16: Horrible worn out old boots

I had forgotten how worn out and horrible these boots were: not only do they look creased and cardboardy on the outside, but they've worn out enough to have sharp fins on the inside.

I won't even put them in the shoe recycling charity box, because I'd hate for someone who needs them to miss out on their chance of decent winter boots by getting these ankle shredders instead.

I will at least take the laces out and keep those.

I know I'm breaking my own rules slightly by posting these boots on the blog when I'm replacing them. But I'm doing that to make the point that I bought these only 4 years ago for about £20 - £30 and now they're too worn out to be usable.

Now that I've been working in a proper job for 2 years, I can afford to buy some new boots that will be much better quality, and hopefully last much longer.

So I've ordered these fantastic looking Doc Martens boots with furry linings - they should be arriving today, and I really hope they fit! 

(I've ordered them from Office because it's easier to return them to a shop if they don't).

It's got me thinking though:

1: At what price point is it worth spending more on better quality, longer lasting shoes?

2: How much difference does it make to the environment if you buy shoes less often?

3: Is it only worth spending more on shoes that you know won't go out of fashion?

4: If you're spending more to get better quality shoes, how do you know that that's what they are?

Aside from being much much nicer, would my £160 new boots have to last for 21-32 years to be worth buying instead of the old ones (or possibly 16-24 years as I think they were too worn out to wear last year as well)?

How much of a financial disadvantage is this for people like the me from 4 years ago, who can only afford £20 boots?

These aren't even the worst shoes you can get: I've bought kid's shoes from ASDA that disintegrated within weeks, and sandals from Primark that broke apart on the second day of wearing them. 

How is it fair or justifiable to fill up landfills and waste hard up people's money like that, not to mention the labour of whatever people in the third world had to make this crap? It really isn't right.

But...

New boots are on their way! 

Lovely new boots! 

I'm looking forward to it😀