Years ago someone turned me on to Rockport shoes. If you walk a lot you will dig them. The styles are perfectly suitable for corporate business attire and casual wear too.
I don't shop for shoes often and certainly very picky about shopping for them since I'm the kind of person that buys one pair and wear it until the flap falls off.
Comfort for me is always #1. I have tried brand after brands and glad to have found Rockport to be the most comfortable and relatively inexpensive brand.
I used to be brand conscious and wear Kenneth Cole, Gucci, my God, my feet would have blisters at the end. Stay with comfort is all I can say, this is the best and essential blind test!
For most of my life, I've worn running shoes as my every day footwear. When one has to walk ten miles to and from school, uphill, in a blizzard, comfort is king. At some point, however, I joined the work force so I had to replace my beloved Adidas with something more appropriate for cubicle life.
Warily, I trudged through department stores, trying on various shoes from myriad brands. Some of them were too garish, some too stiff, some too tight, all of them uncomfortable. Then I tried on a pair of Rockport... foot heaven.
My current pair is made of a soft leather, with pliant soles that also provide good support. Although it has somewhat of a tapered front, it's wide enough so as not to constrict the toes, but not so lose that your foot slides around.
I picked light brown for the color, which goes well with jeans or khakis. This versatility came in handy when I went traveling in Europe last year; I could wear the same pair of shoes while sightseeing during the day, or eating at more upscale restaurants in the evenings. Unfortunately, they're starting to show some age after wearing them nearly every day for the past couple of years. But given the mileage I've gotten out of them, I really have no complaints
