Rock hard leather inner and outer soles can beat your poor feet to a pulp. Here's what I do.... - Page 5

People have tried to help you. You don't want to listen. People have even tried to be kind and sympathetic but apparently it fell on deaf ears.

I don't know what you're "re-evolving" from...or towards....but it lived a "nasty, brutish and short" life and went extinct at the end of the Paleozoic.

And I suspect it will be another epoch at least before the result of all this "re-evolving" can stand upright.

Next thread - MY KNUCKLES HURT FROM DRAGGING ON THE GROUND!! WHAT KIND OF LEATHER GLOVES CAN I USE THAT DOESN'T COST MORE THAN $10 OTHERWISE IT'S A WASTE OF MONEY!!!??

I don't have problems with leather sole shoes, until I go on trips where I find myself standing and walking around in Manhattan or downtown Chicago for eight hours straight. By then, my feet are aching everywhere. If I do the same with my good ol' Merrills, I can go all day long without issue.

But for daily work? Even my hardest soles don't cause too much pain.

So, I think one needs a balance. If on the one extreme your feet are aching after 15 minutes in a shoe, then either you need to return the shoes, or you need to see a doctor. And if on the other extreme you can walk around in the hardest AEs for 12 hours straight without the slightest discomfort, you need to be careful not to assume everyone has the superhuman feet (or dead nerves) that you apparently do. For most of us in the middle, we recognize that (a) the foot is designed to handle load very, very well (b) the foot isn't design to handle constant load for 12 hours straight and (c) there's no harm to have some cushioning shoes or gel inserts for the times you'll exceed your comfort zone.

what a fun discussion!

i actually think RE raises a perfectly legitimate question in his original post.

where it goes wrong is to then infer that leather-soled shoes will consistently be beaten by sneakers or rubber-soled shoes for comfort, or that a even a basic understanding of physics points to the inescapable conclusion that leather-soled shoes must necessarily be more uncomfortable than the "comfort" shoe alternative. i just don't believe that's true. my own experience and observations have been the following:

1 - a leather-soled shoe that really fits and is well constructed is the most comfortable shoe of all.
2 - a leather-soled shoe that fits poorly and is poorly constructed is the most UNcomfortable shoe of all.
3 - a sneaker / rubber- / cushiony-soled shoe will typically be comfortable, but it will never be quite as comfortable as the best leather-soled shoe, nor will it ever be truly uncomfortable. in statistical terms, the range of experiences for a sneaker-like shoe has a tighter distribution.

this of course begs the question as to what conditions need to be in place to achieve 1). again, my experiences:

- the shape of the last (an issue that is largely irrelevant for sneaker-like shoes). a last that doesn't fit your foot will force your foot to distort into unnatural shapes, preventing the foot from being in equilibrium and introducing unnatural stresses. for example, an overly-pointed italian-style shoe for a wide foot will force the foot to curve in a concave form (with respect to the ground), resulting in excess stress on the balls of your feet
- the thickness of the sole: a thin leather sole can be murder because there will be no shock absorption. a thick sole, on the other hand, will be extremely comfortable.
- the shape of the arch, or instep. for me, personally, i like / need a high instep. the shape of the arch is critical for good support.
- believe it or not, the material of the heel can also make a big difference, including and especially to the shock absorption

in other words, there are many more things that can "go wrong" with a leather-soled dress shoe.

i also have an instinctive hypothesis that while rubber is good at cushioning the impact, it does not do a good job of distributing the impact. when i wear a rubber-soled shoe and step on a stone, i feel the impact / object very directly where the object is. with well-constructed leather, the impact is distributed to a greater degree across the entire surface area of the sole. i believe this is why so many find leather-soled shoes so most comfortable. it is certainly an important contributor to my own preference for wearing leather-soled dress shoes -- a choice i would make even if i had a stigma-free option of wearing "comfort" rubber-soled shoes.

leather is an amazing material. there is a reason it has stood the test of time. RE, i think the physics you think are so simple are actually not... and the situation overall is more complex than you may think.

I use a 3/4 length insole in all my shoes. It leaves room in the toes and doesn't sacrifice fit. Even when I try on shoes I slip in an insole because I know I will be using one always. I can walk long periods, 3 or 4 hours with no pain at all.

I find rubber soled shoes hurt quicker usually.

I agree with everything ottoSkadelig said above and believe this sums up all answers here.

Reevolving a SF "made man"?

Cognitive Dissonance: "I love my classic vintage Rolls Royce" vs. "My car always hurts me when I slam the door on my enormous cock"

lol. I'm amazed you can even figure out how to get dressed in the morning.

and since when are many posters piss broke?

Well, there are tons of posts about besoke suits and shoes, $800 belts, $15k watches etc.

Then there is you, who wants to put cloth tape on his shirt collars, is scared to wear shoes because he doesn't want to ruin the soles, and asks when one can afford $500 shoes.

the loser is you chief.

You really know how to turn a phrase.

QFT
The only thing I would say is sometimes a thicker sole feels uncomfortable because it takes longer to break in. Some of those thin-soled almost slipper-like shoes are the most comfortable

I think this is similar to the whole barefoot/minimalist running movement. Sometimes barefoot is the most comfortable. The arch of your foot is a natural shock absorber. Running barefoot automatically forces you to avoid a heel strike and walk more on the forefoot with less force.