I had used cheap shoes for such purposes for years. Rockport has had a line (off and on) called Dressports, which usually looked presentable enough, were well enough made for inexpensive shoes, and could be considered disposable, given the price.
Probably because they do a huge run of any particular model, in whatever overseas factory happens to meet their specs at the moment, models are constantly brought out and then discontinued within a year or less. There usually is a similar model brought out as the remainder of the previous model are sold off, but in the recent change of models, the company has seemed to have lost whatever direction they might have had.
I looked for many months to replace a rather decent looking balmoral, that could easily pass for a dress shoe from a short distance. I even contacted the company, but what they advised me was the comparable model turned out to be a blucher which looked more like a work shoe of some kind. And unfortunately, any balmorals they have put out since are just plain ugly.
Finally, I have (probably wisely) given up on the folly of finding expendable shoes that look nice enough to wear as dress. I just purchased another pair of Park Avenues, which I will relegate as my "bad conditions" shoes.
I will keep them well polished, rotate them out if they get wet, and otherwise perform normal maintenance on them.
Even if I only get three years of wear from them, they will have cost me no more than the three pair of "disposables" that I would have used in that time. (And, if recrafting will bring another year of wear, I will have saved money.)
