Help finding suitable shoes for work

[Estoril-5]

I've only ever bought shoes from Clark's or Next for work. I work in an office (shirt, trousers, shoes setup). The shoes look good but as we have a gravel car park they wear out fairly quickly and tend to lose their shape.

After joining this forum and researching the shoes the thread the only brave I had heard of was Loakes as I had bought a pair from Slaters about 12 years ago. Never heard of Church's, Cheaneys, Grensons etc.

Infact I don't know much about them now to be honest.

Am I being delusional asking if I can get a pair of shoes for approx £80 a pair (unsure of brand).

And would these outlast my usual Clark's/Next leather shoes?

I'm new to shoes so any education is welcomed

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[SplitSecond]

Once you've had good shoes, you'll never look back.

Yes, I think £80 is far too low for a pair of proper shoes, but spending a few times that will be far cheaper in the long run. A good pair of Grensons, Crockett & Jones, Cheaneys etc. will cost 200+, but with some basic care will last five to ten times as long as what you've been using. With Da-Nite rubber soles, you'll be fine on gravel; and when they begin to wear through, they can be resoled. With shoe trees, they won't lose their shape.

One place to start would be with herringshoes.co.uk. They regularly have things at sale prices, and their own brand (generally made by the good manufacturers) can be good value. You'll need to inform yourself about maintenance and also, perhaps, proper fit, certainly about leather (calfskin vs. binder, etc.), but I'm sure you'll get plenty of advice here.

[ALindsay]

Look at Loakes, good British based brand, great range and at reasonable prices.

"Always have good shoes and a good bed - it you're not in one, you're in the other" Works for me!

[Complex]

I had not done it before 3 years ago but very much recommend the above on paying well for new shoes and only paying once.

I bought a pair of Grenson brogues over 3 years ago, have treated them poorly and not given them the upkeep they deserve but they are still perfectly maintaining shape and can easily be polished and conditioned up to looking like-new. Not unrealistic I'll get another two years out of them, more if I didn't wear them most days.

[kermorvan666]

The herring website mentioned in a previous post is a good shout. The cheaper range of shoes stocked are the Herring and some of the Loake shoes - the Cheaney, Church's etc are much more expensive.

Look out for the occasional sale and also slight second discounts.

If you are doing a lot of walking on abrasive surfaces, i would suggest rubber soles.

[bins]

Sometimes its good to have a mix of decent more expensive and slightly less expensive.
steptronic are really comfortable for work

[snowman]

OP, What do you do in the gravel car park that wears your shoes out?

I often buy Clarks shoes and I've one pair that are 5 years old (at least) and have plenty of life left in them.

Personally, I've had poor experiences with more expensive shoes, finding the ones I've had last no better than cheaper shoes (Shoe lovers look away now - for a few years, I'd buy £20 shoes from Shoezone and they'd last a couple of years! )

M

[MrSmith]

just dont buy the cheaper indian made grensons, they dont last five mins and are overpriced.

i think you should up your budget to £240 and try some trickers from the outlet store, just try some on in your size in a shop and make a note of the last, they are quite wide and half a size up in general.
the other option is loakes from TK maxx if you can hunt around. Loakes are not at the same quality level as Trickers, Cheaneys, Crocket and Jones etc but they are cheaper.
also if you are wearing these every day they will not have a chance to dry out and really should be rotated (that goes for all shoes)

[markbannister]

Dr. Martens

[Kingstepper]

OP, What do you do in the gravel car park that wears your shoes out?

I often buy Clarks shoes and I've one pair that are 5 years old (at least) and have plenty of life left in them.

Personally, I've had poor experiences with more expensive shoes, finding the ones I've had last no better than cheaper shoes (Shoe lovers look away now - for a few years, I'd buy £20 shoes from Shoezone and they'd last a couple of years! )

M

I was going to ask the same - few hundred yards(?) walk four times a day shouldn't be a problem!

Wouldn't buy Next shoes but agree Clarks are fine. Often on sale and can pick up a decent pair for £50-60 which will last good few years. Go for rubber, not leather soles.

[Estoril-5]

OP, What do you do in the gravel car park that wears your shoes out?

M

Should have mentioned we have a weekly moonwalk competition in honour of MJ.

Actually it's a tarmac car park with potholes and bits of tarmac everywhere rather than gravel.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[100thmonkey]

My experience and I wear them daily in London inc commute

Loake 1880 - Very good, I have Edwards and going very strong

Cheaney - Boots, OK, wearing well with commando sole but heel reinforcement has broken down and lining bursting internally

Crockett Jones Chelsea Boots - Top end, superb on but only a month or so old so early days, crockets get the most attention of all

[snowman]

Should have mentioned we have a weekly moonwalk competition in honour of MJ.

Actually it's a tarmac car park with potholes and bits of tarmac everywhere rather than gravel.

Ah well, the competitive Moonwalking will definitely do for any pair in time!

M

[ernestrome]

Clarks are generally little better than other disposable Vietnamese shoes, maybe the best of the type but not great. They're living on the name.
I find many models only last a year and so I am switching to loakes 1880 and eager to try other makers. You can get loakes seconds for around £150 easily, and occasionally a bit cheaper from private sellers.

[Jimmcb]

What size are you OP??

[draftsmann]

eBay is your friend. With some careful shopping you’ll find privately sold English made shoes in unworn condition for good prices. I’ve picked up bargains for £50-150 that would have cost a multiple of the price paid.

[dougair]

I've only ever bought shoes from Clark's or Next for work. I work in an office (shirt, trousers, shoes setup). The shoes look good but as we have a gravel car park they wear out fairly quickly and tend to lose their shape.

After joining this forum and researching the shoes the thread the only brave I had heard of was Loakes as I had bought a pair from Slaters about 12 years ago. Never heard of Church's, Cheaneys, Grensons etc.

Infact I don't know much about them now to be honest.

Am I being delusional asking if I can get a pair of shoes for approx £80 a pair (unsure of brand).

And would these outlast my usual Clark's/Next leather shoes?

I'm new to shoes so any education is welcomed

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

£80 is about what I pay for my Loakes to be resoled. Best bet might be to look in sales. Debenhams sometimes have great deals on Loake 1880. I recently go a third off my Cheany’s too. If you spend good money now and look after them they’ll last years...you’d spend more buying cheap and having to replace every year or so...I think a pair of M&S shoes I bought years ago lasted 6 months!

[Pete D]

I've bought Loakes and Barkers from this shop over the years....good quality shoes from an old-fashioned shop at great prices. Worth a cheap day return!

https://www.discount-shoe-sales.com/home.html

No affiliation with the business btw

[kaiserphoenix]

Please do not misunderstand this as showing off. But here is my pair of John Lobbs, currently owned by the Hermes Group and thus the leather is excellent. I personally think that £80 is too low but with searching and also looking at outlet stores if you spend around £200 you can get a great pair of english made shoes. However to really make them last you want around 2-3 pairs to rotate if possible.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[subseastu]

When I started looking into proper shoes (thanks to this website) I used the below website and visited the factory shops

https://www.northamptonshoes.com/factory-shops/

I seem to favour Crockett & Jones and Barkers. Take a look at the brogues thread on here

[Billyloves2boogie]

Loake’s Goodyear welted shoes start at £130 which is not a huge step up from your budget.
There are a few Loake Shoemaker shops now around the country in Chester, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Oxford, Canterbury, Bath and soon to open in Exeter & Manchester. They all offer a proper fitting service and a good selection of the range (nearly 200 lines in the Bath shop).
I work weekends in the Bath shop & if you come in and quote TZ UK I’ll knock off 10% for you, please note I can only do this in the Bath store, ask for Chris.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dougair]

Also, if you have one foot size 7 and the other 13 you’re likely to find a lovely pair of preloved shoes on our very own SC...you’ll pay a bit extra for 🐕 💩

[Estoril-5]

What size are you OP??

I was a size 11 but since losing a fair bit of weight I think a 10.5 or maybe even a 10 would fit better.

Loake’s Goodyear welted shoes start at £130 which is not a huge step up from your budget.
There are a few Loake Shoemaker shops now around the country in Chester, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Oxford, Canterbury, Bath and soon to open in Exeter & Manchester. They all offer a proper fitting service and a good selection of the range (nearly 200 lines in the Bath shop).
I work weekends in the Bath shop & if you come in and quote TZ UK I’ll knock off 10% for you, please note I can only do this in the Bath store, ask for Chris.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

An awesome, thank you sir. Unfortunately I'm not near bath otherwise I would have been popping in

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[TimeThoughts]

I would say up the budget to £180. Check Pediwear; great vendor.

I'm a lifelong Cheaney man and swear by the brand. I also highly recommend NPS shoes (Northamptonshire Productive Society).

Its mentioned above, but please beware that Grenson (in particular) and Loake have second tier shoes made in India. I posted recently about a pair of Grensons I bought in an online sale (for about £125), they turned out to be Indian made and they are very poor; leather is not supple and soles are very wear prone (poor sole material).

All of my Northamptonsire made Cheaneys, NPS, Church and Loake shoes have been excellent. One pair is now 20years old. You can get them refurbished.

Another left of center suggestion here is Charles Thyrwhit; their shoes seem to be very good, I believe they are made by Barker but would easily stand corrected.

[raptor]

Ecco or geox

[Jimmcb]

I was a size 11 but since losing a fair bit of weight I think a 10.5 or maybe even a 10 would fit better.An awesome, thank you sir. Unfortunately I'm not near bath otherwise I would have been popping in

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

I have a pair of 10.5 black oxford toe Cheaneys if you’re interested?? Been worn 5 times for about an hour in total.

Still boxed!!

Jim

[Rbains0708]

£80 probably isn't quite enough...I've got a few pairs from an Italian company called Bertie,there are about £120 but are so well put together. My double monks I bought from them have been worn 100+ times but still look great


Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app

[TimeThoughts]

I have a pair of 10.5 black oxford toe Cheaneys if you’re interested?? Been worn 5 times for about an hour in total.

Still boxed!!

Jim

I reckon you'd shift these on SC very easily. I'd be interested.

I'm a 10.5; its a very common size (they tell me in the Cheaney London shop).

[Estoril-5]

I have a pair of 10.5 black oxford toe Cheaneys if you’re interested?? Been worn 5 times for about an hour in total.

Still boxed!!

Jim

Thanks for the offer but with shoes I only buy new, but they would sell easily on SC I reckon

£80 probably isn't quite enough...I've got a few pairs from an Italian company called Bertie,there are about £120 but are so well put together. My double monks I bought from them have been worn 100+ times but still look great


Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app

I have a pair of Bertie shoes aswell I bought from house of Fraser. I do love them but they don't gate will in wet weather

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[Rbains0708]

Thanks for the offer but with shoes I only buy new, but they would sell easily on SC I reckonI have a pair of Bertie shoes aswell I bought from house of Fraser. I do love them but they don't gate will in wet weather

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Treat them with the water protector. Just apply it to the leather


Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app

[Estoril-5]

Popped into the local Loakes store to me and was seen to by a really nice lady who took the time to talk to me.

I told her I was just browsing and wasn't looking to buy today but she went the while hog and checked my shoe size, and what width fitting I needed etc.

I was really impressed by the service. What did catch me out was that I normally wear a size 11 shoe. Having lost some weight they are a bit big for me know (didn't know weight loss on feet was a thing)! After measuring me up I turned out be a size 9.

Are Loakes shoes fairly generous compared to other manufacturers? I currently wear Bertie and Clark's both at size 11.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[Parabola]

Shoe sizes can be really odd. I have a mate who I went shoe shopping with. He was convinced he was size 9. Turns out after a proper measurement he was 6.5 wide and the reason he always went so large was because otherwise they were too narrow

Sent from my [device_name] using TZ-UK mobile app

[dougair]

Popped into the local Loakes store to me and was seen to by a really nice lady who took the time to talk to me.

I told her I was just browsing and wasn't looking to buy today but she went the while hog and checked my shoe size, and what width fitting I needed etc.

I was really impressed by the service. What did catch me out was that I normally wear a size 11 shoe. Having lost some weight they are a bit big for me know (didn't know weight loss on feet was a thing)! After measuring me up I turned out be a size 9.

Are Loakes shoes fairly generous compared to other manufacturers? I currently wear Bertie and Clark's both at size 11.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

I’m a 9 in Nike and a 7 or 8 depending on which Loake boot / shoe it is.