March 12, 2021
DISCLAIMER: I’m an Adidas fanboy, also Amazon Affliate links, you know the drill.
So through trial and error and I’ve arrived at the best setup that works best for me.
Shoes are bulky, they take up a lot of space, making them a hassle to pack if you travel a lot, yet you probably want to be able to have a different style for when you want to go out for a stroll in the city and for when you have that business meeting, for the sake of your feet in the first, and the sake of your career on the latter.
So here is what I have currently working for me.
The classic white sneaker
What more needs to be said, they get beat up fast as I mentioned in a previous post but they definitely make up for it with their versatility. I use them for almost everything, casual walks, in the gym for weightlifting, business-casual work needs. I’m currently rocking Adidas Superstar, I prefer them over Stan Smiths since I find that they look better one as well as since I find that when lifting weights they provide better support for squats vs the Stan Smiths (or any flat sole minimalist white sneaker really), and while yes they are better for deadlifts, for deadlifts I just take off my shoes. That being said of course depending on your needs and budget you can go for any white sneaker you wish, as long as it’s minimalistic it’s really hard to go wrong here.
What I use them for: Walking / Casual, Business / Work, Weight lifting
The running shoes (comfy)
With the workplace becoming ever more casual, I think we use our running for more and more things, except for huh, runnning, which maybe we should actually for often. Regardless when you want to go out and explore a new city or place all day, or are going on a long plane trip there really isn’t a better pair of shoes. My favorite is Ultraboost, they are still the most comfortable walking shoe I’ve ever used but you can go with whatever you like.
What I use them for: Walking / Casual / Chilling, Light hiking
The leather boots
Sometimes it gets cold, sometimes it gets wet, it’s for these cases you want a pair of trusty leather boots, if you pick wisely they should able to be able to serve as a smart option for a cool casual night out and looking sharp. For boots I prefer chelsea as a first option and desert boots as a second option, I find these two to be the most flexible of all the boots, as for leather vs suede, I think suede boots are usually better looking, but leather is much more durable and if you’re living or are planning on going anywhere with a lot of rain, or even worse, snow, suede is a non-starter so I usually stick with leather.
What I use them for: It’s f*cking raining/snowing but I have somewhere else I need to be, Casual, Business / Work.
How to customize this template for your needs
While I think these 3 options will fit most of you my dear readers, there might be some of you that have special needs. Here are a few examples of how you can customize for your needs.
- You can just buy a new pair of shoes. - I like to cap my number of shoes at 3, but everyone’s minimalism is different since everyone is different. For example if you’re in a corporate job/career buying one or two pairs of dress shoes might make the most sense.
- You can replace one of the pairs with a more specialized one. - Let’s say you love traveling and are a hardcore hiker and love hiking those really hard hikes, in your case as long as you don’t mind walking with your hiking shoes, you can consider replacing the pair of running shoes with the pair of hiking shoes, since they kind of fulfill the same roles.
- You can just replace one of the pairs with one that makes more sense for you. - Let’s say you live in a tropical climate and don’t travel anywhere else very often, in your case a pair of boots might not make much sense at all, in this case maybe just replace the pair of boots with something like a pair of sneakers, maybe in grey or black.
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