Clothes — A Daily Thread — A Sunday Aside

In the middle of writing this series on not buying new clothes, my sneakers began to fall apart. It actually started at the beginning of the summer, when I began to notice the sole separating from the uppers of my Nike Killshot 2s. But it seems, in the time since I began to ponder this series, like it has become exponentially worse. Almost as if the universe is saying, “No new clothes, huh? We’ll see about that…”

I’ve had them for a couple of years so it does not come as a surprise. As I’ve established, I’m hard on shoes. And it’s not exactly like modern sneakers by major brands are made to last these days. One should know going in, as with many such things in the clothing world, that if you’re paying $90 for a pair of sneakers you should consider them essentially disposable out of the box.

And yet, I find myself faced with an interesting test of my intentions in this area. Here’s some of the places my thoughts are going…

One can purchase, very high quality, hand made, resoleable sneakers. They are out there and have a cost that corresponds to that quality. Like other quality boot and shoe makers, the cost is offset by the idea that these may be the last sneakers one will need to purchase. That one can get them repaired and resoled when time and tear takes its inevitable toll. But, I don’t know if I’d be ready to pull that trigger yet.

I could simply buy a new pair of a major brand now, likely even the same model (I do like them, style wise) knowing what I’m getting in return (see above: knowing I’ll be back here again in two years).

But, here’s the other part of my thinking, I live in Minnesota. I’ll likely only be wearing sneakers for another six weeks or so. The snow will start to fall and I’ll be wearing boots until next spring. Therefore, if I can keep these current shoes going for a while, I can push off any decision until then.

So, last night, I ordered up some Shoe Goo and will use it to repair the ones I have and, hopefully, have them hold together for a few more weeks. I have other casual shoes I can wear if it doesn’t work out (some Merrell Moab hikers). And, I can avoid having to purchase in desperation and take some time to consider how best to move forward.