When it comes to how often you should wear your favorite pair of footwear, Dan recommends trying to rotate every other day. This not only extends the life of the shoes, but it's best for your feet. “The repetitive stresses of wearing the same shoes day after day, hour after hour, can eventually make us uncomfortable.
We define ample time as around 24 hours – so ideally give it a day between wears. If you don't give your shoes a day to air out, the sweat-soaked leather will warp, and your shoes can start to lose their shape — not to mention get musty and start to smell.
As a general rule of thumb, shoes should be replaced every 8-12 months for most people or every 500-700 kilometres for running shoes.
If you can, it's best to let your shoes air out and recover from a day's wear. They need to decompress from the pressure and dry out from the moisture they absorb. They'll last much longer if you let them "rest" between wearing.
According to podiatrists, everyday shoes need to be replaced every 8 to 12 months – or when they start showing signs of wear and tear.
The traditional rule of elegant dressing recommended seven pairs of shoes, that is, as many pairs as there are days of the week.
But wearing your most prized possession can actually increase the service life of the shoe, believe it or not. If you keep a pair of sneakers deadstock in their box for too long, the glue will dry up and the aging process of the shoe actually accelerates when compared to a shoe that has been worn every once in a while.
Just like how rest days help your body recover from the high impact of running, shoes need rest days too. Alternating between two or more pairs of shoes allows the shoes to recover from the pounding. The foam can decompress fully between wears. This makes the shoes last longer than if you wore the same pair every day.
A good rule of thumb is to break in shoes over the course of a few days. Three at a minimum, but ideally five days! What you want to do is wear them around the house first, gradually increasing the time in which you wear them. Try a few hours the first day and then increase by two hours each consecutive day.
Alternating between two pairs of shoes can help to build the strength of our intrinsic foot muscles by allowing our foot to have to adapt to different shoes. This intrinsic strength is important for strong feet and prevention of injuries such as plantar fasciitis.
What does wearing two different shoes signify? Wearing two different shoes in public typically indicates an extreme disregard for social norms, and on National Two Different Colored Shoes Day it means you completely accept being different, unique, and a little bit quirky.
Keeping your shoes stored in a cardboard shoebox for long periods can make them absorb any moisture that builds over time. Moisture causes the shoe to crack, making it difficult, if not impossible, to restore. It also causes discoloration, making the shoes look older or dingier than they should be.
Health Risks of Wearing Used Footwear
The average foot can sweat up to a cup of liquid daily! This point alone should be a consideration when purchasing second hand shoes. Fungal or bacterial infections, such as Athlete's foot, can be easily contracted through minor cuts, skin fissures or under the nail beds.
Plus, the more often you wear them, the faster they'll wear out: "Continuous wearing of one pair of shoes can lead to an accelerated reduction in the quality of the midsole or outer sole (or both)," says Pinker.
Corns and calluses: caused by excessive pressure on the toes. Metatarsalgia: caused by too much pressure on the balls of your feet. Disrupted natural stride: resulting in Achilles tendonitis, arch pain, and pain in the calf muscles.
Wearing socks all of the time is generally regarded as perfectly healthy if done properly. There are myths that wearing socks 24/7 can lead to fungal growth and result in foul smelling feet. If changed regularly, there should be no health problems associated with wearing fresh socks all day and night.
While most shoes will stretch and mold to fit your feet over time, many can be manually stretched. Leather shoes are easiest to stretch, but most fabrics and materials can also be stretched.
Many people feel that a shoe needs to be tight on the heel when they are new. There is no such thing as heel width. This fallacy causes many people to buy their shoes too small. A properly fitted shoe may slip on the heel slightly when new.
Anytime you get a new pair of shoes, give yourself at least three days to break them in little by little. The first day, wear them for 30 minutes around the house. This will allow your foot to adjust to the shoe and allow the joints of your body to properly align.
Generally speaking, there should be about one finger's width of space between your longest toe and the end of the shoe. Another way to check this is to slip a finger between the heel of your foot and the heel of your shoe. There should be just enough space for your finger to fit nice and snugly.
Not wearing socks will cause sweat and bacteria to build up inside your shoes, causing them to smell and leaving them dirty and worn out. Protect your new shoes by always wearing socks inside them.
While shoes won't start to deteriorate immediately after buying them, you should begin using them six to 12 months after your purchase. According to Stump, this is when they start to break down little by little. “It may not mean they're completely unusable,” he says.
On average, heavily worn but well-maintained Goodyear-welted shoes can last between 5-10 years. A pair that is rotated out among a collection of shoes should last between 10 to 20 years.
Inspect the Insides of Each Shoe
Worn-out padding in the ball of the foot could indicate a number of foot problems including falling arches. Check the back of the shoe that wraps around your ankle. Your heel should not slide around; if it does, it could lead to a lack of stability that could cause an ankle sprain.
Hydrolysis is the chemical breakdown of the PU polymer and the resulting physical breakdown or crumbling of the PU sole by the attack of water (usually in vapour form), occurring over a period of several years (even when the shoes are in store!). This process is accelerated by warmth and high humidity.