Shopping for Mens Shoes is Hard Work
Why I find it hard to buy shoes.
Shopping for men's shoes is quite the frustrating ordeal for me, as a man needing new shoes from time to time. My feet are not exceptionally big or abnormal in any way other than the fact that I do need to wear wide sizes as opposed to just normal "medium" shoes as they are called. In my quest to find a fitting pair of shoes I have discovered most major retail stores do not carry the wide sizes and even though the actual chain stores ala stores that ONLY sell shoes do carry wides: new issues arise. Let me start this by telling you what I wanted in a shoe last time I was shopping: something plain, preferable black, and comfortable. I already own dress shoes and just wanted an every day sneaker. Why did I have so much trouble?
1. Skater shoes. I am not a skater, but most of the selection for men's shoes here in California, where I currently reside, are geared towards that culture. Personally I cannot stand skater shoes because of the big fat tongues on them. They look and feel stupid, bad stupid; not good bad or good stupid.
2. Skull and Gangbang Bling. A good majority of the shoes available for men have cartoon drawings or designs featuring skulls and skeletons. I would think them to be quite cool if I were an eight year old kid, but I'm not. Hell, now that I think of it you would be hard pressed to find any t-shirts these days without some sort of skull design on the front. Other than skinless apparitions the shoes feature either cartoon pictures of Mexican style gang members or jewelry and money. Once again, I'm not eight years old and even if I was a gangbanger I would feel retarded wearing such items, not to mention I wouldn't be in a Mexican gang anyway: I am as white as they come. So, naturally, I would find a big black gang member to emulate.
3. Sports Shoes. I am quite athletic and need shoes that can withstand an active lifestyle in front of the laptop computer. However, I have not kept up with sports and sports stars since I was a kid trading cards for some of that stale gum that came with them. I do not want some basketball player's name scrawled across my shoe, or a picture of Michael Jordan flying through the air on them. How does an adult wear something like that and not feel like they are only one step removed from literally wearing kids Space Jam the movie themed shoes? Also, most of the athletic shoes have some silly design to them to try and make them stand out via neon yellow polka dots and plastic "shocks" on the bottoms to fool you into thinking you are going to jump higher or something. The outsides of these shoes tend to be covered in shiny plastic stuff, making the shoes look like something that belongs in a toy box, not on my feet. Over a hundred bucks for that crap!?
I'm not even going to waste space talking about how ridiculous Crocs are or mandals even.
Women get all sorts of variety when it comes to shoes and yet men's shoes get just a few shelves with the above monstrosities on them. I would say this is because men are more likely to buy only one pair at a time, wearing them until they are literally falling off their feet in pieces. However, looking at all of the designs now-a-days, obviously seeking the eyes of metro-sexuals, this manly stereotype may soon go the way of the T-Rex. The shoes I can actually stomach tend to either not be in my size or they are cheap and already falling apart as brand new. Hey, New Balance why are there always threads hanging off your products?
Trying on shoes is an ordeal and ordering them over the internet would be too much trouble. Every size is different for every brand and then every style within that brand, sometimes a size in one will fit me, but the same size in the other does not. Shipping shoes back and forth in the mail does not sound appealing.
Now after my short rant I can tell you I did find a new pair of shoes; usually do. After driving an hour out of my way to an outlet center I found a company making trendy shoes, just plain and black enough to appeal to me: SKETCHERS! I got some pure black shoes that come with the added bonus that I don't even have to tie them, they slip on, and look just short of being a plain sporty hi-top.