# What counts as "beater" shoes? How many pairs of 'beaters' do you have?



## sleepyinsanfran (Oct 24, 2013)

I recently got a pair of Indy boots in Kudu/Chromexcel with a lug sole. My partner on seeing them commented how nice they were, but she couldn't resist a dig: She proceeded to ask what spot they fill in my array of shoes/boots. I replied that these will be my all-weather "beater" shoes, for all activities that require stepping in muck/snow/slush etc. To this she replied - "don't you have, like, three of those already?" I just laughed and didn't answer, but it got me thinking: what is a "beater" shoe? Apart from being comfortable once broken in (since I don't keep shoes that aren't):
1. Is it a pair that is cheap and easily replaceable, so you don't mind ruining them? 
2. Is it a pair that is made of the toughest materials, and therefore will survive almost any and all abuse (but expensive)? 
3. Is it a pair of quality shoes/boots you don't like wearing anymore - but instead of going through the hassle of ebaying you just wear it around the yard etc?

Wold like to hear forumites' opinions. Also how many such "beater" shoes/boots do you have?


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## Nobleprofessor (Jul 18, 2014)

Beaters to me are my go to pair of shoes that I put on when I just need to run to the grocery store and come back. For me, it my Sperry Bilfish Boat shoe. If I have to walk out in the wet grass to take the dog out, or go to the car wash, etc. I put them on. 

What you are talking about is winter shoes. Mine were some Eastland boots. They had the toughest lug sole. I wore them through college, law school, and kansas winters. I once restitched the toe with fishing line. Unfortunately, after about 18 years, they just disintegrated. I had to replace them with old Vasque hiking boots that used to be my nice boots. 

And everybody has a beater pair of tennis shoes that go to the lake, and the mud.


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## drlivingston (Jun 21, 2012)

Birkenstocks are my beaters (although I seem to have set most of them on fire recently)


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## godan (Feb 10, 2010)

I am fortunate to be able to walk to many routine destinations - university, retail stores, bank, broker, etc., in an environment where business casual is nearly "dressed up." My summer beaters include trail shoes, boats, camp mocs and cowboy boots with walking heels. Winter beaters are several pairs of old, all-leather mountain boots that have softened too much for climbing. In this community, like many mountain/university towns, technical clothing is worn everywhere.


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## Tempest (Aug 16, 2012)

I see a beater shoe as any shoe that could suffer cosmetic damage without it annoying the wearer. No matter how casual or cheap, it takes a year or two till it is truly a beater for me. 
I'd say somewhere between a third to half my shoes are beaters. Thorogood boots, LLB mocs, Vans, three or four pair of dress shoes on their last legs.


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## Fading Fast (Aug 22, 2012)

Tempest said:


> I see a beater shoe as any shoe that could suffer cosmetic damage without it annoying the wearer.


That's the definition for me. It can be a new pair of Toms (for $30) or an old pair of Peal & Co dress shoes that cost $400 new many years ago - it is all about if I care about damaging them or not.

Bucks, for me, have a life cycle: (1) when new - take care of them, wear them in only good weather, brush them after wearing, use shoe trees, etc., until (2) mid-life - less brushing, less concern about weather, but still take care of them overall and, finally, (3), (beater stage), old and already marked up - wear them in any weather, kick them off by using the sole of one to hold the back of the other (laces might not get untied), brushing and shoe tree days are over (so that they can be put on faster).

There is something very satisfying when a well worn buck has made it to stage 3.


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## Natty Beau (Apr 29, 2014)

Tempest said:


> I see a beater shoe as any shoe that could suffer cosmetic damage without it annoying the wearer.


This sounds about right. I have two such pairs--old saddles shoes with lots of marks and scratches and an old pair of black wingtip oxfords that I change the oil in now as they're too cracked for anything else.

I enjoy using clothes that used to be nice and expensive for kicking around.


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## zzdocxx (Sep 26, 2011)

Too funny, hope that's not causing a rift between you and your GF. 

Nice that she is a little bit understanding and indulgent.


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## style417 (Jun 28, 2014)

I mostly go with the sneakers/Sperry top siders in the summer and sneakers/Keen hiking boots in the winter. If there's a lot of snow, then it's time for the LLB gumboots or the Kamiks. (My workplace is pretty casual so chinos and a OCBD puts me ahead of 75% of the folks there!  )

If I need to be business casual but don't want to wear a nicer pair of shoes, I'll use a pair of AE Boulder driving shoes. I have them in three colors so I can work something out. They're nice but I bought them at deep discount a year or two ago so I won't be out much if something happened to them.


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## CrazyLarry (Jun 17, 2014)

sleepyinsanfran said:


> 1. Is it a pair that is cheap and easily replaceable, so you don't mind ruining them?
> 2. Is it a pair that is made of the toughest materials, and therefore will survive almost any and all abuse (but expensive)?


For me there is quite a bit of overlap between these two options. My beater shoe is a pair brown Doc Martens. I thrifted them for 3 bucks 15 years ago so they are cheap and replaceable but they are made of some pretty tough materials and have survived 15 years of abuse. They just won't wear out as much as I sometimes wish they would. Based on the current amount of sole usage, I suspect that I will be buried in these shoes.


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## gaseousclay (Nov 8, 2009)

Beater shoes for me are ones that are inexpensive that I don't mind ruining. For example, I wouldn't wear Indy boots while painting the house or mowing the lawn. The shoes must also provide some degree of comfort. Tennis shoes usually fulfill this role nicely.


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## sleepyinsanfran (Oct 24, 2013)

Thanks for chiming in, gents! I can now point to this thread as evidence that one can have different beater shoes for different occasions :icon_cheers:



zzdocxx said:


> Too funny, hope that's not causing a rift between you and your GF.
> 
> Nice that she is a little bit understanding and indulgent.


Haha. She is indeed understanding. Before I bought my pair, just to be safe I got her a pair of fancy Barney's cap toe boots as an early present (I forget what occasion I claimed), which she tells me are the nicest boots she's had 

TMI: We do have our fights but they're mostly about me not visiting her family often enough (they're nice people, just very exhausting to hang out with)


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## zzdocxx (Sep 26, 2011)

Lol, that was a clever move on your part !


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## 32rollandrock (May 1, 2008)

CrazyLarry said:


> For me there is quite a bit of overlap between these two options. My beater shoe is a pair brown Doc Martens. I thrifted them for 3 bucks 15 years ago so they are cheap and replaceable but they are made of some pretty tough materials and have survived 15 years of abuse. They just won't wear out as much as I sometimes wish they would. Based on the current amount of sole usage, I suspect that I will be buried in these shoes.


Doc's are great. If you are using Indy's as beater shoes, you have too much money and too little common sense.


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## sleepyinsanfran (Oct 24, 2013)

32rollandrock said:


> Doc's are great. If you are using Indy's as beater shoes, you have too much money and too little common sense.


Well, I don't have to much money, so it must be just a paucity of common sense 

Indys are work boots, no? Perhaps you consider them 'workman-chic' to be used by hipsters for prancing around town in skinny jeans.

I figured if I'll be in my 'beater' shoes most of the time I'm not at my desk job, I might as well have a pair that is comfortable, which my docs aren't. But yeah, going from doc-martens/timberlands to Indys is a major upgrade on the 'beater shoe' front!


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## Tempest (Aug 16, 2012)

32rollandrock said:


> If you are using Indy's as beater shoes, you have too much money and too little common sense.


Because that movie character they are named after treated his so daintily?


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## 32rollandrock (May 1, 2008)

Tempest said:


> Because that movie character they are named after treated his so daintily?


No. It's because a pair of Alden Indy boots in Chromexcel costs more than $500. Anyone who says that he doesn't have a lot of money yet spends that kind of coin for boots he intends to war in mud, muck and snow either is living on a completely different financial planet than myself or else needs to have his head examined. Alden Indy boots are not work boots--I defy anyone to point out someone who actually uses them as such, and by that I mean someone who requires work boots to earn a living. Work boots are made by Red Wing, or Wolverine, and those--or better yet Bean boots--are what you should be wearing if you really intend to use them in mud, muck and snow. Aldens are for urban pretenders such as myself who need a pair of good-looking, fashionable boots to wear when it might rain or on fall weekends or for long walking excursions when ankle support is needed. Now, you might wear your Aldens to go out and chop a bit of firewood or do some pretend ranching in the style of a New England version of Ronald Reagan, but if you choose them over Bean boots to go out in snow, mud and muck, you are not making a wise decision.


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## Tempest (Aug 16, 2012)

32rollandrock said:


> Work boots are made by Red Wing, or Wolverine, and those--or better yet Bean boots--are what you should be wearing if you really intend to use them in mud, muck and snow. Aldens are for urban pretenders such as myself who need a pair of good-looking, fashionable boots to wear when it might rain or on fall weekends or for long walking excursions when ankle support is needed.


Well, the Alden price point is largely determined by their obstinate refusal to adopt any modernity or efficiency to their non-electrified factory. I guess Red Wing's overpricing is due to their hokey ad campaigns. 
Like all Alden styles, the Indy boot likely goes back to an era before radial tires. Did urban pretenders really go around in fashionable "work" boots back then?
Price inflation in no way changes what the boots truly are. They may be Cadillac work boots, but they are work boots or general purpose boots. The ones prissing around like their work boots are fancy are the deluded ones.


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## ricardofrancisco (Jan 1, 2013)

I have 4 pairs of beater shoes - black Venetian loafers, black bluchers, brown captoes and a pair of black boots. All of them have rubber soles and are perfect for use in bad weather such as rain. I don't mind walking around and getting them totally wet or getting them scuffed. I got them all for around $60-80 and I rotate them during inclement weather.


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## 32rollandrock (May 1, 2008)

Tempest said:


> Well, the Alden price point is largely determined by their obstinate refusal to adopt any modernity or efficiency to their non-electrified factory. I guess Red Wing's overpricing is due to their hokey ad campaigns.
> Like all Alden styles, the Indy boot likely goes back to an era before radial tires. Did urban pretenders really go around in fashionable "work" boots back then?
> Price inflation in no way changes what the boots truly are. They may be Cadillac work boots, but *they are work boots or general purpose boots*. The ones prissing around like their work boots are fancy are the deluded ones.


I say that it is one or the other. Example. I have a pair of Red Wing Irish Setter boots. I have worn them while landscaping--hauling dirt and bark via wheelbarrow, and the dirt was fairly mucky--and also while hiking, but I would consider them to be work boots more than general purpose, even though I rarely use them for work because I am lazy. I paid about $150 for them on sale from J. Crew. I would never landscape in a pair of Aldens costing more than $500. That, to me, is downright foolish--landscaping is very hard on boots. I would, however, do the same sort of light day hiking in a pair of Aldens as I did in my Red Wings.

At the end of the day, if you are paying more than $500 for a pair of boots to use as beaters and true work when a pair of $150-$200 boots would work equally well, then money really is no object.


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## TheoProf (Dec 17, 2012)

I believe that CG shoes are great for use in bad weather. I have a pair of JM's I use for this purpose (the Melton, goodyear welted, even recraftable!). The shoes are nearly indestructible. Just wipe them down with a damp cloth, brush them and you're on your way. This way I don't damage my Alden's and AE's, and the JM's actually pretty nice looking.


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## Tempest (Aug 16, 2012)

I just adore this pair of photos of a pair of AE Bayfields that the owner uses for hiking and literally trailblazing.


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## blue suede shoes (Mar 22, 2010)

williamsonb2 said:


> I believe that CG shoes are great for use in bad weather. I have a pair of JM's I use for this purpose (the Melton, goodyear welted, even recraftable!). The shoes are nearly indestructible. Just wipe them down with a damp cloth, brush them and you're on your way. This way I don't damage my Alden's and AE's, and the JM's actually pretty nice looking.


I think the same as you. I have always had two pairs of highly polished corrected grain Florsheim Kenmoors (one black & one burgundy) for use in bad weather, so that I won't have to wear my AEs, Aldens, and Cheaneys in snow, and ice. When the Florsheim Kenmoors become too worn, they become "work shoes", that is shoes I use to cut the lawn, rake leaves, wash the car, etc. I presently have three pairs of work shoes, one pair black and one pair burgundy corrected grain Kenmoors, and one pair of Timberland lug sole bluchers which became too shabby for casual dress.


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## mjo_1 (Oct 2, 2007)

Similarly, I've got a pair of black CG AE McAllisters. These are usually worn to weddings that I think will get pretty wild, and I pair them with my $125 JAB beater charcoal suit. Nothing will screw up a decent pair of shoes like a wedding dance floor several drinks in. 

For yard work, changing oil, etc, I wear a tired old pair of New Balance 993s.


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## Nobleprofessor (Jul 18, 2014)

williamsonb2 said:


> I believe that CG shoes are great for use in bad weather. I have a pair of JM's I use for this purpose (the Melton, goodyear welted, even recraftable!). The shoes are nearly indestructible. Just wipe them down with a damp cloth, brush them and you're on your way. This way I don't damage my Alden's and AE's, and the JM's actually pretty nice looking.


Actually among J&M shoes, the Melton is a great shoe! I read somewhere that the Melton the most popular mens shoe sold by any company. The crazy thing is it's always priced at $175 and rarely goes on sale and yet they sell tons of them. I have a pair that I like. It takes a beating and won't wear out. I tried a pair of the Hyde Park Cap Toe (it's supposed to be the Melton's upper end version. I liked the Melton better.

I went to a Johnston Murphy store in Houston last year and it was surprising how few of their shoes are Goodyear welt. A lot of them are "bond welt" which I assume means glued. It was actually difficult to find an employee that new what a Goodyear welt was.


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## frosejr (Mar 27, 2010)

blue suede shoes said:


> When the Florsheim Kenmoors become too worn, they become "work shoes", that is shoes I use to cut the lawn, rake leaves, wash the car, etc.


I'm trying to imagine someone raking leaves in a pair of gunboats. It's not working.


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## Fred G. Unn (Jul 12, 2011)

I guess I have different levels of "beater" shoes. For example, since I knew I had to spend the whole day in NYC in the rain, I'm wearing these Alfred Sargent boots today (pic from NJ Transit this morning):


I wouldn't wear them for serious yardwork, woodworking, etc., but I have no problem walking all over the city in the rain with them, which is something I would try to avoid doing in leather soled C&J handgrades for example. In that respect, they are "beater" boots but they still get proper care. I'm not going to use them for painting like I would my ancient Merrills though.


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## TheoProf (Dec 17, 2012)

Nobleprofessor said:


> Actually among J&M shoes, the Melton is a great shoe! I read somewhere that the Melton the most popular mens shoe sold by any company. The crazy thing is it's always priced at $175 and rarely goes on sale and yet they sell tons of them. I have a pair that I like. It takes a beating and won't wear out. I tried a pair of the Hyde Park Cap Toe (it's supposed to be the Melton's upper end version. I liked the Melton better.
> 
> I went to a Johnston Murphy store in Houston last year and it was surprising how few of their shoes are Goodyear welt. A lot of them are "bond welt" which I assume means glued. It was actually difficult to find an employee that new what a Goodyear welt was.


You know it's funny, the description on the J&M website used to say the Melton and Waverly were goodyear welted, and it no longer does. I wonder if they've changed their construction methods? Although, they still say that they are recraftable.

I do like my Meltons and Waverlys, and I have them in my rotation. They just always get moved up if there's bad weather.


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## phyrpowr (Aug 30, 2009)

I have, I guess, two types of "beaters". One is the pair of near-dead ankle boots I do yardwork in: just foot protection, and I wouldn't wear them hiking or in public.

The other are more "dress" beaters. All Florsheims, as it turns out, CG burgundy SWBs, shell PTBs and LWBs, and scotch grain PTBs. They are "beaters" as I got them all super cheap thrifting (shop, here, eBay) and subject them to the weather with no fear. They all look rather nice, and hold up well no matter what.


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