Xiaomi Mens Breathable Lightweight Sneakers ($16)
These are flexible enough that you could tie the laces loosely and use them like slip-ons.
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Nice!
I didn’t know that Xiaomi made shoes.
My mom recently got some “used” gray Nike mesh top running shoes from eBay.
Although they were advertised as “used”, they were practically brand new, and they fit her perfectly. 
Are they any good? The price and the manufacturer raises serious doubts.
I think Xoumi is the Choinese version of Omni Consumer Products.
Yep, the default insoles are removable, and they’re not as nice as I once thought.
Now I just have my “high arch” insoles in there because having two pairs of insoles in there was a bad idea. 
I’ve bought several items made by Xiaomi. It’s a well known Chinese brand. They’ve been good enough to do electronics collaborations with Philips. I have a Philips Xiaomi “smart” LED lamp using touch sensitive controls. Very well made. I expect they probably use a 3rd party for the shoes. I’m going to give it a shot.
My sister said brown shoes look terrible. Shoes should be black .
This got me noticing brown shoes more and more ….she’s right . Brown shoes can look really strange depending on what people are wearing… Otoh , Some people just like strange 
If you want to dress correctly when you wear a suit, shoe color needs match belt color.
Well, it’s highly contingent upon the outfit. Yes, with suits? 90% of the time, best to wear black. But business casual and informal casual can work well with brown shoes. As Zoulas said, belt should always match.
I like brown shoes, especially if they’re leather and they look like leather.
My favorite colors for shoes are earth colors: brown, blue, green, and gray.
My clothes are always casual, however. 
Guys you seem to enjoy searching the shoes. If you encounter on AE size 13 (30,5-31 cm insole length) which are extremaly breathable (meshy) - I’d much appreciate letting me know.
Would you even trust getting anything from “AE” (presuming that to be Ali)? They might send some Mystery Size and good luck trying to return 'em.
I miss the location fields, so don’t remember where you at or if you got a Amazon by you, but I only “trusted” Amazon because of their a-z return policy and that it specified “free returns”.
I might risk teeshirts, but not pantaloons (with rare exceptions, like Land’s End), and certainly not shoes. I’ve even had sneakers that were the right size if not slightly bigger, still “pinch” in places.
Oh, and sometimes even teeshirts are a gamble, too. I hate those “form-fitting” shirts (read, 1-2 sizes too small), and like a looser fit. I forgot which print shirt I wanted, might’ve been Elsinore Bier, but after being gifted an XL that fit okay, not snug or anything, I just would’ve preferred bigger (hey, I’m gangstah). So I ordered the same shirt in XXL, which I was afraid might hang like a bag. Nope. Both were pretty much the same exact size! Well, now I got 2…
I wonder how many people regularly risk getting shoes via mail-order, and how often. Like, what if they hurt, or are mis-sized, etc.?
A girlfriend of mine bought some faux patent leather pumps from AE. What she got looked OK, but the smell? This horrible burnt rubber aroma. And she left them outside to “off gas” for a couple days. The smell remained. She couldn’t get them to stop smelling like a chemical fire. So, I’d avoid buying any shoes from AE that use black rubber.
As for sizing, some of the sellers do a pretty good job of explaining how they do sizing. Some assure accuracy to established measurements by country. Others ask you to measure your actual foot size and then use that as a guide. The pair I just ordered are supposed to abide by normal US sizes. I’ll know in a couple of days if it’s true.
But yeah, what you say about sizing makes Amazon the way to go, as long as the product page supports free returns. We have a Whole Foods nearby that accepts all Amazon returns, which is super convenient. Btw, one trick to shoes… if you’re confident of your size, always check the alternate seller list. Sometimes they have customer returns or damaged outer box examples with seriously good discounts.
Yeah I know it’s a little gamble but I would like to take a try on it. Of course in low price. Low enough to not be sad when they turn out to be not wearable for some reason.
Mismatching the size it’s actually the best scenario since I can still give it away or sell.
I buy all my shoes online. Find a shoe you like and stick with it. In rural areas sometimes your only shoe store is Walmart. I buy from Cabelas, Merrell, Sportsman Guide . Amazon mostly because their return policy is easy.
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Us men are lucky in that shoe styles last much longer and some seem to never go out of style. For women, it cycles so fast and broadly, it’s no wonder they usually have 5 to 10 times more than your typical guy.
The last time I bought a pair of shoes in a store was in Manhattan, about 8 years ago. A store was having a closeout sale (and of course, it turned out that it was like a multi-year long closeout, so discount prices weren’t so fantastic). I’ve discovered that there have been 2 problems with shoe makers of late:
- they discontinue a long running style that was great, because of pressure to do something new, and
- a shoe line still in production has likely cheapened, making the earlier ones much better quality.
I found a few particular models within about 3 brands that I like and haven’t really gone out of style, and bought up double-duplicates. And I try to keep an eye out for preowned but very lightly used examples that might pop-up on auctions for low prices, and snag those on occasion. Ecco is my favorite brand. While they did have a troubled past with some of their composite rubber soles decaying a bit prematurely, most of those problems have been fixed. And in fact, they used to honor free replacements (with a gift card for their store, fixed at a set price).
One shoe brand I love the most is Zamberlan. But tragically they’re so expensive. There’s one casual ankle-high model they used to make (Braies) that I found by accident and snagged a NOS pair… only to find it pretty much unobtainium at this point. Phenomenal luxury feeling. As if Bentley made a shoe. Anyway, they have other models that are pretty nice, but even lightly used they’re seriously pricey.
Okay, okay, I have a shoe addiction problem.
I just bought these Merrell shoes for less than $30 shipped (before tax.)
Although they’re used, they look practically brand new.
The tread might pick up little rocks, or they might not, but either way I think I’m going to keep them.
The return policy isn’t all that great, so it is a bit of a gamble.
got some like these at a local charity-thrift shop for $8.
gave them $10 and “keep the change”. web image:
they are new (?)
with the desiccant
(one s and two c’s)
gel packs still inside.
I received the Merrell shoes today.
They look and smell brand new.
They actually stink somewhat (like new shoes do.)
I couldn’t find these exact shoes on Amazon, but they look very close to “Merrell Jungle Black Slate Leather Slip-On Shoes” (even though they’re brown.)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008PEX4VK?th=1
These shoes are very nice, and they normally retail for a lot more than $30
They do try to slip off when I walk around, but I think that’s just because they’re not broken in yet.
The tread picks up small rocks, but it could be a lot worse.
I really like the leather of these shoes.
The leather looks impressive.
I bought a pair of Merrel Winter Mocks in 13w. A little loose on my foot so I added a gel insert. Tightened them up a bit.