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How long should your trainers last?
My trainers (or sneakers for American readers) seem to last forever. I walk 20-30 miles a week, lift heavy weights once a week, occasionally run a few miles, and since the Covid pandemic, wear my trainers all the time.
But everyone out there seems to buy new trainers all the time. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Most of these people are probably as active as sloths. But every few months they appear with brand new trainers. I see them in the gym, I see them on the school run, I see them in the supermarket and the train. Shiny new Nikes, Adidas, New Balance, Asics, Pumas. That’s all good news for the companies that make the shoes, but I disagree with ‘fast fashion.’
Consumerism has us all conned.
Buying new things isn’t going to make you happy. Throwing away old things damages the environment. Everyone could do with buying less and buying less often.
Now I’ve sounded my moral trumpet, let me give you the numbers. I still wear a pair of Nike Flight trainers I bought when my daughter was born, she’ll have her eighth birthday this year. The sole is pretty worn out, and the outer sole around the ‘air bubbles’ has cracked, I don’t wear them as often as I used to, but that’s mainly because it’s been raining a lot lately and they’re not waterproof. Unless you buy Gore-Tex, trainers generally do an awful job of…
