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I have come to the conclusion that certain brands, or at least certain styles within those brands are suspect just because they are that brand. You probably know that I am not a big fan of Michael Kors or Vera Wang, both well respected mid-priced shoe manufacturers. And by mid-priced, I mean like 300 bucks retail. Not cheap, but not Gucci. Neither of those companies seem to be able to make a shoe which will actually last when worn regularly. I have finally broken myself of thinking I'll give them one more try. I hate to admit it, but I've eventually come to the same conclusion about BCBGeneration/BCBGirls. They eventually crap out under what to me is normal use. This is why I bought 6 pairs of my favorite Bonny sandals. I'm on Number 4, and none have lasted the way I think they ought to. And now to address the part I bolded in the quote. I'm sure I've told this story before, but there is a certain model of True Religion wooden mules that I like, and I've owned 5 pairs of them over the years. The first pair I bought probably 10 years ago, and I wound up selling or donating them because a) they were too high for me at the time, and b) they were orange, and I only wore black back then. Could not possibly imagine myself wearing orange high heels in public. The second pair I bought, years later, was dark brown, and they were waaaaay better after a few years of practice. I loved them a lot. The problem was, within less than 10 miles, I lost a top lift (or heel tip) somewhere along the way, and by the time I noticed it, I had ground down about 3/4 of an inch off the bare wood/composite material. Not really fixable. In the trash they went. The third pair, which was in black, lost its top lift in about the same number of miles, only this time I noticed pretty much right away. I slipped off the shoes and walked barefoot the rest of the way home. Had the sandals reheeled, and they have turned out to be my most durable shoes to date, having racked up nearly 250 miles so far with no problems. Then I had a fourth pair where I lost the OEM top lift within a few miles, but knew to look for it. With the fifth pair, I told the cobbler, "I know these top lifts look brand new. . .because they are, but replace them anyhow." Lesson learned on what amounts to the third time. A very long-winded story to say that if you love the boots, I would take them somewhere and see if there is anything to be done with them before putting a bunch of miles on them worrying that they're going to fall apart at any minute. That kind of ruins the whole experience, doesn't it?

I've had the entire sole separate from the upper shoe. My skyhigh Speedlimit 98 lace-up wedges did that. One step was fine the next step was without the sole. Looked back and there the sole sat all by itself. Lucky I was just a few steps from my car, so I picked up the sole and hobbled to my car.

I'm not a conspiracy guy, but among all of us, we've had similar things happen to us many times. A heel came loose, or a shank broke, or some other catastrophic failure. So let me ask you this: In any case, when you were hobbling around, trying not to look like an idiot, would you have been able to take your shoe, especially while still wearing it, and rip the entire sole off with your bare hand, such that it was a separate piece, suitable for throwing?

Ever since I got my scooter, I decided I needed some sh*tkicker motorcycle boots. I got these Steve Madden Laurie boots last summer that fit the bill. In fact, perhaps they fit the bill a little too much. I bought these on Poshmark for $25, and you know how sometimes things look different when you see them in person. It's my own fault, of course, for failing to notice that these boots sport HUGE, HONKING TWO INCH THICK HEELS! I mean, I do have some chunky heels in my collection, but these take the cake by quite a bit. I think the heels on my second chunkiest pair are a mere 1 1/4" wide. I did not wear these boots on my motorbike trip last summer because I received them only one week before the trip, and as y'all know, that would be just plain foolishness to wear them on a long trip, unvetted. I did not really get around to vetting them until a few days ago. Specs on the boots are: 4 3/8 inch heel height, 2 inch heel width, 3/4 inch platform. Here's where the math lies a bit: The math says that the boots are 3 5/8" effective heel height. The first time I wore them, I thought, "These feel quite a bit higher than 3 5/8. More like 4." Upon closer investigation, they are more like 4 inches because of the way the footbed is designed. At the front, the footbed is pretty much even with the top of the platform. In other words, there is no hidden platform at all. At the back, the inner footbed is substantially higher than the top of the heel. Almost like there's a little mini lift in an already high heeled shoe. Weird. Mystery solved. They really are 4 inch heels. Before last week, I had worn them a couple of times to ride, but hadn't really done any substantial walking in them. I found them to be rather on the tight side, so I thought that I needed to actually do some walking in them, just so I know what I have. What I found was rather surprising. I took a route such that if something was badly wrong, I could cut the walk short without having to struggle too much. What actually happened was that I wound up walking a full 2.2 miles in full comfort. It seems the boots had already stretched out quite a little bit withing the 2 miles. The other surprising thing is that they don't feel all that clunky when walking, as many shoes with giant heels do. They are almost graceful. Almost. I figured I'd look and feel like Frankenstein's monster, but I did not. Hopefully, they hold together for a while. I have found that tough-looking, clunky shoes often fall apart quickly. 'Cause you know that super big heel is nothing but a thin plastic shell. We'll see.