Number of Shoes = Number of Shoe Trees?

[Gatsby]

I'm wondering about the importance of having shoe trees in your shoes at ALL times when you are not wearing them. I understand the benefits of putting them in right after taking them off your feet to absorb moisture, but perhaps after a day or two with trees on, wouldn't it be perfectly OK to take them out without any ill consequences?

Just wondering if anyone has any better information.

 

[cuffthis]

1 pair of trees for each pair of shoes. Period.

I even have trees for my running shoes.

 

[kabert]

I don't have shoes trees for running shoes, boat shoes and the like, but I do have them for every pair of dress shoes and business casual-type shoes (such as bucks and loafers).

 

[AlanC]

Yes, that's the ideal situation. I have for brief periods had my number of shoes slightly outstrip my current supply of trees. When that happens I will rob shoetrees from a lesser pair that haven't been worn for a few days to put them in the pair I'm taking off at the moment. That ought to be a temporary situation, of course. I will confess, however, that I don't have shoe trees for my athletic shoes....

 

[Fabienne]

But has anyone ever done a comparative study: shoe tree versus none, shoes worn under similar circumstances? I never use shoe trees, and my shoes are all in great shape. So I wonder.

 

[NewYorkBuck]

I have over 10 pairs of dress shoes, but only 2 pairs of trees. I rotate them as I wear the shoes. I heard that leaving trees in shoes can stretch them out, so I only leave them in for a day or two.

 

[markr]

I've also heard that really you only need 1-2 pairs of shoe trees. The purpose of the shoe trees is to remove excess moisture from and retain the shape of shoes that have recently been worn. Therefore, once the shoes have dried out, you can remove the shoe trees and use them with another pair of shoes. I admit that I have not conducted a scientific study to confirm the soundness of this thinking.

 

[tdial]

I have conducted a scientific study of shoe trees that is now ready for publication here on The Style Forum. During the study, I used 4 pairs of shoes: a brown C&J Savile, a black C&J Whitehall, a brown C&J Whitehall, and a black C&J Aintree. I used all C&J shoes for this study to set equal the leather variables used.

Over a 120-day period, I wore each shoe once every four days for a 12 hour period. Upon removal, I placed cedar Zappos shoe trees in the brown Savile and the black Whitehall. The brown Whitehall and the black Aintree were left without trees for the duration. Here are my findings:

The shoe-tree treated shoes experienced a 17% reduction in wetness within 24 hours of having the shoe trees placed in them after wear. After 3 days, the level of wetness had dissipated. The shoes also experienced a .12% increase in width do to the stretching factor of the shoe trees, though this was undetectable unless wearing cashmere socks which tended to slide in the shoe and increase wetness significantly (See TDial, J, Fabienne, 1.23.05, "Cashmere Wetness Study&quot.

The untreated (un-"tree"ted, if you will) shoes experienced a 12% decrease in wetness over the first 24 hours due to air drying and Bernese Mountain Dog tampering (dog may have actually added wetness due to slobbering mouth, though slobber level was not measured). After 3 days, the wetness had also dissipated to an undetectable level. Shoes experienced a .12% decrease in overall width due to the air drying of the leather.

Overall, though the findings were someone inconclusive, due to the fact that I only actually own three of the mention shoes and the black Aintree is only a dream, we recommend buying shoe trees for all shoes. Scientifically speaking, it's better to be safe than sorry and the added weight of the shoe tree in the shoe makes it very difficult for small and large breeds of dog to carry away to other parts of your dwelling.

I hope you find this helpful.

 

[tiger02]

That's a good start tdial, but I think we're going to need some data on introduced slobber (IS). For instance, I would like to extrapolate for the effects I may see from my larger Malamut, as well as smaller Cocker Spaniel. Then too, will IS increase for, say, EG shoes while decreasing for a lowly pair of J&M? I have to guess that Italian shoes will induce a higher IS than comparable price/quality American and especially British shoes, since everyone knows Italians are the best cooks, while no one knows what IS is likely for Vass (have you ever had Hungarian other than goulash? Didn't think so.)

Tom

*Note--for possible non-presence of dogs, see tdial's note on Black Aintree

 

[Fabienne]

I have conducted a scientific study of shoe trees that is now ready for publication here on The Style Forum. During the study, I used 4 pairs of shoes: a brown C&J Savile, a black C&J Whitehall, a brown C&J Whitehall, and a black C&J Aintree. I used all C&J shoes for this study to set equal the leather variables used. Over a 120-day period, I wore each shoe once every four days for a 12 hour period. Upon removal, I placed cedar Zappos shoe trees in the brown Savile and the black Whitehall. The brown Whitehall and the black Aintree were left without trees for the duration. Here are my findings: The shoe-tree treated shoes experienced a 17% reduction in wetness within 24 hours of having the shoe trees placed in them after wear. After 3 days, the level of wetness had dissipated. The shoes also experienced a .12% increase in width do to the stretching factor of the shoe trees, though this was undetectable unless wearing cashmere socks which tended to slide in the shoe and increase wetness significantly (See TDial, J, Fabienne, 1.23.05, "Cashmere Wetness Study"). The untreated (un-"tree"ted, if you will) shoes experienced a 12% decrease in wetness over the first 24 hours due to air drying and Bernese Mountain Dog tampering (dog may have actually added wetness due to slobbering mouth, though slobber level was not measured). After 3 days, the wetness had also dissipated to an undetectable level. Shoes experienced a .12% decrease in overall width due to the air drying of the leather. Overall, though the findings were someone inconclusive, due to the fact that I only actually own three of the mention shoes and the black Aintree is only a dream, we recommend buying shoe trees for all shoes. Scientifically speaking, it's better to be safe than sorry and the added weight of the shoe tree in the shoe makes it very difficult for small and large breeds of dog to carry away to other parts of your dwelling. I hope you find this helpful.

Thanks for the laugh..

Do you feel the shoe trees would similarly be a deterrent to a toddler with a shoe fetish, or can you offer subsequent scientific advice?

 

[Alexis]

I would like to see the analysis performed using a mixed model repeated measures analysis which includes the fixed categorical effects of treatment, investigator, visit, and treatment-by-visit interaction, as well as the continuous fixed covariates of baseline score and baseline score-by-visit interaction.

 

[LA Guy]

I would like to see the analysis performed using a mixed model repeated measures analysis which includes the fixed categorical effects of treatment, investigator, visit, and treatment-by-visit interaction, as well as the continuous fixed covariates of baseline score and baseline score-by-visit interaction

I think that you'll need some grant money for this. It's really an more under the purvue of NIH than NSF or a defense agency. Unfortunately, NIH grants tend to be harder and harder to come by these days, so maybe you'll need to go to private money. A shoe tree manufacturer or shoe company woudld be best, but there would be obvious conflicts of interests tainting the results. I recommend asking Kalra. I did a back of the envelope calculation, and including equipment (shoes and trees of various qualities), labor (you can't make people wear John Lobbs for free, and according to some of you, this goes double for Gucci or Prada), investigators' salaries (you'll need a P.I. a shoe technician, and a postdoc), travel costs, and institutional overhead, and I'm coming up with a figure somewhere around $5M over three years. I don't have PI status, but would be willing to help write the proposal (and also be a subject - for free.)

 

[jester]

Hey, if Nicholson Baker can write an entire novel about shoelace-breakage, surely someone would fund research into shoe trees.

 

[Bradford]

Hey, if Nicholson Baker can write an entire novel about shoelace-breakage, surely someone would fund research into shoe trees.

Ahh - The Mezzanine - wonderful novel. Nice to see our sartorial discussions take a turn to the literary. Bradford P.S. I feel like this post requires a footnote