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Is it really worth it to buy expensive shoes?

Peter1

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Not to derail thread, but what I mean by B&S being "better" = meaning fewer bulk sellers and more high quality merchandise before some of the other secondhand sites popped up.
 

grc1

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There are some members (you know who you are) who have so many shoes that if a pair gets 5 wears a year it means it's their favorite.

Hmmm - I try to make sure all my shoes get a wearing AT LEAST 6 times a year. So by your measure I’m still in the “moderate-by-SF-standards shoe collection” category.

Where’s that G&G catalogue? :lol:
 

papa kot

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To me, buying expensive shoes is worth it for a variety of reasons already mentioned here. Also, because high-quality items preserve the art of craft, and, to a certain degree, our civilization.

During the last decades we have started to degrade to the mean at the unprecedented rates. The population boom and the continuous cycle of demand generation created an economy driven by the low-quality plenty and planned obsolescence. Many goods whose production once required critical thought, skill, and art have been reduced to mindless widgets we are supposed to throw out and not repair. The results of our actions are tremendous.

Behind cheap prices there are significant externalities that we refuse to admit be it quasi-slave labor in the factories of South East Asia or the environmental pollution. We are also losing the collective skill set and knowledge that once enabled artisans and craftsman to make a decent living and have pride in their professions. If we do not support those who can combine form, function, and soul into everyday’s objects, we’ll end up in a world full of mediocre thneeds and with a society that is content with the plenty despite its tax on the future generations--the Idiocracy at its finest. And, yeah, I am not okay with that.
 
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taxgenius

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Keep in mind that cheap shoes look like crap very quickly, so it's longevity needs to be measured accordingly. Quality shoes on the other hand will look good for a lot longer even before it's time firm recrafting.
 
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Jared Delaney

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1. What is B&S?

2. I made the plunge, or at least what I consider a plunge. I got a new pair of AE Neumok 2.0 the three day and they are quite nice, and I would say it is certainly a step up from what I usually wear, and for not much more money. I also scored a pair of AE MacNeil 2.0 Brown Grain today at Lord & Taylor for a pretty damn good price. They are have some good sales.
 

Texasmade

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B&S= buying & selling section
 

Boggis

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I wonder did Jared end up embracing high quality shoes in the end, or did he stick with what he knows/likes.
 

suitforcourt

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Buy nice stuff because you like nice stuff. Don't try and rationalize it with some bogus economic bullshit.

This is still my favourite quote from SF.
 

haloitsme

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my 2 cents to an old thread.
Yes, should you spent 5-10.000€/ shoe definitely not...
Nice Santoni, Sutor for 500-1200€ are ok, Maybe Bontoni on sale.
Bespoke, also ok.

I think it depends on your income when you make 50.000$ per year, should you buy a shoe for 5000$...I don't think so.
If you make 250.000, should you? Maybe
If you make 1.000.000+, why not
 

Bertrand

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my 2 cents to an old thread.
Yes, should you spent 5-10.000€/ shoe definitely not...
Nice Santoni, Sutor for 500-1200€ are ok, Maybe Bontoni on sale.
Bespoke, also ok.

I think it depends on your income when you make 50.000$ per year, should you buy a shoe for 5000$...I don't think so.
If you make 250.000, should you? Maybe
If you make 1.000.000+, why not
Prince Charles and Mike Bloomberg approved this message.
 

josepidal

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I'd respect an answer that investing in a AE pair is a big step up from plasticky leather shoes that can ruin an otherwise decent or professional looking outfit, and upgrading from AE is indulgence.
 

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