Why leather soled dress shoes?

[cookie]

Wet/Trench Feet

I was just watching a great doco on the Battle of the Bulge on History Channel.


Seems that Omar Bradley lost thousands of troops with trench feet from badly designed boots that let the water in in remarkably little time. They had a guy experiment with the US Boots and the Wehrmacht boot and it was amazing how soon the US boot was wet as...

 

[Matt Deckard]

Can't beat the jackboot

 

[Carlisle Blues]

Can't beat the jackboot

Can't argue with that

Very practical as well for ballet slippers

 

[klind65]

Bete noir.

Hello. I applaud your recent acquisition at Allen Edmonds. They are gorgeous. Also try Brooks Brothers - their wingtips and captoe styles have no equal. As a female, I am strangely attracted to men's shoes. I haven't explored this very deeply yet, but it amuses me. However, I must take issue with your advocacy of athletic shoes. They are definitely a "bete noir" of mine. I cannot countenance the look of them as my sharp sense of harmony and aesthetics dictates that they should only be worn on the tennis court or in pursuit of some sport or other. I think you look fetching in the photo EXCEPT for the trainers! I feel the hegemony of the idea of "comfort" at all costs has gotten out of hand and must be reined in if we are to regain our erstwhile degree of civility as a society. Kind wishes, klind65

 

[Carlisle Blues]

I think you look fetching in the photo EXCEPT for the trainers! I feel the hegemony of the idea of "comfort" at all costs has gotten out of hand and must be reined in if we are to regain our erstwhile degree of civility as a society.

You look marvelous.....

Very chic

 

[kuwisdelu]

Well-fitting leather-soled dress shoes should be plenty comfortable.

 

[HodgePodge]

It is an assault on the senses.

If you think I'm gonna put 4km a day on my dress shoes, instead of wearing my adidas allstars (or leather, insulated side-zip boots in the winter) and carrying my shoes in a tote bag with my lunch and other work stuff, you're nuts.

 

[GoldenEraFan]

If you think I'm gonna put 4km a day on my dress shoes, instead of wearing my adidas allstars (or leather, insulated side-zip boots in the winter) and carrying my shoes in a tote bag with my lunch and other work stuff, you're nuts.

Well I can understand not wanting to wear out the leather soles. Why not compromise? What about leather dress shoes with rubber soles? Or the rubber half sole? Just a suggestion, you have the right to wear whatever footwear you want.

 

[HodgePodge]

Well I can understand not wanting to wear out the leather soles. Why not compromise? What about leather dress shoes with rubber soles? Or the rubber half sole? Just a suggestion, you have the right to wear whatever footwear you want.

My dress shoes are rubber soled, but for 'commuting,' all leather uppers don't breathe worth a hoot (summer heat & humidity + a few hills = yuck). My feet get sweaty enough throughout the course of the day having to run out to do deliveries of one sort or the other(thinking of getting some Geox shoes to remedy that). I know some people just said to themselves "well then why do you wear dress shoes at all?" Because I have to. Most of the day I am in the office doing typical office work, and dealing with whatever customers come through the door.

My current dress shoes are going to need to be re-soled soon, assuming they can be.

My last pair of leather soled shoes were half rubber Bostonians, and they were total crap. Stained every pair of socks that went into them so badly that they were write-offs.

 

[*Schatzi*]

I belong to a dance group in my city. It is german folk dancing in partners, mainly viennese waltzing and polka. Though we have done different types of ballroom etc. Guys and girls are required to wear leather soled dress shoes. New fellows try to get away with rubber soled dance shoes and fail miserably. They stick to the floor and kill any kind of a graceful movement. We have had many a male newbie wonder why he isn't dancing properly until he purchases a pair of leather soled dress shoes. Once you wear them you'll dance in nothing else. Whenever I am at dances now I always have my leather soles on. Nothing compares with the floor to sole grip.

 

[adamjaskie]

My dance shoes are leather dress shoes I picked up at Value World used for $8.50. They are branded "DOMANI made in Italy for Johnston & Murphy", very light, thin uppers that are almost like glove leather, and the soles, despite being leather, are very flexible. I can quite easily bend the shoe almost in half by holding the heel with one hand and bending the toe back with one finger. I've had them for about 18 months now, and do swing dancing for probably five or six hours a week, and they show no signs of falling apart despite being well worn when I got them. I do nothing to care for them, either. I pull them off sweaty and throw them into a tote bag, which sits in the trunk of my car rolling around with all the other crap I have back there until the next time I go dancing.

In contrast, my friends who buy the ubiquitous rubber-sole "dance sneaker" things are replacing them every 6-8 months due to split seams, and have to cover the bottoms in tape to reduce friction. They spend more on tape and Shoe Goo than I did on my shoes!

 

[kuwisdelu]

My dress shoes are rubber soled, but for 'commuting,' all leather uppers don't breathe worth a hoot (summer heat & humidity + a few hills = yuck).

That's what God made wingtips for. I can feel the breeze through my socks.

 

[GoldenEraFan]

That's what God made wingtips for. I can feel the breeze through my socks.

I didn't realize how well wingtips could breathe!

 

[ws1]

When I was a kid in the '50s, all the men wore "rubbers" over their dress shoes on wet days. They looked very much like this:

These are a modern version of "rubbers," with stainless steel studs on the soles. Perfect for an ice-covered sidewalk.

I use overshoes or galosches when it rains or icy weather. I have used this kind of overshoes since I was 17-18 years old, during the last year it has become very common.

 

[kools]

I have been employed in sports for many years; I played sports professionally & still coach. I have a personal endorsement from a major athletic shoe manufacturer and am given free shoes regularly, but when I have a choice...it is ALWAYS leather soles for me. Even coaching a match on the sidelines of a muddy field, leather. They feel right, they look right, they sound right. In a dress shoe, rubber soles are a deal breaker.

 

[daizawaguy]

I have been employed in sports for many years; I played sports professionally & still coach. I have a personal endorsement from a major athletic shoe manufacturer and am given free shoes regularly, but when I have a choice...it is ALWAYS leather soles for me. Even coaching a match on the sidelines of a muddy field, leather. They feel right, they look right, they sound right. In a dress shoe, rubber soles are a deal breaker.

Well put! Yep, leather just fits and feels the part...

 

[daizawaguy]

Ah..there we are...the foot DOES mold itsself into their own shape,and hence the fit of a leather soled shoe - not only the insole conforms to ones foot print, but the outer wears to ones walking style...

 

[SGT Rocket]

I have been converted. My next purchase of shoes will have leather soles and I will buy galoshes (sp?) with them.