Business Casual Kicks

For work wear, I normally rotate my shoes between a pair of black Red Wing oxfords and a pair of ankle-high Timberlands that are similarly styled. The Timberlands keep my feet dry stomping across the poorly-drained pock-marked parking lots at work. The Red Wings are just good solid shoes that I've worn for over five years. That's one pair for over five years. They're good and tough those Red Wings. Unfortunately they're also worn out. Neither pair of shoes has any tread left and the uppers on the oxfords, while still structurally sound, have definitely looked better.

Their replacement, a pair of black Timberland Stormbuck Oxfords came on Thursday. I hate ordering shoes without trying them on. Fortunately, even though the Christiana Macy's didn't have my size in stock, they did have enough shoes to tell what my size is. Doesn't fit, next, doesn't fit, next... After that it was back to the internet.

These shoes are practically perfect. They're black to match my normal belts, etc. They're suede so I don't ever need to polish them (unlike my Red Wings). They're waterproof for bad weather. They're fairly economical. They look pretty good and they're also very comfortable. The only bad thing is that the insoles aren't removeable. Frankly that's something I can live with since they'll probably be up for replacement before a worn-out insole really bugs me.