The Training Shoe Phenomenon

[Joey Shabadoo]

My sense of pricing for clothes is still firmly set in the 80s: Jeans should be about £30 tops, trainers about £20.

Luckily my wife knows better so she gets me decent quality stuff to replace the absolute rubbish I've bought that falls apart.

She got me these a couple of years ago and they've been great -

Rotten on ice though.

https://www.thenorthface.co.uk/shop/en-gb/tnf-gb/mens-hedgehog-fastpack-gore-tex-hiking-shoes-cxt3

 

[Spiderweb]

I’ve got lots of different pairs but always buy in the sales so never paid more than £50.

2 x ASICS trail running shoes, very comfortable, gel soles are fab.
1 x Adidas Samba, look pretty cool.
3 x Converse, 2 hi-top type.
2 x Nike skate type suede trainers, no skating for me though!
2 x Merrel walking type trainers, excellent quality.
1 x Oakley leisure trainers, quite rare and nice quality.
1 x Fila knitted type trainers, cheap and comfortable.

I have been called Imelda Marcos!

 

[raleighnut]

Never owned a pair of 'trainers', I have had several pairs of Converse Baseball boots though.

The closest I've got are my work steel toecap boots but they're more like a hiking shoe. I went to one job (agency) with them on and the dickhead supervisor tried to send me home for 'not wearing safety boots, I walked over to a metal pillar and kicked it to give a resounding 'clang' and told the guy "They're steelies mate"

 

[Mart44]

I wear trainers most of the time and usually buy Merrells. The last pair cost £70. I wear them to death before getting a new pair. I walk a great many miles on (mostly) paved or tarmac paths in the summer and find Merrell trainers last for ages. The only thing I've found with them is that sizes can be a bit on the small side. I take a size 9 in other shoes but need to buy 10 in Merrells ..10.5 in winter walking shoes to allow for woolly socks.

 

[Dave7]

Never owned a pair of 'trainers', I have had several pairs of Converse Baseball boots though.

The closest I've got are my work steel toecap boots but they're more like a hiking shoe. I went to one job (agency) with them on and the dickhead supervisor tried to send me home for 'not wearing safety boots, I walked over to a metal pillar and kicked it to give a resounding 'clang' and told the guy "They're steelies mate"

Haha. I had a similar experience when on a site while wearing toe cap trainers. We were working on the metal deck roof and they were ideal. The manager told me "you cant come in here with them". I told him they had steel toecaps. He decided to be a smartarse and just stamped on my foot. His face was a picture.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Do you go out in public wearing those?

Brazenly...they’re brill even in winter!

 

[Alex H]

I'll pay upto £100+ for a good shoe but 8000 for a trainer

"I dropped out of school, now I sell £60,000 trainers"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-50674701

 

[Moodyman]

Never paid more than £60 for a pair. Only used for gym and running. Gym trainers tend to be in 20-£30 range with running trainers a bit more. This includes ASICS, which I only ever buy in a sales.

 

[Mo1959]

Scared to count my running shoes and walking shoes/boots. Pretty much live in them.

 

[postman]

Not trainers as such,but my fist pair were Gola.But now anything from Sports Direct.Slazenger,Hi Tech.Comfy and sensible looking.

 

[Mo1959]

Just went and counted. 24 pairs plus 4 pairs cycling shoes and a pair of wellies. Only one dress pair!

 

[MontyVeda]

I don't spend much but do have lots... my total footwear collection was 22 pairs on the last count...

that's:
2 pairs of winter boots
1 pair of smart black shoes
1 pair work boots
14 pairs of hi & low top baseball style plimsolls
1 pair of new trainers
1 pair of old trainers

...which means I've actually thrown some out!

 

[CanucksTraveller]

I only own one pair of trainers, a pair of Asics that I use for, well, for training.
I only buy last year's model in sales or on Amazon, I pay about 50 I think.

Most of the time I have to live in walking boots, occasionally I wear good leather shoes if I have to dress up more at work. I have terrible feet that get pain in the bones if I wear soft footwear, trainers don't provide the right support.

I hope nobody takes this personally but I've always kind of seen trainers as what you wear and obsess about when you're a teenager, and that then when you grow up and go to work, you wear shoes. But looking along any train carriage on a commute, I can see I'm in a tiny minority and I maybe haven't moved with the times. It seems everyone wears trainers now, including to work. And boy do many adults obsess about them! I have an acquaintance who "collects sneakers", and he's a 49 year old solicitor.

 

[MichaelW2]

I used to live in Hi Tec Silver Shadow. The model is classed by marketing types as "legacy product'" with zero marketing budget and minimal product development budget. That doesn't stop them occasionally updating the design for the worse or cheapening a cheap product even more.

 

[Globalti]

Trainers must be a massive money spinner for the owners of the brands. Injection-moulded and glued together in China or South Korea by kids.

In a similar vein a business friend of mine makes moulds for the die-cast metal bits for sporrans, belt buckles, skian-dubhs and all the other bits and pieces for traditional Scottish dress. He sends the moulds to China, the bits come back costing about 10p each and he sells them on for several times that to a firm in Leeds who make all the paraphernalia, which they sell to homesick Scots expats all over the world for hundreds or even thousands of pounds. Crazy how much profit can be made by manufacturing consumer goods.