I have two pairs of sneakers I wear for a lot of things. They get at least weekly use. Both are >4 years old. One was a pair of Sketchers I got for $40, the other was some pair that didn't even have a box I got for $9 at Walmart.
You don't say how long you wear them,
how much you're on your feet wearing them,
or how far you move wearing them.
Shoes don't wear out (much) from being put on and taken off,
and weekly use is light use.
On the flip side, four years is nothing.
I have shoes I bought over thirty years ago,
and all I've ever done is replace the insoles.
Even the laces are original.
Trips to the office and general errands, work around the house and yard, walks through the park and neighborhood, playing with the kids at the playground, some light bike riding along with sometimes bike riding as a commute. Normal everyday wear stuff for an office drone. At least weekly, because I switch off between the two shoes (one's more grey and the other is black) and some flip flops depending on the weather for my general everyday wear. Some days I'll wear nicer shoes, some days I'll wear one of my pairs of boots, so its not really an every day thing to wear those shoes but each probably gets at least 2 days a week on average of all day wear.
I'd say over four years of this a few days a week on a $9 pair of sneakers is pretty decent. They'll likely hit at least six or seven before replacement.
And yeah, I have some nice dress shoes that I've had for twenty years that pretty much look like the day I bought them. They get worn like 2-3 times a year. I also have leather cowboy boots I bought over 15 years ago that had their heels replaced a couple of years ago and are otherwise still in great shape. Both were more than $9 though. I think the boots were like $110 back when I bought them at Cavender's. The comment I was replying to:
> I can’t friggin’ believe how bad $70 sneakers can be these days
Even in the 90s my sneakers usually fell apart within a few years, and I rarely even owned $70 sneakers back then even adjusted for inflation. These days I can get sneakers for about $15 that last just about as long as the sneakers I owned in the 90s. That's the equivalent of buying ~$6 shoes in 1990 by many inflation calculators.
These are my cheap sneakers, a little bit different but the same brand and general style:
