A Proper Pair of Walking Shoes

If you’re planning a trip abroad -- or anywhere – and you know you’ll be doing more walking than usual, you really must invest in a pair of comfortable shoes.  My daughter preached this to me many times back in 2011, when I was in England for six months.  I didn’t take her advice – instead I made do with my grungy old tennis shoes, and I was always suffering from lower back pain and/or aching legs.

So this time around I decided to get myself some proper walking shoes: I went out to Burnham’s in Columbus and purchased a pair of SAS walkers.  The style I chose was called “Bounce.”

I winced when I first picked them off the shelf; these are not pretty, feminine shoes – no sex appeal whatsoever.  And when I tried them on, they looked like those horrible, black, old lady shoes my great aunts used to wear.  On top of that, they weren’t cheap (around $100) – though much more palatable with my 20%-off coupon!

So here are my feet enjoying the comfort of my beautiful SAS shoes:

I am not kidding – my feet really do enjoy these shoes!  Walking in them is a pleasure; there is no pain.  I could walk and walk and walk and walk!  They are truly worth the high price.

And there’s a reason for that price: these shoes are handmade in the USA.  They are not mass produced in sweat shops in Malaysia, using cheap man-made materials (although for some parts of this shoe, man-made products are used).  They are made by folks in Texas, using real leather (all pieces for one pair cut from the same hide), and hand-sewn and hand-fabricated.

Photo from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/sas-shoes-for-men.html

Do you know what SAS stands for?  I didn’t. It stands for San Antonio Shoes, because that’s where the company started out back in the late 1970s.  The preferred way to say the name of these shoes it to say the letters: S – A – S, however lots of folks pronounce SAS as a word, “sass.”  How their customers say their name is not as important to the manufacturer as how they enjoy the comfort of SAS shoes (according to a statement on the SAS webpage).

Take a look at this short video showing how SAS shoes are made.  I guarantee you will be impressed!  It will make you want to run out and buy a pair of these fantastic shoes.  And, you should – especially if you are looking forward to long walks on your future vacation or just treks around your neighborhood park.