Thailand Has Destroyed My Shoes

[zzaa09]

It all gets down to contemporary mass produced items.

Today, everything from A-Z is crap. Simply produced to be rapidly replaced or repaired.

There is no profit towards producing an item that will last forever......like of yesteryear.

Footware. Quality footware. If one seeks something that last, have a traditional shoe maker create something custom made.

[StreetCowboy]

It all gets down to contemporary mass produced items.

Today, everything from A-Z is crap. Simply produced to be rapidly replaced or repaired.

There is no profit towards producing an item that will last forever......like of yesteryear.

Footware. Quality footware. If one seeks something that last, have a traditional shoe maker create something custom made.

Standards compliance, the steel shank and toe might be a challenge for your old cobblers though. Were I back home, I wouldn't know where to find a cobbler, and I suspect Siam Bootery would struggle knocking up a fashionable pair of rigger's boots.

I'll probably go to my local tropical safety footwear store and try to get a local brand that has the relevant branding and marking, and aim to replace every three or four years, in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations. Or perhaps take them for a test walk every few months, which will help break my feet into them as well.

SC

[UphillStruggle]

Would one of those vacuum storage bags work with shoes or would the bit in the middle of the shoe be a problem?

This is for food so the bags might not fit a shoe

http://www.jmldirect.com/Food-Sealer-PF1017/

There are larger bags with valves for clothes

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vacuum-Storage-System-pcs-90/dp/B000GPCU16/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1313254867&sr=8-14

[llso]

I've got a tip about shoes in Thailand. After 7 years you experience a lot of things. I used to and still wear almost exclusively Flip Flops in Thailand . Unless I am going to a meeting or to a nice restaraunt or event. The nylon straps on my flip flops would get quite nasty after sloshing through floods, mud puddles, sweating and the like. I would take them and soak them in a bucket of a fairly strong bleach solution for a few minutes and then rinse and dry them. I shared this trick with quite a few people who had the same problem.

I also had glue problems with dres shoes including one where the sole came off in an important meeting and I had to slowly hobble out.

BTW ,Merrel shoes are probably one of the best as far as durability.

LL

[mr3cho]

Do you guys (who's shoes are falling apart) live near the ocean in Pattaya or Phuket. It's probably the salt-water air that is corroding the rubber.

10 million people live in Bangkok and most walk daily and their shoes are not 'crumbling' apart.

[StreetCowboy]

Do you guys (who's shoes are falling apart) live near the ocean in Pattaya or Phuket. It's probably the salt-water air that is corroding the rubber.

10 million people live in Bangkok and most walk daily and their shoes are not 'crumbling' apart.

To be fair, the boots failed me after seven years of patient attendance in the cupboard; had I worn them daily, I'd have been delighted with two years' service. But ten days' useful employment in seven years is not good value for money (actually not true, as anyone that has had a foot amputated after infection from stepping on a nail will tell you...)

And no, I have never lived by the seaside, by the sea, by the way

SC

[Kinnock]

Do you guys (who's shoes are falling apart) live near the ocean in Pattaya or Phuket. It's probably the salt-water air that is corroding the rubber.

10 million people live in Bangkok and most walk daily and their shoes are not 'crumbling' apart.

I live in Bangkok and the heels on two pairs of Clarks work shoes crumbled and fell off .... but my casual shoes bought locally seem to be OK. Perhaps shoes designed for Europe can't stand the heat and humidity?

[WarpSpeed]

So for those who say heat and humidity try and explain this. I come from a hotter more humid climate then here and my shoes there would not fall apart as the OP has described but here they do/did. I've had the same issues in the OP but I do have one other pair of tennis/joggers shoes made a of nice, white, breathable, cloth material with white and grey soles, not the usual black, that I purchased over 9 years ago before I came here and I still use them almost every day. They don't get abused much but they do get used often, while my more expensive hiking boots of all things with black soles have gone to crap and separated just like the OP mentions with even less use.

Thinking back now all of the shoes I have had for any real length of time have had the whitish grey soles so it has to be something in the compound of the soles and the bonding process with the uppers.

Edited September 5, 2011 by WarpSpeed

[mr3cho]

well it looks like you guys are not alone...

The mysterious case of the crumbling shoes:

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/fashion-and-style/patricia-mclaughlin/article_78ef32d7-6fa7-5a84-b473-045b1404ba78.html

http://www.consumer.org.nz/news/view/disintegrating-shoes

http://www.hiddencancun.com/rivergirl/2008/10/08/crumbling-shoes/

polyurethane manufacturing defect, hydrolysis, humidity, crappy shoes??

The soles of my 3 pairs of Nikes which are 3-4 years old and 1 year old here in Thailand are still going strong. My Nike flip flops I've left outside day and night this year. let's see how they hold up. (most Nikes are manufacturer somewhere in China, Thailand or Indo)