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Comfortable and sober shoes

2896 Views 19 Replies 12 Participants Last post by  mad_data_scientist
I'm looking for very comfortable "hybrid" shoes sneakers-alike to dress in spring and fall mostly for walking but I want to use them in a quite formal environment as an office is. They've not to be elegant nor sporty and I'd prefer they'd be made of leather. My limit is around 100$ and I don't care about brands and esthetics.
My gauge is merrell sprint blast which were perfect for my feet and lasted much time. They were also very sober and i guess I got the most "anonymous" model, the j39149, so I dressed them at office with no issues. I'm considering Ecco shoes too because I can get them at my local amazon but I don't know them and can't try them so I'd like to ask you a comparison with merrell for comfortableness. Anyway everything you can buy at EU web market can be considered :)

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Ok guys, sorry for my mistake but my english is plenty of rust: I wanted to mean both "shoes" and "sneakers". I just forgot to specify a pair of sneakers will be good for my goal, can you forgive me please? :) I've already got "shoes" in the sense of formal shoes for business time and elegant shoes for proper happenings, therefore I'm looking for a... "serious/conservative" pair of sneakers, I mean with sober colors like black or brown and one not contrasting with the others. My goal is comfort so if sneakers are better as Color 8 said I'll get them and not shoes.
I hope that explanation sounds less odd as Woofa defined my first one :)
Let me point to some other options I found on UE amazons: they're a pair of mephisto and 2 ecco's (indianapolis and derby).
Anyway I correct my mistake and add "sneakers" to my 1st post :)

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I'm watching ecco website right now and a pair of their shoes are defined "A TRUE OFFICE HYBRID". It sounds quite weird to me but I think hybrid can be the real key word I was searching as Zengineer said :) I've corrected and added "hybrid" to my 1st post, now I think the overall definition of my goal is better from the beginning (I do hope) :)
I saw some Toms -I didn't know them before- and found they're very similar to italian shoes Superga. I had a pair of superga when I was young but now I think I'll get a pair of merrell again or mephisto or ecco.

I pointed to the so-called barefoot shoes group too but I didn't find anyone sober enough for my goal, I mean they look too sporty for me, or they seem too light for autumn time or they're just out of my budget. Anyway I accept suggestions, if any.

Maybe all you've already understood my idea/gauge of comfort because know merrell shoes anyway I'd like to stress a detail I think is important. It's fundamental for me the shoes to have a very flexible outer sole. All my elegant shoes have a stiff outer sole and my running shoes have it very flexible. My merrell had it very flexible and you could bend it in all the ways you want, the same for my puma motorazzo (301579-10) which are perfect sneakers for narrow feet like mine but unfortunately they're not cushioned enough for me so I can't use them for long walks. I've found and tried skechers in my local shops and they seemed very comfortable due to their memory foam inner sole but as soon as I walked some steps I realized how stiff the outer sole was and definitely I'm not interested in them because I think the overall quality is very poor so I don't think they'd last as merrell did.
That said I'd like to know if Ecco and Mephisto shoes have a flexible sole like merrels and if you know any other hybrid shoes with this characteristic.
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I've found a very small ecco retailer and I tried "AQUET M" (207184-02038) which were the most sober one. Not bad at all: the arch support is quite ergonomic which is the best advantage for me; an overall feeling of nice comfort with just few steps within the shop :) I did my "test" trying to bend the outer sole by my hands but it was quite stiff I guess due to its width, anyway more then merrel's I had used for sure. I don't remember merrell's very well but I guess both ones are comfortable as soon as you put your feet inside them and walk few steps but I guess merrell sprint blast are better for long walks because they're more flexible.
Definitely I think I'll buy merrell's again both for personal aesthetic taste and for my purpose (city walks when happen). I hope this could be taken as a personal comparison, very narrow indeed :)
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Yeah, comfort and aesthetics sometimes argue, anyway for this purpose (and only for this) I let comfort to win :) I just regret not to find rockports nor mephisto in my local shops, I know I could buy them via amazon and give them back in the case but I think that's not worth it this time.
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