Health & Fitness What shoes do you use?

gourav

Skilled
I have been buying branded shoes for some 10 years now. I mostly just go on Flipkart and search for running shoes and select one from Nike/Reebok/Adidas which fits my budget (which has gone from around 1200 initially to around Rs. 2500 now).

I have bought one or two Puma shoes and found the quality to be sub-par compared to Nike/Reebok. Between these, I find Reebok shoes fit me better, so I tend to prefer them. I also tried Woodland shoes, which my dad had bought, and found them to be rather uncomfortable.

I have mostly bought online since they sell at near MRP at stores and at 30%-40% discount online. So I would have to pay ₹3,500 at store for the same shoe which I can buy for ₹2,200 from Flipkart. Once I even felt that stores are inflating the MRP. I went to a store and looked at some shoes which they had on display. They were all priced at 3000 and above. Then I found a shoe lying around in original Reebok box and printed price on it was 2200. When I asked about that, the store person said it was not for sale. It was a bit surprising that the only shoe box available there had a much lower printed price as compared to others.

Buying online does deprive me of the opportunity to try on the shoes, but since they all have similar fit, it's not much of a concern. And in the worst case, they have a return policy anyway.

So what's your experience with shoes. What type of shoes do you prefer and where do you buy them from?

P.S.: Luckily I don't have to wear formals to office, so I wear my sports shoes all the time.
 
I don't really have a brand preference here. My budget stays under 2K and above 500. Cheaper ones do last me around 2 years and same is for the expensive ones. Really depends on how frequent one uses them.
I try to buy during sales only and when I must need them.

As for trying before buying amazon/flipkart/myntra all have good return policies. If they don't fit or are uncomfortable I can always make an easy no questions asked return. Not the same for electronics anymore sadly.
 
I'm not at all a formal guy so anything formal- clothing/shoes/ accessories etc. are all miles away for me..
And except for gadgets rest I'm not at all a branded person.
Even 500 bucks shoes last me a good over an year or two and anything up to 2-3k lasts me a good 4-5yrs with no maintenance required in between. If any, they still last for another 2 yrs before I feel bore and decide to dump them and not because they wore out o anything. (& No, I dont keep them in bank lockers or anything to preserve them in good condition but use them almost daily)
I mostly buy them offline or Myntra is my online shoe world. Jabong was also great but it got closed down sadly. And in past 14yrs bought 18-19 pairs online and never ever had to return any due to size/color issues.

Amazon, FK shoe never fancied me as they have sick collection esp. FK has laborer class collections tbh!

Not related to this thread, but same goes for clothing too. I might be the only guy in this world having no Levis jeans in my wardrobe but I do have Pepe jeans/Lee etc. (bought them in discount of course from some mall)
I know its all tag game in clothing and from the root factory of I can get the very Levis jeans at under 1.5k and stitch the tag and it becomes a 5k jeans.
None of these clothing brands fancy me as I know most of their root mfg. outlets and the branding tactics etc. and how people go gaga just for the label tag. Majority of the people actually pay for the brand word/alphabet and label while not for the actual clothing.
 
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I know its all tag game in clothing and from the root factory of I can get the very Levis jeans at under 1.5k and stitch the tag and it becomes a 5k jeans.
This is actually not entirely true.

Yes, it's right that manufacturers are same for all brands, but bigger brands have better quality controls and are consistent.

I have bought shirts which were labelled as 100% cotton, but after a couple of washes, it was evident that they weren't 100% cotton. I have bought shirts which looked really good, were selling at a fancy store, and were priced only slightly below good brands, but when worn, the entire sleeve tore off because I stretched my hand too much. These things literally never happen when I buy Wrangler or Levis shirts. They are always of the same level of quality. There are Wrangler/Levis shirts which I have worn for 7-8 years.

I can only conclude that they procure the same stuff as smaller/no-name brands, but sell only the stuff which pass their quality standards.

This is the same as why a OnePlus Phone is less likely to have issues than a Realme phone. Same company basically, but different standards of quality control.
 
This is actually not entirely true.

but bigger brands have better quality controls and are consistent.
May not be but yes to a very large extent.

I have friends & acquaintances in clothing biz and they have explained it all.
True, bigger brands do have better quality and Levis etc. I'nal brands no doubt have to match their global grade but it doesn't costs more than max 2k- the highest quality local market makes for any international brands here locally.
Few months ago only when I was in Mumbai, these friends were going for some wholesale deals in such factories and asked if I could accompany them them but due to other commitments and rains I wasn't able to.
Now, the only name which clicks is Arvind mills, but no, things have expanded to others now as Arvind mills alone wasn't able to cater to the needs of all the brands under one roof..
 
unbranded/sub-baranded some time are good some time not with some bad effect on foot/fingers/ankle/knee (depends how much time you walk using same), with branded they have perfect curve at sole etc. that keep good balance while you walk or running.

Once in monsoon good quality sandal got damaged after 12 months of use and have no choice (as in different city and on some urgent work), just throw old one (as it damaged out of repair due to use in sudden heavy rain) and buy cheap Rs.100/- pair out side station (for temporary use) and found that it's unable to balance my weight and starting pull me back while I'm trying to move forward... I thought I may got seizure and stop for while but found all Ok and again start walking and again same feeling... and on 3rd attempt found that the cheap sandal have balancing issue... thus any how complete the work return back home and visit trusted old shop and bought good pair (unbranded but good quality) of sandals and issue got solved.

Lastly used Reebok (5 yrs back on sale at FK) & Power/Action (3 yrs back on sale at AZ) and found all 3 are good

About cloth is also true that banded keep softness/color/Size etc. intact long time even after so many washes etc. compare to unbranded or local brand. 10 yrs ago first time bought (in sale) AllenSolly Jeans+shirt and till today it's fade very little bit and you wont believe but jeans still keep in trend with no color fade/no loose/no thread came out also Branded cloths always show true size compare to chor size label on non branded.
 
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Nike Lunarlon. Bought these back in 2016. Used it every day till 2020 to work before getting permanent WFH. Still have them and wear them for travel. I'll continue to use them until they wear off.

IMO, the Lunarlon series is the benchmark when it comes to comfort. I don't think I'll ever go back to anything else when it comes to shoes.
 
My case is mixed. I'm very picky about the shoes and because of that I have to delve into non-brand section sometime.

I need my casual shoes to be slip ons. Until recently, big brands ignored this category. Maybe next time I'll see what big brands have to offer.
Gym shoes are non-branded because hardly any brand offers proper gym shoes in India. So I have to get sneakers which are the next best thing but there's no way I would pay 10k to adidas for bloody sneakers.
Hiking/Riding shoes are Quechua because they know how to make one.
Trekking shoes are also some specialized brand but I don't recall right now.
Formal shoes are also non-branded. I don't think rebook makes them and I'm not a Virat Kohli to get it from Manyavar. :p
First shoes above to retire will become my gardening/heavy work shoes.
 
Nike Lunarlon. Bought these back in 2016. Used it every day till 2020 to work before getting permanent WFH. Still have them and wear them for travel. I'll continue to use them until they wear off.

IMO, the Lunarlon series is the benchmark when it comes to comfort. I don't think I'll ever go back to anything else when it comes to shoes.
+1 for these. Very comfortable and lightweight. I bought them in 2018. My current pair is still in great shape. Can't seem to find them online or offline anywhere now. Any idea where do I buy them from?
 
Mostly skechers. Since I have wide feet, I find skechers to be more comfortable. I probably think most of the branded shoes online are first copies. Earlier I had bought Ascis shoes from Amazon and clearly I could identify that it was a copy. Very rarely I use formal shoes. For hiking I bought an unbranded shoes which I found to be more comfortable than woodland or Quechua. Also there is a lot of difference in quality between Indian made shoes or the one made in Vietnam or Bangladesh. I find that the Vietnam made shoes are much more comfortable than the Indian made one and also most of the shoes made in Vietnam have the soles molded unlike the Indian one which are pasted or stiched.
 
I too have wide feet and my choice is Asics. They fit really well. Also, they tend to absorb abuse much more than Reebok, Adidas, Nike. I used one of their shoes for more than 2 years. It was a mix of running on track, road and also playing football, cricket in mud fields. Only once the side portion of the sole was detached from the shoe and was fixed with glue.

When it comes to purchasing shoes, it is mainly from online stores such as Ajio, TataCliq, Myntra, etc., as they offer better discounts than in store.
 
+1 for these. Very comfortable and lightweight. I bought them in 2018. My current pair is still in great shape. Can't seem to find them online or offline anywhere now. Any idea where do I buy them from?

Older designs are pretty much out. I see Nike India has a couple of options.

 
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