I really liked the Merrill hikers I started buying about 10 years ago. I wore out about 4 pair over the course of about 6 years. Then they quit making them and the next time I tried to buy a pair of Merrill's none of them were near as good.

There were a lot of discussions on a backpacking forum I belong to about this and the universal consensus came to be that Merrill was no longer a shoe we could recommend. As they got more popular their quality receded and I and others really mourned that.

Before we started buying Merrill's we bought aftermarket insoles for our shoes and many of us are back to doing that again. But you can do that with a lot less costly shoe and Merrill offers no real advantages right now over some of those cheaper shoes.

Selling a cheaper made shoe for the same premium price may have increased their profits a bit in the short term, but that cost them a huge amount of good will.

You cannot fool hikers or runners with inferior quality and they don't care what your logo looks like. Reputations rise and fall with them and Merrill has lost theirs.

I run relatively regularly these days. My journey of running started with a marathon. I went from nothing to marathon in 6 months, with lots of training, weight loss (healthily because I still love to eat), and stamina increases. But after the marathon, it took over a week to walk normally again. Long runs sucked, and I really began to hate running. Running shoes were killing me, and I hated the idea that the shoe was there to help cushion the foot fall.

Then a friend encouraged me to try vibrams. And suddenly I fell in love with running again. I have huge calves, and these helped tone them a lot more, but now my strike is mid-front, and it’s comfortable to go 4-6 miles (though I struggle keeping pace with my dog).

We have a wonderful suspension system built into our bodies, but it only works correctly when applied correctly. We do not strike the ground the same when running as when walking. And Vibrams taught me quickly to strike differently (especially if I wanted to avoid really sore heels). The springiness of running on our feet transfers to our ankels to our knees to our hips to our back. I’m not an expert, and I know others can run with a rear strike, but for my body shape and what I’ve learned to run with, the front strike was important and I have Vibram FF to thank for it!

My friend, the company you need to go visit is Vivobarefoot. They are not as cheap as your Chinese shoe, but they are the wide-toebox, no-support, tough-as-nails-soles that you have been looking for.

  https://www.vivobarefoot.com/

Because of them, every shoe that I wear for every occasion can be minimal and I get to feel everything under my feet everywhere I go. I even have fancy black leather shoes for special occasions.

They are wonderful.

I'm surprised that the author went with the vapor glove over another version of the trail glove.

I was another one of those that loved the first version. Ran them through multiple spartan races, half marathons, etc. They lasted a good 2 years before the sole really started to wear through. I remember looking for the next version during that time and seeing they were not continuing with the line. But they must have changed their mind, because they eventually came out with the trail glove 2.

I'm currently running with v2, with about a year of minimal wear on them, although it's mostly been weight training and 4 mile runs. They also seem to be continuing the line as it's now on v4. It would be interesting to see if there is any consistency on wear through the versions.

Just a few days ago I was remembering a pair of these that I picked up back in the eighties for… a school play? I liked them so much that I wore them until they disintegrated.

We picked them up from a martial arts store (this was during the Karate Kid fad), and sure enough, a quick search for "kung fu shoes" on Amazon is all it took, $10. I'm going to grab a pair as soon as spring rolls around…

I'm not a runner but I am a hiker and what I learned was to buy resoleable boots (obviously this opinion is of no value to runners).

There are lots of decent midpriced boots but all have the soles glued on. Typically they don't even last 1000 miles before they wear out and need replacement. The problem is that by then they have adjusted properly to my foot!

Now i've had the same boot for almost a decade, having been resoled four times. (in that time my dog has gone through about 10 sets of boots)

I've been a minimalist runner for about a decade at this point. Merrell disappointed me in this exact same way. They also used to have a zero drop gore-tex shoe for running in snow that they discontinued.

My best solution has been to turn towards running sandals. I've done a lot of barefoot (foot to ground) running, but the sandals provide enough protection from hot pavement and rocky trails. Also, the main reason I've had to throw away my minimalist shoes is due to how bad they smell after a while. That's not a problem with sandals.

There's a great company based out of Santa Cruz called Shamma. Leather straps and made to order for $70. I get a few thousand miles out of them. I've done hundred mile stretches on the PCT in them and even ran a 50 mile race in them. And I swear to god I do not work for the company. https://shammasandals.com/

A couple of people have asked me separately about where I found these on Taobao. Here is a link: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.135.17cc5590...

I'm not sure it was this particular buyer I bought from, but they are approximately this. Beware, it's pretty difficult (read near-impossible) to buy off taobao without chinese because the seller will expect that you chat with them about the purchase before they ship.

The author is incorrect - his shoe is a Vapor Glove 2, not a 3 - as evidenced by the design and clearly visibly label.

And the Vapor Glove is definitely not a follow-up to the Trail Glove, it's a different shoe. Merrell still makes Trail Gloves (though yes, the design has changed both for better and worse). I'm currently considering the Trail Glove 4.

Last year, I bought two pairs of Merrell boots: A "normal" pair and a winter pair (bit more insulation, and some extra-grippy bits on the soles).

Unfortunately, trial in the store was not long enough and/or was too distracting, but on both -- different models -- the "box" of the left boot is narrow than that of right. And over the course of a few hours and/or more extensive walking, this causes my left foot to hurt from the constraint. Meanwhile, my right foot is perfectly cosy and fine.

This is not something I have experienced regularly with other brands. For some reason, that season, Merrell seemed to be making lefts smaller/narrower.

(Unfortunately, I ended up severely ill for a couple of months, two days after purchase. By the time I was well enough to consider returning them, I was too embarrassed at the time passed. And I'd gotten them on quite a good combination of sales, meaning that the store probably would have had to eat their cost, if they took them back, due to model/yearly revisions.)

P.S. I'm returning to just buying "decent" stuff from LL Bean. I seem to find less size variation in their products (e.g. jeans). And even "premium" products too often seem to be a crap shoot, these days.

Although I do love and baby my Asolo's, bought from an expert who spent an hour fitting me. Over a decade ago, now. But I'm not going to wear them out on daily tromps for exercise on our local gravel trail.

P.P.S. I also had a pair of those Chinese slippers -- looked exactly like the ones pictured. Bought somewhere in San Francisco's Chinatown. They were ok, certainly for the price, although I wouldn't run in them. Had them until I took them to a friend's, because they were obsessive about people removing their shoes. Never got them back. You can't trust your friends, either. ;-)

I just wish I could get shoes wide enough for my feet. Anything wide enough is too long (a good 4cm of wasted space at the front). I have tried supposedly extra wide shoes like Lems, but the only thing that is comfortable is either the Vibram Five Fingers or Crocs (terrible for running) or some Birkenstocks (just).

This doesn't excuse Merrell's quality control at all but for a bit of consumer protection: If you purchase your shoes at REI and they fall apart like this, they'll happily provide you with a refund or replacement.

I had a pair of Trail Gloves pictured and they were great. Every pair of Merrells I've bought since have been disappointing. Either wore down too fast or were uncomfortable.

Seems like Toms are pretty similar to the Chinese shows mentioned in the article.

He should just coat the soles in ShoeGoo and patch as necessary. Same for the high wear areas of the cloth.

I'd love a link to where the author found those 布鞋 on TaoBao. that seems like the best bet.

But do you all go running in them? I feel the main post is about wearing out shoe with a lot of use.

Take a look at Altra shows, their signature feature is a very wide toe box. They make a trail running shoe that's currently very popular with distance hikers.

Try skateboarding shoes, they're usually much wider than regular shoes. Don't run in them though, they have flat soles and not much arch support.

You could also try different lacing styles for running shoes, checkout this graphic for different techniques: http://d2s0f1q6r2lxto.cloudfront.net/pub/ProTips/wp-content/...

I have very wide feet. In the UK shoe measurement system a width of H is the widest. One of my feet is H, and the other one is wider. I wear Vivobarefoot https://www.vivobarefoot.com/ and they actually fit. I'm no longer buying shoes 1-2 sizes too big to fit my feet. I'm currently wearing Gobi for every day wear, and exercise in a Stealth II. All of these needed a bit of time to break in. When I tried on a Primus they were a bit tight all around, so probably best to avoid that style (or try them on yourself).

I think most specialty "wide" shoes are only normal wide, that is they're the correct width for people who don't have particularly wide feet.

I have a pair of Otz boots that I love, they look like Timberlands but have a really nice wide toe box, and a zero drop vibram lugged sole. And of course, they don't make them any more. I would have bought 3 or 4 pairs if I knew that to last me a while.

It's even worse with bike shoes, and I don't even have wide feet. I just want a pair of mountain bike shoes that don't make my toes hurt.

New Balance used to make very wide shoes, but not needing anything that wide, I don't know whether they still do.

I'm on the opposite spectrum. I find that the vast majority of shoes are too wide for me. Merrils, Vibram and their ilk are the only ones that seem to be about right.

If you haven't checked your arches, you might find that you need more arch support, not wider shoes. Arch support prevents your feet from splaying out.

Thanks for all of the helpful suggestions below. Am going to be investigating them. Sorry to OP if I hijacked this at all.