****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I buy a lot of things on Amazon, let me tell you, but these shoes may be my favorite out of all of them, and without question in my Top 5.Wearing a size 13EEEE shoe since the middle of high school, I learned early to have measured expectations about shoes. Much like the infamous contractor's triangle of good/fast/cheap, where you are only ever permitted to have (at best) two out of those three on any given project, I was generally pleased anytime I could find a pair that offered any pairing of stylish appearance, genuine comfort or durability. For the decade-plus prior to finding these shoes, I'd generally settled on whatever New Balance's walking shoe du jour was as my best option, and with three pairs in rotation I could expect a year of wear out of each with pretty good comfort for the first 60% of that timeframe. Thankfully, those days are over and even if I have to buy the Brooks company to keep it in business, I will never go back.When I got these shoes in 2014, I was hitting my stride with online shopping and resolved to purchase my first pair of shoes that way since the devil-may-care attitude towards shoe comfort I'd had through my 20s was giving way to the creaks and groans of my 30s. After combing through online reviews and foot pain forums, my decision was to try a pair from a brand I'd never even heard of despite over 15 years of shopping in specialty footwear stores. After receiving these shoes, I no longer believe in any benefit to buying shoes from a brick-and-mortar store, because there is no excuse for letting people throw money away on New Balance and Dunham when the Brooks Addiction Walker exists in the same size. The difference in experience is as striking as going from walking barefoot to wearing sandals: you go from seeing some discomfort as inevitable to being very surprised in the rare occasions when it occurs. After the first week with them, I threw all three pairs of New Balance that I had in the trash with that smug sense of satisfaction that you only find when overcoming an obstacle after years of wrestling with it, the kind that makes animated leprechauns jump in the air while clicking their heels together.It was 38 months ago, to the day, that I bought my first pair of these shoes, and I am just now back to replace them. ... You heard me right, that single pair has lasted me through over three years of daily wear, and it's only the separation of the soles from the uppers that is prompting that because otherwise they still look fantastic and feel like clouds under my feet. Living on a dirt road in a very rural area that regularly requires walking on coarse gravel and forest trails that kind of longevity is something I'd only seen before from the most premium of hiking boots, though I expect those to start lasting much longer now that I have far less cause to wear them. The first day I wore them I was actually uneasy with how much more natural they felt against my feet than any shoes I'd worn before, to the point that my gait changed a bit to what I now realize is how my body always wanted to move. By the second day I was strutting around like John Travolta in the opening scene of Saturday Night Fever complete with invisible Bee Gees soundtrack in my head; I've never received so many compliments on new shoes from friends and family all at once. Most people never even noticed when I'd worn new shoes before.They check all the boxes for me, from having a broad toe box without looking too angular in front, to simply amazing tread and grip that has never once left me nearly losing footing or even slightly rolling an ankle no matter how rugged the terrain, to remaining as comfortable in the 16th hour of wear as they were when I put them on in the morning. They also breathe as well as the last pair of running shoes I had (an Asics model I've since forgotten though they were awesome), which shouldn't be possible since those were mesh above the toe box and these are solid, but it's true. I have low arches almost to the point of non-existence, and even the insoles they came with gave good support, but after replacing them with my trusted Powerstep insoles, I knew instinctively that I had found the footwear the Universe intended for me to use. If forced to find something to gripe about I would go for the fact that they squeak on highly polished floors, but as I find that's a function of high grip soles, I'm fine with occasional squeaking over occasional pratfalls.If you made it this far, then just scroll up and buy these shoes. There are too few things in the world that: a) are so incredibly good that they merit a review like this, and b) can improve your quality of life more than having good shoes.
