Shoes.  I have a few.  I only wear a few of those.  I cull the conglomeration from time to time.  If they are worn out, I throw them away.  If they are in good shape but I just don’t like them (and, thus, never wear them), I find them a new home.  Today’s sample is just the shoes that are out in my bedroom.  If they were in my closet, they are not in today’s imagery.

This isn’t representative — my ankle high hiking boots that I wear when motorcycling or working at the ranch are in the closet as are my Merrell’s, which are waterproof, so I wear them anytime I’m liable to be puddle slogging.  But today’s collection, including the shoes on my feet, features three pair of Asics Gel-Nimbus and one pair of Nike slides.  I prefer the slides to flip flops, because I can wear socks with the slides, which is sometimes nice.  They’re also easy to slip on.

Since my feet have a lot of problems, which throws my whole body out of alignment, resulting in more pain than usual, I rarely go barefoot.  Even the slides provide a minimal arch support for my high arches.  The Asics Gel-Nimbus, on the other hand are what I switched to for running when New Balance’s product line began letting me down.  Asics makes shoes for all types of feet.  The Gel-Nimbus line is for heavier people with high arches and a neutral running style.  I’ve looked for other shoes that meet that criteria, and there are very few — most of them even more expensive than the Gel-Nimbus, which run around $100 a pair.

The shoes on my feet are old and grubby, and I wear them for every day working in the house and yard.  The white ones are my new pair set up to wear when I don’t plan on getting dirty, and the black ones just arrived in the mail this week.  I haven’t taken them out of the box yet.  I haven’t decided which of the two new pair is going to wind up being designated for work, because the work shoes on my feet have just about had it and will need to be replaced with something soon.  I have some shoes in the closet that will work fine for work shoes, though, and I need to wear them out or get rid of them, because they don’t meet my needs.

I look for comfort and functionality in my shoes.  My orthotics must fit, or the shoes are a no-go for me.  What’s important to you when you’re choosing your shoes?  What is your favorite type of shoe and why?