Jake Coombs

Extending a sneaker's life through rotation

Hello internet, it's been a minute. A few months ago, whilst away on holiday, I decided to start writing a little bit to have a creative outlet. But, as with quite a lot of projects and hobbies in my life, it was short-lived. That was for a few factors, mainly going back to work. BUT, here I am. We are so back.

After daily driving my Vans Cruze 3.0's, in White/Gum, for a solid 6 months of use, I've worn down the tread of the shoes to the point where I am starting to lose grip and slip in the drizzly weather of the land of rain and grey that is London. These quickly became one of my favourite pairs of shoes I've had for a while, being both comfortable and stylish, at least in my opinion, being on the edge of smart/casual. I'd also like to add I got these on sale for the very good price of £45, which is a bargain for trainers like these in this day and age!

Vans Cruze 3.0 in White/Gum

I thought it'd be interesting to figure out how much usage I actually got from the shoes. According to my step count, I have averaged 12.2k steps daily over the past 12 months. I'm going to assume that 80% of these steps are done with shoes on. And I'm going to assume that I am wearing the Vans 75% of the time I am wearing shoes (which is genuinely honest, when I say daily driver, I mean it). Therefore, we can assume that I am averaging (12.2*0.8*0.75=)7.32k steps daily over the past 6 months. Apparently, 12.2k steps correlates to 9.73km for me, which means that from the last 200 days or so I have been wearing the Vans, I have walked an estimated 1167km (725mi) or 1.4m steps. This is some pretty good wear and usage, as according to mystylegrid.com, trainers (sneakers in American) usually last between 300 and 500 miles!

So now that my daily drivers were done, it was time to look for a replacement. Recently I've started to be a bit more thoughtful in the purchases I've been making, so I started with browsing the r/BuyItForLife subreddit, a subreddit for championing quality and durable products. I wanted to find a pair of shoes which were well-built and decent quality, and even maybe repairable. So the browsing began... But after going through a few posts, I noticed a couple of recurring comments; shoes are like tyres, they're meant to wear and be replaced, and, as mentioned in this comment, shoes need to rest and be rotated so that they can dry out, this way they last longer. As someone that's always worn a single pair daily, this came as a surprise to me, but it makes sense. I've always had shoes start to fall apart within a year, whether it be the heel getting torn up or issues with the sole. Now whether this actually helps save the tread, I'm not sure, but it's still useful to know.

Fortunately, I already have a back-up pair of trainers, in a pair of Nike Dunk Low's in green and white, which means I don't need to buy two pairs of trainers to rotate between, but I still want another pair to replace the Vans. So I started my search. I first had a look at other Vans Cruze shoes that were available, but for those in my size, I couldn't really find a style/colour that resonated with me as much as my previous pair, and it seemed like that colour was out of stock everywhere in my size. So I started to look at other brands, New Balance who were meant to be known for their quality, but I had a pair before that quickly fell apart. Other 'skate' brands such as Nike, Adidas, DC and Etnies, but nothing was tickling my fancy.

After a few days of browsing, going back and forth across multiple sites and shops, I finally found my replacement pair! So what pair did I land on I hear you ask! Well, I treated myself to a pair of...
Vans...
Cruze...
3.0's...
in...
White/Gum.

Yep, an exact replacement of the previous pair. I didn't quite get the same deal as before, having to pay £60 this time, but, I was very happy with the previous pair I had in both style and quality, so when I saw that they were in stock and on sale in an online skater shop, I decided to run it back. They're on their way as I'm typing this. This time I will be rotating them with my Nike's to hopefully get some more life out of them than before. But, I was already happy with the life I got from my pair before, so I'm feeling optimistic!