bicycle inner tubes, bamboo, natural rubber, and water-based glue. Hope you find something that makes you happy!

FWIW, a friend of mine is a Nike shoe designer and he cares deeply about designing good shoes. Whether his designs survive the manufacturing balance sheet is another story.

I've never been able to wear Nikes either, way too narrow. I've been very happy with Merrells, they fit my duck feet perfectly.

It has always amazed me that tire companies can manufacture a tire and warranty the tread for some 50,000 miles, yet I can wear out the sole on any ordinary shoe in less than a year. How come we cannot buy a shoe with a 50,000 mile warranty?

If you're not worried about appearances, you can always make your own tire sandals. If the flat sole feels odd, you can always get shoe inserts to give you some arch support. I tried to make these once when I found a discarded tire, but I gave up when I found it had steel cabling inside.

oh for sure I wouldn't suggest going to Payless lord have mercy. I was more mulling if there's value in going the other way (more expensive, not cheaper.) I'm just thinking I might be reaching for something that's not really 'there'.. what I want these days are things that *last* so maybe the key is to pick the regular big brand shoes, make sure they're made of nothing too flimsy or fancy and are regular conservative long running models, then keep them clean over the long term. They don't really disintegrate; the reason they reach the end of their lifetimes is cause they get dumpy looking so if you take care of them they should look good longer I suppose. Other tricks are picking something that's more black than white, things like that.
For my money, it's far better to spend extra to buy quality in running shoes - there doesn't seem to be any middle ground either in price or in quality in this area. As I mentioned, though, I never pay full price because you can get 'obsolete' designs for a fraction of full retail if you aren't fussy about getting a particular shoe.

I agree that looking after them and making them last is the key and I find the 'mesh' fabric designs to be better wearing in the long-term than leather, because leather tends to scuff and then there's no way to make them look respectable. With mesh, you can give them a wash and they come up nice and clean. What you do have to watch is that running shoes (yeah, if you use them for running or anything else high impact) don't last as long as you might think - even if they still look good, the soles deteriorate and the impact protection reduces dramatically (it's a lot less than years if you run regularly). Once this happens, I still use the shoes as general footwear, but buy a new pair for running etc. At the moment, I have three generations of shoes - a new (ish) pair that I use for running, another pair that are still pretty presentable but not much good for running and a third pair that are starting to look a bit disreputable, but are still good for wearing when you don't need to worry about how smart you look (and they're perfect for activities that may involve getting them muddy).

The reality (for me) is that expensive, big-brand running shoes are far better value because they last so long and that also makes them better in terms of sustainability. What I really hate is the culture of buying cheap anything with the idea that you just throw them out when they get a bit old and buy another. I prefer to buy things that last and then look after them to get the most life out of them. By shopping carefully and not being a slave to fashion, you can actually save quite a bit of money by buying at the top end of quality, I think. The same concept applies to pretty much anything.

yeah. Thanks for the responses folks. We have a fun community here with a good balance of knowledge, thoughtfulness and articulation skills and that kinda thing doesn't come together by accident

Nike shoes generally are good quality shoes. But I can't fit into them. Every Nike I've ever tried have been way too narrow.