Buying used shoes??

[Dr No]

I am aware of people buying high end shoes second hand, such as Lobb, EG etc. I have never understood it. All goodyear welted shoes contain a cork filling in the sole that conforms to your individual foot bed. That means if you buy used shoes, the cork is already deformed, and it will not take the shape of your feet. Am I wrong?

I know that you can send the shoes for a refurb, that includes new cork filling, but that is quite expensive for, say, a pair of Lobbs

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What are your opinions on this?

 

[MalfordOfLondon]

If you can get hold of a second hand pair of decent condition Lobbs for a good price - I usually justify it by thinking I'll wear them sparsely or on special occasions- not an every day work shoe. That way - the cork deformities aren't really going to make a huge difference.

 

[pabloj]

Buy slightly used shoes, which are not or not entirely broken in

 

[Taxler]

I stood on a cork-bed outside a shoe once, and they don't compress instantly or completly. The few seconds I was there left no indentation at all. If the shoes have been worn exstensivly, or the previous owner weighed 350 pounds, it might be a problem, but for a person closer to 150 pounds, no reason to believe it won't for the most part reshape to your foot. A better reason not to buy used shoes is not wanting to wear someone elses shoes.

 

[suitsusid]

Mainly i think people buy them because of the price difference...if you can buy a pair of JL that retail for £750 at a price of £150-200 then no matter how deformed the insole it's a bargain at that price. You can even get them resoled at a sizeable cost (i think JL charge £125) but the shoes will still be way cheaper than buying new. Just my 2p worth!

 

[mouseandcat]

especially those on a budget but want comfort of better shoes, as long as the lining is intact and it is in recraft-able condition, i'd rather do that than drop an excess of $400 more for newer shoes.

i must say it did take a lot of will to get past my pyschological angst of wearing used shoes. funny i can buy used shoes but can't stand rented bowling shoes......

 

[MalfordOfLondon]

Originally Posted by mouseandcat

especially those on a budget but want comfort of better shoes, as long as the lining is intact and it is in recraft-able condition, i'd rather do that than drop an excess of $400 more for newer shoes.

i must say it did take a lot of will to get past my pyschological angst of wearing used shoes. funny i can buy used shoes but can't stand rented bowling shoes......

Well you can usually be sure that the quality of foot in a £500 pair of Lobbs is going to be significantly different from the "range" which has graced the bowling shoe...

 

[Wes Bourne]

Another reason for buying used shoes is that it's sometimes the only way to acquire certain discontinued styles that are hard to find as NOS...

 

[onix]

Your weight will reform the footbed too. I had a well broken in used pair before, and it was uncomfortable at first when the ball area of my foot was not aligned to that area formed in the foot bed. But After walking on it for a while, the footbed is corrected again to my feet.

 

[anon]

Originally Posted by onix

Your weight will reform the footbed too. I had a well broken in used pair before, and it was uncomfortable at first when the ball area of my foot was not aligned to that area formed in the foot bed. But After walking on it for a while, the footbed is corrected again to my feet.
this happened to me as well. of course I try to make it a point to buy shoes that do not look to already be heavily worn. the main reason I do it is for the savings - if you can buy some barely used shoes for 10-20% of the cost of buying them new, why not?

 

[johnny_flapjack]

I generally don't buy used beaters, but I've purchased lightly-worn vintage Florsheim Kenmoor Longwings on ebay b/c they don't make them now at the same level of quality that they did then. And I'll take my chances on a $125 pair of shell longwings. If I have to get them rebuilt by alden to correct the footbed issue, I'm still at less than 1/2 of their retail for a new pair.

 

[bigbris1]

Any shoe worth buying with significant wear, can be resoled including a new cork footbed.

Nowadays I won't buy a shoe with more than 1 day's wear, but in my earlier days I pulled the trigger on anything that would remotely fit my foot. Adds to your knowledge bank of which brands/sizes/lasts work for you and which don't.

 

[clee1982]

I buy lightly used shoe as beat up shoe, I don't care if it's CJ handgrade, Ferragamo Tramezza or JL. If it's used, then it's my raining/snowing shoe... of course then it has to be pretty lowly priced, doesn't happen that often, but do happen if you set up some search on ebay.

 

[emptym]

Originally Posted by bigbris1

... Adds to your knowledge bank of which brands/sizes/lasts work for you and which don't.
This has been my main reason. But I like used things in general for many reasons.

 

[dport86]

+1 on that. Of course vintage NOS is great, but there's something about the wabi on used vintage stuff that's incredibly cool. You could spend 10 years breaking in and fading those new Aldens, but if you saw a great pair of #8's faded to a cherry mahogany or a tan, you might like them better than the new ones.