As one grows out of their teenage years and enters adulthood, certain things in your life seem to inevitably change. Things naturally change as you grow through the various stages of your life, but none are perhaps as pronounced as those you go through when transitioning into adulthood. It can all happen a bit too fast for your liking, but it’s perhaps just a bit interesting to look at the shoes one starts having in their collection as a surprisingly accurate representation of the responsibilities you inherit during this crucial period in your growth.
The quintessential man’s shoe collection tells a rather interesting story of what they get up to in their lives, from their career to what they do for fun.
The All-Occasions Pair
If you’re not long into your early adulthood, this pair of shoes is probably the same pair you wore a couple or so year ago as a teenager, if of course it’s a quality pair. The much loved Converse All Star classic comes to mind as the perfect example of such a pair of shoes. After all, everybody has to have a pair of All Stars, right? I won’t tell if they’ve never been washed from the very first day you bought them.
The Formal “Work” Pair
I guess now you understand why you had to wear those uncomfortable school shoes back when you were still going through your formal schooling. It was practice for the corporate world, where we’re somehow meant to look “professional” and are expected to get in some serious productivity while starched up in what is generally some attire that’s never all the way comfortable. This is the pair of shoes you polish every day, built tough and goes well with any formal outfit, so you’d naturally go all out with this pair of shoes.
The Formal Special Occasions Pair
Another formal pair of shoes is mandatory, but this time it isn’t that pair which you kick right off, first thing when you get home from work. This is that formal pair of shoes which goes just as well with your semi-formal or smart-casual dress code, kept polished and clean for special occasions such as weddings and even funerals.
Trainers
Unless you’re a night-runner, white probably isn’t the best choice in colour for your trainers (the dirt on white trainers shows very quickly) and like your all-occasions pair, you’ve probably never washed your trainers since you brought them home from the store, or perhaps you’ve only washed them once or twice. Styles like these Adidas trainers can even double up as all-occasions shoes as well with all the great designs they come in these days.
The Slobbing-Around Pair
These are likely your slip-on slippers — a pair of shoes you wish were the benchmark for all shoes (including your formal work pair) in terms of the sheer comfort they offer. If you don’t kick these off immediately after you wake up on a Saturday or Sunday morning, the chances of you slobbing around in them all day get bigger and bigger.
