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Clothes Working life

Runners for the commute

Runners with business clothesI can understand why some white-collar women wear runners on their commute given how uncomfortable and impractical some of the shoes they wear around the office look.

I don’t understand why some men feel the same way though. It’s not like they wear platform shoes or high heels at work. (Unless their work is odder than they appear.) While it’s certainly possible to buy men’s shoes that are uncomfortable, most of them tend to be fairly comfortable most of the time, are no problem when walking fast or running, and certainly don’t leave a risk of falling over.

Seems to me that runners with business clothes look pretty awful.

(Awaiting the onslaught of angry comments from 4WD-with-bullbar owning, smoking men who wear runners with business clothes, and their apologists.)

By Daniel Bowen

Transport blogger / campaigner and spokesperson for the Public Transport Users Association / professional geek.
Bunurong land, Melbourne, Australia.
Opinions on this blog are all mine.

13 replies on “Runners for the commute”

I work in a office where many woman feel they must wear shoes (while at work) that are SO uncomfortable and SO impractical that they can’t walk in the street with them on. A sad comment on society!
Given most men wouldn’t even notice if a woman turned up to work completely naked (and they certainly never notice things like shoes), I suspect women dress simply to impress other woman.
Unfortunately, MetroSexual men are falling into the same consumerist trap. A disturbing trend!!

I still don’t understand the tendency of city workers to play dress-ups at all. Why all the suits and other expensive gear? Why not just dress neatly and comfortably?

I personally even think the women sneaker-wearers are nuts. Why even wear footwear that is so uncomfortable or “precious” that you can’t walk any distance in it or risk it getting street-smudged? When I worked fulltime, with one painful exception which was subsequently binned, all my shoes were a) comfortable and b) practical. Some of them had a slight chunky heel but nothing steep or precipitous. And not once do I recall any colleague ever even *looking* at my feet, let alone commenting on them. Now, working at home and rearing toddlers, I wear sandals, sneakers, boots and bare feet almost all the time.

Just as bad are those that were thongs with business attire to/from work during Summer.

Thongs/joggers with business attire just look plain wrong. Why not just buy some comfortable shoes in the first place!!!

one of the commuters that was stranded on the train broken down on the sydney harbour bridge was interviewed and whinged about ruining a 300 dollar pair of high heel shoes walking along the train line to the station.

she wasnt smoking or driving a 4wd though.

I have a feeling Roger, that I would DEFINITELY notice if women started turning up naked to work… My productivity (such as it is – I am commenting while at work ain’t I???) would probably fall….

But I agree I have no care for the shoes a woman wears to work

So the 1980s still live on! I was suprised by the runners-with-suits look that I faced when living in NYC (and don’t forget the yellow braces and power ties, too).

Anyhow, it’s the reverse trend here in Japan. People will always wear business shoes to and from work, and outside the office. However, inside the office they swap to slippers or sandals and slop around the place to their hearts’ content.

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