Dr. Martens boots & the importance of footwear

[Bob Garside]

I got some Dr Martens boots off the market on Thursday for £6, off of one of those stalls that has loads of pairs of unboxed shoes on them. They're new, but have a bit of fading round the front, but at £6, I'd be absolutely foolish to give a shit.

I last had a pair of DMs about a decade ago, and they lasted eons, so good they are. It was strange wearing them again, feeling their heaviness, coupled with the soft and springy, almost astronaut-like bounce they imbue one with. They also instil a sense of ruggedness, a 'stomp' feeling, like you could kick a bus stop in, yet also make you feel like you could walk a thousand miles down country lanes and the soles would still look exactly the same as when you started your venture.

They made me realise how light the shoes I've been wearing actually are, but more than that, they made me realise the strange personality changes different footwear can cause me to have.

Apologies for getting all footwear fetishy, but I love shoes and find they can really affect how I feel. They cannot only add a touch of class to an outfit, or help me move quicker or protect me from the barren cold, but they can also alter the way I feel when walking about, my mood, my stance, the roll of my walk, almost affect my persona. I've been wearing a mix of different shoes the last few months, and they all have differing 'feels':

For example, shoes I've worn over the last 4 months:

Adidas Country - like springy rabbit's feet, but tight on the foot and ankle. They feel very good quality, sporty, the leather seems football-thick and strong, but as a result, they are slightly cumbersome. You could get buried in these, and they'd still survive, the leather is so tough. I'd recommend these, but think of them as a helmet for the foot, but a winged helmet.

Some shitty black £5 TK Maxx Kappa trainers - light, crap, clumsy, and your feet thud into the ground like suicide victims. They split at the sides when you can't be arsed to wear them without the 'untie laces/tie laces' process. They look unflashy, which is good, but they have an air of scum to them, almost decay. They have leather in their uppers, but are primarily synthetic. Horrible shoes...mmneugh...

Some 'Propeller' boots I got bought for Xmas - Very slinky, alarmingly well-fitting, not a single blister caused by these. These boots make you glide and shimmy like the most expert of salsa dancers - when walking through crowds, you can expertly avoid people in threat of inadvertently bumping into you with ease. Lightweight, but the leather feels great, and you can sense these are better than average. Absolutely gorgeous shoes, but there is a hint of inner weakness. There is this omnipresent feeling that the sole is going to wear out within 10 weeks at the most. These things are too enjoyable to wear, and you'll never take the bastards off, even at home. Great shoes, but with a short lifespan, the James Dean of shoes.

Ummm...anyway...

I think footwear is very important to an individual, and regardless of whether I am a sad bastard writing a pointless, entirely self indulgent thread, it is.


Please, share your footwear views.

[ßazzaOld]

Iv got a pair of trainers because I cant afford both trainers and casual shoes.

Iv had them for like over two years now and lost all their grip but still good to run in.

Dont ask what brand I cant remember.

I agree footwear is important.

[Innamorata]

I only feel different when I'm wearing heels. Probably cos they're a bit more girly, and sexy. I feel a bit more confident in them, and a bit more attractive. I usually wear boots/converse though.

[Wheelie Bin Bird]

I have LOTS of shoes

Timberlands coupled with my Ben Sherman parker jeans and a jumper is priceless

Steletoes make me feel like a lady, both boots and shoes, stiletoe boots and skinney jeans is a hit

My Kookai collection is for weddings alone, damn comfy shoes and boots they are. *and the occasional funeral*


I got a right funky pair of Pumas, can't buy them in the UK they are soooooooo comfy, you honestly don't know your wearing them The other ones murder my feet

My pumps are groovey to give me a difrent look and are comfy too!

Walabies for when my feet are sore, nice! I looooooove them!

I could go on, but I think I'll shut up.

[Bob Garside]

^Kate, I've got some Tims, though they are crap in the wet cos they slip like Jack Slipper.

I've got some nice-arse Pumas and Wallabees, too.

But no Kookai and no stilettoes.

Why do men get short-changed on shoes and clothes???? It's either brogues or trainers, and that's about it. F**king awful state of affairs.

[Wheelie Bin Bird]

Aww hun you need to branch out in your shoe collection, I'm sure they do them in your size

D'ya borrow a pair of mine?

[Bob Garside]

^Yeah, if you got some size 11s. Owt'll do, but they've got to have leather uppers.

[IRIS]

I was walking around the shopping centre in some calf length boots yesterday. I normally always wear trainers. I couldn't walk properly , I felt awkward, the soles were kind of slipping upon the floorings. Cobbled streets and grates were a nightmare - how on earth do women walk all the time in heels?!! I felt truly miserable in these boots, I missed my train coz I couldn't run in them too! I was having panics imagineing what people were thinking of me in these boots, like look at her she is too ugly to try and look like a lady in them heels.
Now my feet hurt terribly, I'm not wearing them boots outside again!!

[Kevin Hodge]

i really enjoyed your shoe breakdown, dan

i agree that shoes are very important. for me, there are many reasons.

i recently started wearing a pair of vans again, that i had stopped wearing about two years ago. i think the reason i stopped was because they let in water. but the scottish climate has shifted a fair bit since then, and we seem to get spells where the ground is dry for a while.

so. they are so cushey. mollycoddling for the feet. um...awesome :embarass:

they really make such a difference. these days, i am carrying too much weight. and so all that extra poundage is slamming down on the tarmac all the time. i'm big, but i have small bones - they can't take the punishment so well, especially with my current psych profile, which ensures i am always very worn down, achey and demoralised.

i get really into shoes. i have odd shaped feet, long and narrow. selecting shoes is far from casual, its more of a kind of project, requiring weeks of auditions, cross-referencing, field tests, and soul searching.

i mean, i know that sounsd insane. i am aware that i can be obsessive about things. but if i don't use my melon, if i don't engage the grey cells and work on it a bit, i end up with sore feet, bad posture, and general misery.


in a good shoe, i feel a strong connection with the earth, and this bestows on me all sorts of stability. in a bad shoe, i feel a thorn in my side. i feel undermined, subverted. the shoe rises into my foot where it is not wanted, and i am divided, and surely cannot stand.

good posture also flows from a good shoe. if your feet are not correctly supported, you shift your body weight to compensate. this is wrong. this interrupts comfortable tonus, all day long you will doing work that your body doesn't want to, wasn't made to, do.

the alignment of the spine down through the damaging weight of the torso is very important. with correct posture, the action of breathing is made easy and unrestricted, which has a profound, calming effect on the mood. again, with correct posture, the action of the diaphragm massages the gut, aiding digestive transit.

these effects are nigh on impossible to achieve when you are hunched over a cheap and callous instep.

i don't have enough money for decent shoes, in any case

[Kevin Hodge]

Originally Posted by nothing_to_say

The soles on my Doc Martens burst

wtf?!

thats akin to "the sky fell off the top of the world"!

[miaddiction]

Dm's ahha mint! i used to have some of them bad boys when i was a kid, then again when i was about 13. never go out of fashion :O too much backbone.

as for feeling different in different footwear, its very true. but id rather just be comfy than wear anything like heels >< they kill.
i like platform stillettos but i havent got a death wish so i wudnt wear them.

I mainly stick to flat shoes. used to have a phase a few yrs back with platform boots. still got some. bloody things, must have looked like herman munster not good. hmm, things we do growing up lmao.

but yeh used to make me feel a bit better. wouldnt now :s
i wouldnt dare wear the damn things now. thank frig

[Wheelie Bin Bird]

Originally Posted by Sid

No offense ladies....

But why do some women insist on wearing heels to go shopping...it aint glamerous watching them struggle to walk on the centre tiled floors. And it aint fun having to crawl behind them.

But what would I know Im just an old slob.

Well said!, I wear trainers if I have to do that

[black_mamba]

Nice thread idea.

I've always insisted that my footwear makes me feel confident about what I'm doing. For a long long time I've always worn comfy, durable and tough leather boots of some kind. These allow me to run, jump, walk through mud and snow and broken glass, run up flights of stairs and generally lark around without any trouble. They don't feel as light and bouncy as trainers, but they are usually much stronger to make up for that.

I find it a huge pain that I feel as if I should wear smart shoes to work (boots look a bit too rugged), so I opted for a lighter version of a boot. I wear a pair of Clarks soft leather ankle boots to work. They look sturdy, but when I took them climbing up rocks and walking through a muddy forest one day, they got ripped up pretty badly. Not as tough as I first thought. But at least the heel on them is stable (big and flat, only 2cm tall I reckon), so I can still run around the office (when no one is looking).

Re high heels, I very rarely sacrifice manoeuvrability in order to look feminine, but even on the occasions I do go for something more girly, it is usually my special edition Doc Martin calf-length boots. They have enough of a heel to make them slightly feminine, but are very strong and easy to walk in as well. :D Love ‘em!