Shoes, particularly sneakers, to me are like my favorite old jeans or flannel shirts. I find a pair that fits and feels good and I'll wear them until they fall apart. I have a couple of pair of dress shoes, which I wear about twice a year and two pairs of cowboy boots and three pair of sneakers. One pair of sneakers is brand new, never worn. The other pair isn't new, they've been worn a few times. The third pair are about two years old. They are sad looking; but they feel great! I wear them every day unless it rains. They leak like a sieve. And they don't have laces, but the Velcro is worn out so the straps flap when I walk.
Jeans too need to have some miles on them. I'm wearing a pair today that my wife won't let me leave the house in. They have a few holes, I'll admit but, darn, they feel so good. The problem is a couple of the holes are strategically where they might reveal parts better left covered. But I'm no slave to fashion. I just want comfort.
I can remember my grandmother yelling at grandad about his clothes. She was always telling him to change shirts because so many of his had little burned holes down the front where his pipe had dropped hot ashes. He never seemed to mind. If I smoked a pipe, I'd probably have holes in my shirts too to go along with the rest of 'the look' of maturity.
What is it about aging to some men that they stop worrying about appearance? I'm certainly there.
Tom