Based on a 25 yrs+ association with teachers who weigh 100-300 lbs, from 4' 10'' to 6' 2'', Dansko Clogs are held in very high esteem. Alternating two pairs will get you 5+ years in a typical school environment. (mix of indoor carpeting/concrete flooring.)
Having said that, the bulk of their product is based in the PRC. FWIW.
The other clog shoe that gets lots of love in the teacher community is Birkenstock. The vast majority of lines are made in Germany. They also manufacture in Portugal. Again FWIW.
I just got a pair of their polymer/EVA "Arizona" sandals for Father's Day. Love them as well. Considering something in a closed toe to round out my footwear needs.
https://www.birkenstockexpress.com/B...fm/prod5.AJ019
I am not your attorney. I am not giving legal advice. Any and all opinions expressed are personal and my own and are not those of any employer-past, present or future.
I adopted the barefoot/minimalist lifestyle right at a decade ago, even had a couple pairs of Vibram 5 Fingers that mortified my friends but did wonders for my feet and knees. My wife joined in some 5yrs ago, once quality, non-goofy versions became available. These days, even classic Chuck Taylors feel like they're crowding my feet. I definitely have other, heavy duty or task specific shoes, but I live my day to day in various shoes from Xero & Vivo Barefoot.
The shoespiracy:
I can't figure out how to insert or paste reasonably sized pics from either site, so links it is. Worth clicking on the Outdoor/Active tabs on both.
I love these for summer, with or without socks.
Xero Auqua X Sport
Last year's version of these for 95% of my winter wear:
Xero Alpine
Two types of Vivo Barefoot that cover my somewhat casual dress office wear:
Vivo Gobbi
Vivo RA II
Hard pass re the Xero, made in the PRC.
https://xeroshoes.com/faq/#:~:text=W...d%20in%20China.
Vivobarefoot is more transparent on their site-listing country of origin on each item. A random sampling indicates Vietnam as a primary location. In fact, they are affirmatively moving out of the PRC if there website is to be believed. Other sources say they also manufacture in Portugal, Vietnam, China and Ethiopia.
https://www.vivobarefoot.com/us/faqs/sustainability
Very intrigued by the graphic shown re the bunching up of the foot. I always kind of thought the wide toe boxes of Keen, New Balance and these "minimalist" brands were more suited to the Wide Foot and Minimalist crowd more generally. Food for thought re a relatively narrow footed guy like myself.
I am not your attorney. I am not giving legal advice. Any and all opinions expressed are personal and my own and are not those of any employer-past, present or future.
I have a really wide forefoot and struggle to find shoes that fit. Shoes for work are even more challenging to find. Running shoes are a problem because it seems like everything with a wide toe box has zero drop and is very flat. Dress shoes that work tend to look like clown shoes. The struggle is real.
I have two pairs of Lems chukas. They’re really comfortable but they are definitely a casual shoe. They look good with jeans though. They have a dressier shoe but they’re still going to look out of place with nice slacks.
“If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything." - Miyamoto Musashi
so three months later, I finally wandered into a DSW to try and find some new hiking shoes, and thought of this thread and thought I'd find a Brannock and measure my foot.
None to be had! It never even occurred to me that they wouldn't have one, but in visiting the store and realizing that they have everything on the shelf for you to try yourself, I guess there's no reason.
Does the above offend? If you have paid to be here, you can click here to put it in context.
You have to jam your feet in shoes 3 sizes too small to end up like that picture.
I wear zero drop Vans a lot of the time and I fit them to have about 1/2” of space in the end of the shoe and my toes can wiggle and spread out all they want.
The 5-toe or whatever shoes felt very unnatural to me. I didn’t like all the material between my toes and they limited the range of motion of the toes enough that I wasn’t comfortable in them at all.
Here's a pair of Wilcox boots I ordered recently. The uppers were very stiff the first few days I wore them, but they seem to have broken in well though. I've done a pretty major wardrobe overhaul over the past few month, but these are the only footwear I've photographed.