We're Baaaaaaack!

Feeling encouraged by my sister, I bought a new pair of kicks.



There might have been a little nostalgia at work here, I won't deny it. But there's something indefinably comforting about wearing a pair of Docs. Maybe it's the comfort of the boots, maybe it's the memories... but I love wearing Docs.

There's a slightly guilty pleasure to wearing calf-high boots in public. Everyone else can only see the bottoms: they think you're wearing shoes. But there's a little secret that only you know: they're boots! It's even better with dress slacks or a suit: you look like you're wearing shoes, but you're wearing boots!

Simple minds, simple pleasures.


I used to wear Docs all the time: I bought my first pair in 1995, and have worn them more or less faithfully since. My first pair were 4-hole shoes, then I tried the 8-hole boots, then tried 6-hole boots, and then I bought a pair of slip-on dress shoes last year.

But in 2005, I replaced my worn-out 6-hole boots with a pair of Columbias. The Columbias are comfortable, durable, and good for support; but in the end, they're not Docs.



My Columbias are wearing out, so I started looking for a new pair of boots.

One parameter is my jacket, which is a brown leather:


As you can see, it's a dark brown. It's hard to match shoes with that jacket, it's too dark for virtually all the shoes I've looked at. Then a brilliant thought occurred: I can get black Docs. I know, brown and black aren't a match, but this jacket is dark enough that the black boots match it better than pretty much all the brown shoes or boots I examined:



So yesterday I bought some black Docs.

I never realized how much I missed Docs.

This is my first pair in black: the black leather's a little thinner than the brown I always used to buy, which is a little strange. I can't help but notice they're made in China too. I'm not a big fan of "made in China," but I didn't notice until I had already bought and worn them, so that removes my obligation to decide whether I want to support a totalitarian regime. Of course, show me shoes for sale in the USA that aren't made in China, right?


It's good to have them back.