For wear and tear
Opt for Goodyear.

I have a old pair of Hiking boots, the 4 lb leather monsters with obligatory red laces and lugs worthy of a Tiger tank. They have Norwegian welts. I've resoled them 5 times and still get lectures on the trails from people on the 5th pair of glued, non rebuildable lightwieghts. 'You know, one pound on your foot = 5 on your back?' This from Ihikers with 50 lb rucksacks for a dayhike.
Goodyear is just as good.

Do I like the look? Horses for courses. My tastes tend towards a nice slim welt rather than no welt but Blake can look good.

Is it comfortable? Good Blake beats the hell out of poor Goodyear. Good Goodyear is better than Blake. But this is subordinate to:

Does it fit? Sargents fit me well. G & G Mitchell last fits me like hand made. Bally Blake ditto. Can't make Church's like me no matter how hard I try.

Is it well made? I like craftsmanship and I expect my shoes to last, in return for which I lavish care on them (well, polish them regularly and put trees in). Overpriced equals dislike in my book, because I end up resenting a perfectly decent shoe for which I have paid more than it is worth. So this question is contextualised by price. But craft is not about appearance for appearance's sake. Nothing is sadder than endless debates about the medallion on the toe cap. Confucius he say: man who stares at toe cap get knocked down by virtually anybody and serve him fucking right.

Last edited by The_Shooman (2010-05-13 21:25:15)

Last edited by g- (2010-05-16 18:27:26)