Poll:What is the most you've ever spent on a pair of shoes ?

[Live And Learn]

I complemented a collegue on her shoes the other day. We started to talk about them and she told me how much she paid. I nearly fainted. What is the most you've ever spent on a single pair of shoes ?

 

[Fermion]

Gortex hiking boots...I think around $150 on sale?

They were worth it on the 50 mile West coast trail on Vancouver Island....very boot intensive.

 

[Live And Learn]

I've never spent more than $50 on a single pair of shoes. My wedding shoes were $39.99.

 

[FinanceDude]

$250 for the nicest pair of Allen Edmond golf shoes you can imagine........

 

[audreyh1]

I assume hiking boots count? I've only paid >$100 for technical footwear.

 

[H2ODude]

I'm with Fermion. About $150 for some good hiking boots. Have an aversion to spending more than $100 on any but find myself doing that for running shoes now. Having suffered plantar fasciitis I tend to pamper my feet.

DW always dresses well but has a knack for doing it with sales. I don't think she's ever spent more than $100....except for running shoes.

 

[scrabbler1]

The last time I bought shoes I found several pairs of my size and color (at Payless) but only 1 pair felt much more comfortable than the others and it looked like it was made better than the others. However, it also had a higher price than the others, around $50 (with tax, just over $50), while the others cost between $25 and $40.

This has turned out to be a good choice because most previous pairs of shoes lasted me about 2 years, maybe 3. This pair is nearly 4 years old and is in good shape. The extra dollars I paid for this pair have been well worth it.

 

[FLD3C]

150-160 USD. Hiking boots

 

[Amethyst]

I wear extra-wide shoes, so choices/mfrs are limited and sales are almost nonexistent. I buy 3 pairs of running shoes a year and they went over $100 several years ago...around $120 now, I believe.

Then again I wore my "lady shoes" for work until they pretty much wore through, so I got at least 10 years' wear out of every pair.

Amethyst

 

[VaCollector]

I was once a "Wallabee" wearer….most comfortable shoe I had ever worn…bought my last pair for around
$110 retail…2nd most expensive for me.

My new "best shoes ever" are made by "Ecco"….expensive...but then I was fortunate enough to cross paths
with a distributor who offered me a special discount code that I used on a couple pairs….less than half price…
about $125 a pair…been wearing them for the last 2+ years….not sure what I will do after these do not pass muster...

 

[karluk]

I don't remember whether the most I've spent is just over, or just under $100. I answered $100-$200. Back in my running days I never was reluctant to spend money on a good quality pair of running shoes. But that doesn't mean spending a lot. It's possible to get really good running shoes in the $50-$100 range. At least I never experienced any foot or ankle problems.

For day to day casual wear, my frugal nature takes over. I remember DW taking me to a discount shoe store in early 2004 and finding a whole bunch of shoes in my size on the clearance rack. I ended up buying around ten pairs and spending only a little over $100 total. I felt as if I had just won the lottery. Those shoes lasted close to a decade. The first time I spent money on shoes after that was in 2012.

 

[Walt34]

Assuming boots count, I've spent more than $100 a couple of pairs of those over the years. Motorcycle boots for me and DW, insulated boots for work and the motorcycle.

When DW was having issues with plantar fasciitis she (after much angst) gave in and spent ~$120 on a pair of specialized running shoes. I was the one who encouraged her to buy them - she was limping in pain. Took some time but the pain went away so they were well worth it.

 

[braumeister]

$620 for custom-made Limmer hiking boots, following the 3 ½ years I spent on his waiting list. I have very hard to fit feet.

They will easily last longer than I will, so it was money well spent.

 

[GSMAN]

The most I have spent is 109 bucks on a pair of boots! During some chit chat at the office, I mentioned to an employee that I needed to buy a new pair of boots. He reaches in his wallet and hands me a card to his custom boot maker. He pointed at his boots and said, "I had these made for around $1,200". I looked at him like he was crazy and he said, "well, you can probably get a decent pair for $800." Unless I am going to be singing on stage with George Strait himself, I will go for the cheap boots!

 

[Silver]

When DW was having issues with plantar fasciitis she (after much angst) gave in and spent ~$120 on a pair of specialized running shoes. I was the one who encouraged her to buy them - she was limping in pain. Took some time but the pain went away so they were well worth it.

I currently have plantar fasciitis and am practically living in Kuru shoes at $110 a pair. When going out I have found that Orthaheel clogs and sandals feel the best and they run around $75 a pair. This is the most I have ever spent on shoes. I am most certainly hoping this will subside sometime. It is incredible how painful this is.....

 

[calmloki]

OT (per normal), but a month or so a friend was walking a desert trail in the area and found a pair of Vasque hiking shoes sitting trailside. He brought them home and they happened to be my size, so I tossed them in the washing machine and have been wearing them since. Think they run $80 or more new.

Do wonder what the story is behind leaving a pair of shoes miles from anywhere on a trail - that's a long walk home barefoot. Or maybe pro walkers carry an old known good pair of shoes when breaking in a new pair just in case the new ones turn out horrible after a few miles?

My norm for shoe purchase is sub $50, with a fair amount of $75+ "good shoes" that don't get much wear time.

 

[FUEGO]

Probably $50-60? The most expensive pair of dress shoes was $40-50 I think (with a coupon). They look really nice and are fairly comfortable (as long as I don't walk more than a mile or two in them). I rarely wore them to work, and now that I'm retired I've only worn them three times (professional function x2 and a funeral).

Other shoes are some form of walking/tennis/running shoes. I don't pay much attention to particular brands, mostly comfort. My normal strategy is to go to the mall and visit a few department stores and check out the clearance racks. I usually get a $80-100 pair of shoes for $30-40 in this way. They last a few years, so I can't complain. The name brand shoes do seem to last longer than the slightly cheaper not-on-sale shoes from walmart, so I usually go for the brands.

Best shoe purchase was some nunn+bush work shoes. Very comfortable and nice classy look. They were on super duper triple double discount clearance. And it was buy one get one 50% off or something like that, and I had a $10 off or 30% off coupon (can't recall). I bought two pairs - one size 12, one size 11.5. I think they were $250 total at retail, and I paid $14 total. I smiled later when I saw my boss wearing the identical shoe in a slightly lighter brown color. I bet he didn't pay $7 for his shoes.

 

[marko]

I'm guessing that ski boots don't count!

But a nice pair of Piccolino driving mocs......that's another story.

 

[rodi]

I've spent close to $100 for hiking boots. But my daily wears are between $20 and $30. I've upgraded my flip flops to croc flip flops because they're more comfortable and offer arch support - but I only buy them on sale. (Fortunately, we have casual dress at w*rk so most days I'm in capri's and flip-flops.)

In the early 1980's I spent $110 on a very nice pair of dress pumps at Nordstrom. I needed them for a specific occasion and they were the only pair I could find that fit me. (I'm a size 11 wide - so shoes are always hard to find.). I was assured that because of the quality they would last. That pair of dress pumps fell apart quicker than anything. I have never had the urge to buy expensive shoes again. (Except hiking boots.)

I've got a very nice pair of leather mary jane travel shoes on right now, purchased from travelsmith. They ran about $45 on sale - and I'm in my 3rd year of wearing them. They replaced a similar pair that last 5 years.

 

[RISP]

239,- € (about $325) for my Loake cap-toe oxfords. Totally worth it.

 

[easysurfer]

Back in days of w*rk, before casual dress, I spent close to (can't remember exactly) between 50-100. That is in 1980's dollars so with inflation, I assume today would be higher.

But today, I go for those comfortable shoes as my first choice (Are you gelling? )

 

[Andre1969]

I've started jogging this year, and on the advice of some friends, got some nice running-specific shoes, that were about $140. Saucony Cortana 3 or something like that. I had been running in some old beat-up Nike Shox that must be close to 10 years old.

Weird thing happened, though. I'm not in the best shape, so it took me a bit to build up some endurance. Started off, with the old Shox, doing about 5.5 miles, but with more of that being walking than I'd want to admit. I ran about a mile, but then had to stop and rest, and the remainder was a combo of walking and running. Well, the last time I ran in those Shox, I jogged 3.9 miles without stopping at all, and a combo of walk/jog the 3.9 miles back. So, I figured I'd go even further in these nice new running shoes. Nope...right calf started hurting after about 9/10 of a mile. And today, six days later, I STILL feel some pain in it! Wonder if the shoes just need to be broken in, or they're working my leg in a different way from the old beat-up shoes, or what?

I remember the first somewhat-expensive shoes I ever got as a teen. $40 Converse "Star-Tech" leather hi-tops, back in 1984. Adjust for inflation, and that's about $90 today.

As for dress shoes, I haven't had to dress up for work in ages, but I probably paid about $70 or so for a pair back in the early 90's. They're long since gone now. For a situation where I have to dress up, I have a few pairs of boots I can pass off with a suit, without looking like too much of a redneck!

 

[Hermit]

I started wearing SAS shoes about 25 or 30 years ago. For the time they last they are comparable in price to the cheaper shoes and a lot more comfortable. I would buy a pair of black and a pair of brown for w*rk. They were about $60 back then. The same pair were about $140 when I bought my last two pair about 3 years ago. Now that I am RE, I doubt if I buy any more.

 

[Spanky]

We shop for shoes at Marshall or the factory outlets. In general, they cost less than $50.

 

[ABQ2015]

I pay around $300 for Finn Comfort shoes. The shoes are very comfortable, have good arch support, and fit my wide feet. My feet got to the point a few years ago where they hurt much of the time and I often felt miserable. I haven't had that problem in several years.