by Imonikhe Ahimie

Created on: July 20, 2010

Shoes are an integral part of our dressing and they can consume quite a sizable chunk of one’s dress budget. In today’s economic climate, every penny saved is considerably more than a penny earned so that it makes perfect sense to use shoes in a way and manner that extends the shoes’ life span as much as possible.

The first step to extending the life span of your shoes is to always purchase the highest quality shoes that you can afford. As in almost every other area of life, when it comes to shoes quality is the first factor that you ought to consider, as well as second and third and…, but I think you get the idea. In this regard, you ought to choose shoes made of natural materials such as leather or suede, rather than those made of some synthetic material or other. Natural materials are more malleable, conforming better to the shape of your foot, yet they are much stronger than synthetics, thereby reducing the likelihood of degradation of material. In addition shoes made out natural materials are much more permeable to air, thereby allowing your feet to “breathe” better than synthetics do, thus reducing the amount of sweat and the consequent wear and tear that sweat inflicts on materials, natural or synthetic. Naturally, shoes made from natural materials are more expensive than those made of synthetics, but the increased price is more than justified by the increased use one gets from such shoes.

Buy shoes that fit properly. improperly fitting shoes will tend to wear out or otherwise deteriorate more quickly than properly fitting ones. Additionally, there are health hazards such as injury to the feet as a result of wearing too tight shoes, trpping over too loose shoes, etc., which may bring about considerably more expense than was saved in purchasing an ill-fitting pair of shoes.

Shoe soles are usually the parts of our shoes that wear out and deteriorate. Wearing shoes with worn soles have health implications for our feet which can add to costs over and above the cost of replacing soles and/or the entire pair of shoes. If your new pair of shoes comes with natural leather soles, then you ought to overlay the original soles with rubber soles. This is easily and fairly cheaply done in a shoe repair shop. The benefit of this is that the original sole is protected permitting a longer lasting pair of shoes, and such protection can be prolonged almost indefinitely simply by changing the rubber protectors as they wear out. Even if

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