Sometimes It's Worth It to Pay

Filed in archive Buying Stuff on December 4, 2007

Recently I bought the best pair of shoes in my life. They are the Clarks Escalade, and they are pictured above. For a while I had been looking for a brown shoe that wasn't super dressy but wasn't super casual. Something that could go with jeans on a fairly regular basis but could also go with khakis or other outfits that were a bit dressy without being suit-and-tie. This pair of Clarks completely fits the bill. I've been getting compliments on them left and right. I'm tempted to buy a pair in black.

They cost $93.95.

Depending on whether you are a clothes horse or whether you only shop for what's on sale, you might say "Yeah, so?" or "Are you kidding me? 93 bucks for a pair of casual shoes?"

For most of my life I've been in the latter camp, always trying to find a deal, buying the cheaper thing even if it's not what I really want or need, thinking it's good enough. Many a time I have bought a cheap pair of shoes or shirts end of season, not being able to resist the discount off of the regular price. Problem is, I usually didn't really want those things all that bad; it just seemed a shame to let the deal go by. And it's just clothes; it doesn't really matter.

But when I get dressed I like to feel good about how I look. And there's nothing worse than looking in the mirror and seeing a shirt or pants or shoes that are sort of stylish but not quite, that look not so bad but not so good either, that hang just a little funny. But worse is the inevitable fact that these items will soon hit the closet, only to be removed on desperate occasions when I've run out of clean clothes. (Or, in the case of shoes, when I have some dirty task to accomplish and don't want to ruin the shoes I actually like.) Once this happens, your deal is no deal, because you've spent money on something you either don't wear, or that you wear unhappily.

These new Clarks of mine are one of the few times I've been able to break out of my normal mindset and just buy what I want at a price I don't want to pay but know will not seem so bad in the future when I wear the things until they split into pieces.

I have no advice for you on this matter (other than you might want to buy a pair of those Clarks if you're a guy). It's simply a reminder to myself that sometimes paying more is worth it, and that sometimes buying cheap is buying stupid.