FISCHER: If the shoe fits, wear it forever

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Spring has arrived at last. Warm weather and rains have replaced the lingering snow on the ground with puddles of water.

It was stepping in one of these puddles recently that I was confronted with confirmation of a fact that I had been trying to ignore.

My shoe had a hole in it.

It was far from the first time my right foot had worn through the side of my shoe. In fact, such has been the fate of every pair of shoes I’ve owned since high school.

It’s an annoying problem to be sure, but one easily resolved.

Or so I thought.

I generally don’t go out of my way to shop at Wal-Mart, but when I do it’s to buy another pair of Brahma Men’s Escott Wide Width 6” Soft Toe Work Boots.

In a market of shoes with near limitless variations of designs, colors, and sizes, I’ve never come across a particular item that checks so many boxes for what I need.

The high-top build is high enough that it makes my ankle feel supported without making me feel like I’m wearing full-fledged boots.

The all-black design is almost completely non-descript, with no stripes or patterns to speak of. This makes the shoes so completely unremarkable that they seamlessly blend in to any environment, which is a real boon for somebody whose job can have them walking through a barn one day and attending a fancy dinner the next.

Most importantly, while the wide width of the shoe merely delays the inevitable fate of my foot wearing down the side, it at least ensures that my right pinky toe isn’t suffering for the entire time I have them.

And since the shoes are only $25, I don’t feel all that bad about having to get a new pair once or twice a year, which I’ve done for about two decades now.

Until now.

Knowing that my most recent pair was at the end of its life, I swung into Wal-Mart recently to pick up yet another replacement. Except, there were none in stock to be bought.

That was fine. After all, the internet is a thing. Just because one location didn’t have them in stock at that particular moment doesn’t mean they couldn’t be found.

But when the Wal-Mart website showed nothing in stock, I began to worry.

For weeks now I’ve been semi-regularly checking to see if that status has changed. It hasn’t. Moreover, nowhere else on the internet, from other retailers to eBay, seem to have my beloved Brahmas available.

Finally, I’ve been forced to acknowledge the hard truth. These shoes aren’t coming back.

Now what? It has been 20 years since I’ve had to shop for shoes! Two decades since I’ve had to put any thought at all into what I want to put on my feet every day.

Nothing I’ve found so far fits the bill the way the Escotts did. The tops are too high or too low. The designs are too elaborate. And the prices!

How can it be so difficult to find cheap, bland shoes that don’t feel like slippers and won’t put the squeeze on my toes?

Am I being too picky? Is this something people really do all the time? Just pick a shoe and decide that’ll work until it’s time for a new pair, then pick something else?

Why can’t I just have the same shoes forever?

— Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing was not prepared to make this kind of life-changing decision.