I‘d generally advice against sneakers. If you want shoes that last, get some quality leather shoes, ideally Goodyear welted ones. When properly taken care of, they can last many years and can then be repaired. Also they will fit very well, after being broken in.

IMO anything with that horrible foam (most shoes at this point) is going to last a year TOPS. In fact, running shoes with foam, are supposed to be limited to around 300 miles.

If you are talking about something like a half cab, that has the standard vans soles, yeah, I agree quality has gone down some (same with those new chuck 70s). They feel cheaper, and are made from far cheaper materials.

Personally, I have tons of shoes that are decades old, and still going, but I do not own any shoes with foam (mostly chuck taylors). And I’m apparently not very hard on shoes, somehow.

I think the unfortunate reality is you’ll have to buy some expensive, high quality shoes, or expect to throw shoes out yearly.

There are companies like this one who claim to resole running shoes, but I don’t know how far they can/do go, and have never used them before.

Topic I know about: I worked for ECCO corporate for about 7 years, and have a pair of Ecco shoes I made myself. I no longer work there.

A well fit pair of ECCO’s can last multiple years. They genuinely do try and make quality shoes and there’s a lot of work done to keep the materials and manufacturing processes producing high quality shoes.

That being said, any shoe made with a polyurethane sole (like ECCO and most shoes nowadays) will not last for a lifetime. Polyurethane is a great material but not a lifetime material. The only shoes which could qualify as buy it for life material are ones with leather soles, but they require occasional resoleing, so are a ship of thesus sort of affair. A pair of ECCO’s lasting 5 years is a reasonable goal but not one always attained.

You say you were wearing them everyday - this will decrease the overall lifetime of a pair of shoes. Your feet sweat and the inside gets wet, the leather uppers benefits from being allowed to dry out. Conversely, any shoes you own with polyurethane soles must be worn occasionally (a few times a year minimum) or the soles will harden and then crack and fall apart when being worn. ECCO used to get a lot of angry feedback from customers that bought expensive dress shoes only to wear to a wedding once a year, and they fell apart after only having been worn 2-4 times. You are best owning 2-4 pairs of shoes that you rotate through day to day, this will extend the life of all of them longer, so you will spend less overall (but need to start by buying multiple pairs). I would get pairs from different companies so you can compare how long they last and which you find are most comfortable for your feet. Some other companies that are in the same price and quality range as ECCO would be Cole Haan, Clarks, Timberland and Rockport. One of them might fit you much better then Vans or ECCO or whatever.

Finally, a good fit is key. If the shoe is too small, or just not the right shape for your foot, then whatever part of the shoe your foot is pushing against will wear out much faster then the rest of the shoe. This is actually a problem I have with ECCO’s personally. My feet are wide just behind my toes, and my shoes always fail right there where my foot is stretching the leather more then elsewhere, earlier then they would if they fit me better. Seeing how I was getting free and/or deeply discounted shoes, I was ok with this.

Shoe manufacturers use a form called a “last” when they manufacture shoes, the last determines the shape and fit of the shoe. Different companies have different lasts based on their own research and goals for fit and the kinds of customers they’re targeting. It may be that Van’s uses a last shape that doesn’t match up with your foot shape very well. Perhaps ECCO’s will fit you well, perhaps not at all.

If you’re in the US, ECCO runs sales every other month or so when the already on-sale shoes will be discounted another 30-40% (I just looked and they’re having one now…). You can pick up a pair for $100-150 pretty easily. Usually around holidays at a minimum. Keep an eye out on their website, and get a pair pretty cheap during a sale. Or, check out of there is an outlet near you, the outlets have legitimately low prices, especially on the clearance wall, though usually those shoes are also ugly AF which is how they end up there.

Anyone has questions about shoe production or ECCO, I’d be happy to answer. They make pretty good shoes and run their own, non sweatshop factories, so I do recommended the shoes. Their US office is run by a few complete idiots though so I don’t recommend working there.

Your shoes last a full year? I wear through the soles so fast I need to replace them about every 3 months (I find no difference in expensive or cheap shoes for this problem so I just buy the cheapest ones I can get).

Mephisto has always treated me pretty well in the past.

For skate style shoes I’m a fan of Nike SB and Lakai. Anything over about $70 will generally last. My Nike Shane Premiums have walked all over Europe and are still in great condition.

I also recommend Vessi. They’re waterproof, breathable, comfortable, and my wife and I wore them in all sorts of rough use cases and they are still going strong years later.

I’ve had my indestructibles since 2019 and they’re only weak in the soles.

I tend to wear Ecco’s (not crazy expensive ones, more in the 120-150€ range). I quite like them in terms of being strong and looking good enough. But I think they last me about 2-3 years.

I used to buy Think! shoes in the Sale, but they’ve started using split leather now and they’re not worth it anymore.

I’m pretty hard on shoes and have settled on Onitsuka Tigers as they seem to wear out less quickly than other similar sneakers like Stan Smith’s, Vans, etc.

@hungry_freaks_daddy@lemm.ee I got some Nike air force that I purchased almost 5 years ago and have used to go to work. They seem a little worn out but are still fairly ok.
I have also purchased several pairs of second hand running shoes, they are all fine and I use them to literally run hundreds of miles.
So far so good with shoes in my experience.

They are not light, but I usually buy work boots with steel toe and sole at someplace like homecenter. The ones with thicker soles made with good rubber and real leather can last a few years.

My current ones are redline branded (just some generic brand common where I live). They cost me about half of what a set of Brahma boots would and are just starting to go bad after 2 years, something punctured the sole up to the steel liner and I think it’s starting to rust inside, since sometimes I can feel it move inside the sole. An old pair failed the same way a couple of months after stepping on a nail, that boot’s steel plates started to move until one got loose enough to start poking on the side of the sole, but the ones that I’ve used besides those pairs usually last about 3 years of daily use with some occasional care to the leather to keep their appearance until either they start to look bad or the sole starts to wear to the end of the thread

Red Wing. Pricey, but they’ll last forever. Made in the US too.

The Johnston & Murphy XC4 line has become my go-to. They are not cheap, and the selection is limited, but the construction and versatility can’t be beat.

I’ve had my oldest pair for over 4 years, with no functional degradation at all, and minimal signs of wear (minor creasing in the leather, hardly worth mentioning). They’re casual and comfortable enough for everyday wear, and stylish enough for business events. Easily the best value in a shoe I’ve ever gotten.

I’ve been happy with Merrells