The surest barometer of a man's style is his shoes. Any investment of time, money, and care taken in dressing the body is squandered by the man who neglects his feet.While advances in textile manufacture and global supply chain management have reduced the cost of clothing significantly in recent decades, good footwear has not gotten cheaper. Quality dress shoes start around $300, and they are well worth it. They are incredibly comfortable, even when new, and will last twenty years if properly cared for. Unlike suits and ties, a man rarely risks appearing overdressed in fine shoes, so they offer today's man a way to bring class to his weekend attire without drawing snide comments from t-shirted friends and family.
If you are still smarting from the thought of spending $300 on a pair of shoes, consider this: department store dress shoes consisting of cheap leather glued to rubber soles cost at least $100, and can generally be expected to last two years at most. At this point, the leather develops notable signs of fatigue, and the soles crack or wear thin. Repairing often costs as much as a new pair. On the other hand, the $300 shoes, made of good leather stitched to leather soles, will last decades. Depending on how you walk, they may need resoling every few years, at a cost of about $60. Quality shoe leather actually improves with age, as it develops a deep, rich shine from years of polish. Thus, $300 shoes are an investment that will pay dividends long after their cost is forgotten, along with most anything else a man could have spent his money on.
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