Muddy Boots

Why are people buying shoes and not wearing them?

I don’t know if it’s a 2020 trend or if I’ve only just noticed it but it drives me loopy when I see people freaking out about getting a bit of muck on their shoes. Is that not what shoes were designed to do? Get mucky so our feet don’t have to. If I’m going to spend a large sum of money on a pair of shoes, you’re damn right I’m going to get as many uses out of them as possible.

Maybe I’m just getting old and grumpy but I can’t wrap my head around the idea that any clothing item is bought only to be worn under certain circumstances. Clothes and shoes are supposed to protect you from the elements and it seems a shame to let them go to waste after you spent so much time and money picking out that item and purchasing it for yourself.

My dad recently got gifted a pair of trainers by my younger sister and she demands that he doesn’t wear them walking the dogs. Why? They are SHOES! I don’t have a single pair of shoes I wouldn’t wear walking the dogs because shoes are just shoes, they’re meant to be worn. I think this is why the fashion industry makes so much money - because it’s not about the quality or longevity of the clothing item, it’s about how much you can brag about the label and the price.

Personally, I would much prefer to buy cheap clothes and shoes for the rest of my life if it just meant I was permitted to wear and use them as they were intended.

Why would you spend hundreds on an outfit you’ll only wear once?

If you’re only going to wear an outfit once, there’s no point spending all your money on it - buy something cheaper and snazz it up. Get something you could rework maybe for a later date, I hate this label culture where you’re only cool if you have the latest brand and it’s forever in perfect condition because it doesn’t even get used. It’s a waste of money and a waste of time.

I have loads of clothes and boots that I really love but I’m not going to leave them in the wardrobe all the time worrying that if I wear them, they’ll get ruined. It’s a shame that so many awesome pieces of clothing get wasted because they’ve apparently gone out of fashion. You don’t have to blow your whole paycheck to feel good about what you’re wearing - there are loads of clothing items which are gorgeous and don’t break the bank.

You don’t have to follow every trend to look good, you don’t have to keep a collection or pristine clothes and shoes just to be considered cool. You don’t have to worry about things getting much or “ruined”, I remember when I was in school, I would get bleach all over my tops from bleaching my hair and guess what? Suddenly bleach dyed clothing is in fashion. People are literally spending hundreds on a look that I did by accident.

Whatever you do, whatever you wear, do it with confidence and at some point it’ll probably be the latest trend. Be individual, wear what makes you comfortable, do things that are fun and stop worrying all the time about what you don’t have and start using the things you do have. Every day fashion changes, every day, something is going out of style or something is coming into style and unless you’re working in the fashion industry your wardrobe doesn’t really matter.

Let’s start wearing things we buy and lets stop leaving them to gather dust in our closets.