Shoes

No clever title today? No, The Dapper Tightwad can offer no punny title for today's introductory post on shoes better than the groanworthy excellence to be found here. I leave it to the masters.

Besides, dear dapsters, the topic of shoes is too broad for a single post and too deep for puns. Indeed, we will revisit the topic of shoes frequently to muse and celebrate and kvetch. In the meantime, however, and well before we start on styles, makers and matching, let us begin by setting foot where only a tightwad would: the thrift store.

With respect to yesterday's admission--nay, point of pride!--that TDT has no squeamishness when it comes to the dead man's shoes, let me clarify that the truly tight and the truly dapper shop for cast-off footwear with a gimlet eye and exacting standards.

What does this mean? This means that most visits to thrift-shop shoe aisles will bear no fruit. After much trial and error and many rookie mistakes, TDT tenders for your consideration the following guidelines and tips for successful shoe thrifting:

1. Examine every shoe rack in the store. TDT has often found excellent men's shoes mixed in with both women's and children's shoes.

2. Look beyond the shoe racks. Often the nicest shoes are up front under glass. And because the shoe rack is a constant merchandising display hassle--shoes are always falling off the racks into the interstices--look between the racks and around them. Nearby you will often find a shopping cart full of shoes: a sign of too much stock or too little patience for shelving it. Dig.

3. Insist on perfect fit. Do not allow a bargain price to dull your wits. Poorly-fitting shoes are a nightmare worth no amount of savings at the register. This means trying them on and walking around the store. And for the love of Pete, dapsters, wear socks for the occasion.

4. Insist on at least very good condition. Are the shoes broken in? Fine. Do they need polishing? No worries. Do they need laces? Easy as pie. Do they need new half-soles, stitching, gluing or heels? Put them back. There is no point in thrifting in the shoe aisle just to pay premium dollar at the cobbler. If you are going to spend that kind of money, buy new shoes. Besides, what is really going to happen is that your beautiful-but-in-need-of-repair bargains are going to sit in your closet unrepaired, gathering dust until you finally donate them back to Goodwill.

5. Look for name-brand quality makers. TDT has purchased some gorgeous shoes and boots by Cole Haan, Allen-Edmonds, Bostonian, Dan Post, and Foster & Son, all from second-hand sources. Not familiar with the brands? Bring your phone and Google 'em.

6. Don't stop at brand. Some fancy designers stamp their names on sub-par footwear. Look for quality materials and construction, i.e., leather soles, leather uppers, and real stitching (not just glue). Sad is the dapster who brings home the perfect shoe only to have it delaminate on the first hot day.

7. Allow a bargain to nudge you out of your comfort zone, but unless you are this guy, do not permit the promise of mere savings to lead you in bad fashion directions just for "fun." Your closet will fill with fun shoes you don't wear, because, frankly, you are dapper and have more sense than to wear bad shoes.

The advice above should save you some heartache, footache and hassle, but it will do so by rendering unsuitable almost every pair of shoes in the shop. Do not fret. Keep up your periodic peregrinations of the second-hand outlets and you will enjoy the occasional victory.

Also, because TDT wears sneakers infrequently and thrifts for them rarely, our discussion of bargain footwear will stop well short of casual kicks, which is a fashion universe unto itself, and a widely covered one at that. For a brilliantly curated look at an underreported yet vibrant side of sneaker culture, spend some time here.

Finally, a word about TDT's periodic frequent hipster-hazing: though we may share the universal goal of more love, if indeed not merely less hate, the dapper must distinguish themselves from the hipsters, whose goal, it seems to me, is precisely contrapuntal to the values we here espouse: fine habiliments, well coordinated, for the people. That said, we pick no fight with the hipster's aim to shock and amaze, draw attention, nudge, provoke, and stand apart from the people in an opaque and inscrutable cocoon of cool. Indeed, we join together in the same house of worship--the thrift shop--where we may share in the love of the bargain and in the joy of repurposing the cast-off raiments of those who would pay full retail. Nod and smile at your hipster brethren. Just don't pick up what they're putting down.

Frugally yours,

TDT