Hard-wearing shoes

Shoe lovers, I have two words for you: Minnie Cooper.

My discovery of the week - I bought a pair and I'm besotted with them!

They are:
- made in New Zealand
- all leather, apart from the heel and the sole plate they recommend you get put on
- repairable-looking - you could replace the heel and the sole plate when they get worn

They're not cheap, but I'm optimistic they will last long enough to make up.

And did I mention pretty? :)


Other notes I've gleaned about good and bad shoe brands:

Wore out quickly:
Hush Puppies
Miss Sophie
All Stars

Seemed to last well:
DV8
Sole shoes

Shoe solutions

Tidying out the closet I found not one but two pairs of shoes that I'd loved but had worn out to the point that they had holes in the bottom. Holes that let the rain in.

I hated the idea of just throwing them out though. What to do, what to do?

*Cue interval on google.*

What do you know? Turns out Nike takes back sports shoes to recycle into artificial sports surfaces. Awesomely enough, they even collect shoes in New Zealand. That's pretty cool.

I didn't have sports shoes though. Hmm.

*Cue interval staring into space with pensive expression on face.*

My solutions:

1. Earthquake shoes! I took one pair to work to keep in a drawer in case I need sensible shoes in an emergency.

2. Repair! (This is yet another one of those "green" ideas that's really rediscovering something that your grandparents did but feeling like it's new again.) For some reason I had the idea that my shoes were the non-resoleable kind, but I took them into the shoe repair shop on Ghuznee St and there was no problem at all.

Twenty-five bucks and it's like I've got a whole new pair of shoes.

Loving the lovely shoe repairman right now.