How to choose a sneaker to shop given 100s of choices.

Inside Sneakers
4 min readJan 21, 2022

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A vision concept of a sneaker walk-in store

Like all life choices, none of them comes easily. Decisions that last a while in life once made get even harder and for that reason, you would want to decide with less to no chance of regrets.

You need a solid criterion for such decisions and buying sneakers isn’t any different.

Stacking up reasons as to why you should pick a certain pair over several others isn't supposedly a time-consuming activity and can be done on-site that is when you are shopping online or in-store shopping.

Here is a list of criteria you can employ to help you make the best choice out of the vast selection of sneakers available.

A basket of intentions. Shopping for a pair of sneakers comes in handy with intentions as to why you shopping for this pair. Questions like;

What activity do I need this pair for?

Where will I be putting on the sneakers from?

When or how often will I be putting on the pair?

Asking the right questions always yields the best what-to-do solutions. In the same case, it will hold big-time while you are making this decision.

Aesthetics of choice. Given your judgment of beauty and taste, specific colors and textures hit your nerve well than other options. This criterion helps you filter out the colors and texture you feel more comfortable with but this shouldn’t limit you to more possibilities and insanely nice color shades you have never tried out. Even better, create a color palette of your word rope as you head out to shop anything fashionable.

Style, Fashion, and Trend. These words when implemented right can spark off a contagious energy level that isn’t a given.

Great style can create a distinctive appearance, fused with fashion can create a spin-off trend. Buying a given sneaker pair means linking into a new way of doing things and sometimes linking into whole new culture instances like the Nike SB Dunk project.

Fit and Feel. From experience, anything else can go wrong when shopping for a pair of sneakers but first, the size has to fit. It’s important to evaluate the fit of a pair of shoes by first putting them on and standing in them in the socks you’d normally wear, you also need to perform the specific activity you’re buying them for. Sometimes an option will feel perfect standing or even walking but reveal deficiencies or fit issues after a few minutes of running.

A running or walking shoe should have plenty of space for your toes to wiggle, and you’ll probably want to size up from your normal shoe size for running shoes since your foot moves much more dynamically when you’re running than when you’re walking.

Is the shoe cushioned or more firm? Does the arch of the shoe feel supportive or obtrusive? Do you feel like you’re fighting the shoe to find a comfortable rhythm? All this put together gives you the feeling when you try on that pair.

In most instances of online shopping, you may not have all chance to check all these but find the right online shopping partner like @feetbitstore.

With FeetBit Sneakers, you get to shop online, receive the options of the pairs you would want to shop, try on all and send back what fits. All the shipping for both delivery and returns are free and on the house.

Price and Life of the Shoe comparison. Sneakers have a finite life, and they wear out unfortunately quite quickly. If you’re buying shoes in a store, be sure to ask an employee about the life expectancy of the ones you’re considering.

Knowing the expected life of a shoe can help determine whether or not to invest in a brand — after all, sneakers can be expensive.

This criterion is harder to test in a short period, so it‘s tricky to use it to evaluate sneakers rather than apply the criterion at a vendor level. Finding out the best sneaker plug with top quality in comparison to price can be a whole marathon but looking up for reviews from past shoppers can do the job really well.

Visiting review sections of the respective stores, product review sites and the most popular ones like Google my business profile reviews can give you better insights on the available vendors.

Check out our Google profile here.

Conclusion.

Shopping for sneakers and other fashionable stuff can be fun and fulfilling especially when done right.

Bundling up the above criterion together with the right shopping partner or plug will be worth every penny.

What else do you consider when shopping for a pair of sneakers?

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