My Favorite Shoes

My name is Jim and this is my first blog entry here at ShoeIQ.com. In the future I'll be covering men's shoes and, in particular, some special application shoes and boots for sports and leisure activities. Before I start my regular posts, however, I thought I'd share a little bit about myself and my favorite shoe.

I might seem at first to be an unlikely shoe blogger, but don't be fooled by appearances. Sure I'm a fat guy who lives in the suburbs, knows nothing of the fashion world, and can't coordinate my clothing to save my life, but I do love my shoes and I buy a lot of 'em. I view shoes as gear and I'm a total gear fanatic. You have to have the right gear for any application. If you're going hiking, you gotta have a good pair of hiking boots. If you're going to play golf, you need a good pair of golf cleats. But those are obvious. Most of my buddies would agree with those kinds of gear needs. I take this a little further than my buddies, however, because I see many more activities as requiring special footwear. Going to do some errands and grocery shopping? Maybe the New Balance cross trainers in case I need to sprint after a runaway grocery cart or do some shelf climbing at the wholesale club. Hanging out at a friends barbeque? Maybe the old-school black Vans I bought last week. Eating crabs outdoors in Baltimore, hon? Ah, the Abercrombie & Fitch Leather Treads would be perfect. The truth is, I think I have a lot of shoes for a guy. But only one pair rises to the top and stands alone as my all time favorite shoe: The Havana Joe Classic Oxford.

There's nothing really fancy about this shoe - it's just all about the comfort. I bought them for about $160 at Nordstrom, and let me tell you: that's way more than I've ever spent on a pair of shoes. This was one of those deals where I was using the department store as a shortcut to the mall, saw the shoes, and tried them on without looking at the price. By the time I walked around in them, I was sold.

Here's the manufacturer's product copy: "Beautifully crafted in Spain with premium waterproof leather, these handsome Oxfords are lined with breathable, moisture-absorbing calfskin and a removable, washable PU insole cushion. The Texon midsole with its steel shank provides durable midfoot support to help reduce foot fatigue, and the rubber lugged outsole offers optimum traction and lightweight shock absorption."

I'm not even sure what some of that means, but I can tell you they're really comfortable and my feet and legs never get tired walking in them. They've broken in really nicely without any of the stitching becoming frayed or coming apart in any way. They remind me of the classic Dr. Martin oxford, which I've always really liked, but these don't have the bright yellow stitching that connects the sole to the upper. I feel like that's a bit much for me these days, but the Havana Joe's do have a cool little yellow Havana Joe head logo near one of the eyelets on each shoe that I think looks cool and sets them apart just a little. I originally bought a pair of brown ones, but it was so important to me to be able to wear these shoes all the time that I went back after a year and bought a pair of black ones so my shoes would always match my clothing. And when the soles begin to wear out on these shoes, they'll become the first shoes ever that I'll take in to get re-soled.

So that's me and that's my favorite shoe. I'm looking forward to writing about my other favorites and how the many specialty shoes in my collection hold up throughout their many specific uses. And by the way, I do accept freebies from shoe manufacturers. If you send me free shoes, I'll either write great things about them, or I'll send them back if I can't say something nice in good conscience. Hey look, I don't get paid much for doing this, ok?

Until next time, happy...uh...walking.