As mentioned in my 2019 one bag post, I wrote a very generic sneaker off amazon. It retailed for 29 bucks. Soon after I was working 3 jobs while going to school full time. This meant I was walking around often, standing often, and occasionally out of home for 14+ hours. I needed comfort and one of the things I sought to improve was my footwear game for work, school, travel, etc.
After reading a thing or two on various blogs on the interwebs I somehow ended up with three picks: Vessi, Merino, and Lems Boulder Boot. Here is my quick thought on all of them.
Vessi Footwear
Vessi made its name through Kickstarter campaign where they raised funds to make waterproof shoe. They now claim to be “the world’s first waterproof knit shoe”.
Anyway, I ended up paying $129 for Men’s Cityscape shoe. I can’t say I am a fan of how it looks.
I should say that their Men’s Everyday looks better to me but then it costs $135 and it unfortunately (to my knowledge) was not available when I ordered it.
The good thing about this shoe is that it is waterproof. The bad thing about their shoe is also that they are waterproof which means they aren’t very breathable. They get sweaty fast. I would not wear Vessi shoes for an extended period of time.
In my opinion, Vessi shoes are basically a flex shoe that you can wear when it is raining. I can’t afford a flex shoe so I ended up returning it.
Lems Boulder Boot
Interestingly enough my second choice also was funded in a kickstarter project. I bought it because I found zero drop, ultra light, wide toe boot to be appealing.
The problem is my SO hated the look (probably because they are wide?) so she ended up returning hers. I still have mine but somehow I have probably worn in twice in entire 5 months I have owned it. To this date I can’t pinpoint why I don’t use them. Maybe because I am am more biased towards sneakers? IDK.
Merinos Slip On
I have worn Merinos Slip On non-stop on 14 hour workdays. I have traveled with it. I have worn it almost everywhere, except in muddy and rainy places/seasons.
Why didn’t I try other Merino based shoes like that from albirds? Just because this one was a little cheaper and allbirds did not have merino slip on.
Anyway, the generic sneaker and merinos slip on are in my current day-to-day rotation and they will (hopefully) be there for quite a while.
And I will most likely grab another pair of generic sneaker soon. Merinos felt incremental upgrade in my feet but I’m not sure if I am ready to pay 3x the price for said upgrade.
Conclusion
The lesson to learn here is probably to try things on your own. There are a lot of cool products out there but not all of them are as good as the blogs say they are and/or they are not as good of a fit for you at the moment.
