Did you know that you can potentially ruin your feet, and your shoes, with just a few, seemingly insignificant shoe habits? Well get this, you absolutely can. These bad shoe habits can mess up the way you walk, how long your shoes last, and much more. Check out the blog below so you can avoid these shoe habits and stay fresher, for longer.

Never Wearing Socks

Every time you ditch your socks, you are taking one step closer to terrible fungal infections and super stinky shoes. Putting shoes on without socks causes your feet to sweat freely, with no barrier to collect the moisture i.e. socks. This creates a warm, moist and open environment for bacteria and fungus, which can cause painful and unsightly infections in and around your feet. Moral of the story: don’t ditch your socks!

Using Old Running Shoes

You may feel like your old running shoes are the best at carrying through your exercise routine, but unfortunately you may be mistaken. Old shoes stop doing their job over time, and do not provide effective support nor absorb shock as much as they should. In this way, your old running shoes can lead you to injuries such as tendinitis and hammertoe. Consider replacing your running shoes every 500 kilometres, or four months, to ensure maximum support and comfort.

Running Barefoot

Listen, it may sound like a good idea to run around the way nature intended, but the fact of the matter is that bare feet do not have the support necessary for extended exercise. Supportive shoes go a long way towards reducing stress on your muscles and joints, and preventing unnecessary injury. Years of running with shoes on have conditioned your feet to the support, so jumping on the barefoot trend can do serious damage to feet that aren’t used to the strain.

Wearing Flip Flops 24/7

They might be the style of the summer, but flip flops are actually rather appalling to your feet. Flip flops offer little to no support to your feet, and can put you at risk of injury and other issues. We have a tendency to curl our toes in when wearing flip flops to ensure they don’t slip off our feet, and this can change your gait and increase the risk of tripping. Furthermore, you don’t want to risk muscle strain from rolling and twisting out your shoes, since they don’t hold your foot down in any way.

Never Changing Shoes

Believe it or not, wearing the same pair of shoes all the time is a bad shoe habit. You will wear your shoes out incredibly quickly if you wear them five days a week, and will find yourself spending way too much money on shoes. Rotate your shoes regularly to extend their life and conserve your comfort.

Not Airing Shoes Out

So, you just got home from a long day at work, kicked off your shoes and chucked them in your cupboard. Did you ever think about the fact that trapping your shoes in your cupboard right after wearing them allows your cupboard to store up the heat, moisture and odour now pouring out your shoe? Exactly. Let your shoes air out in the bathroom or some other suitable space before packing them away, thus ensuring the smell has dissipated and the fabric has dried out.

For more useful shoe tips and other inspirational guides, head to the Men’s Shoe Centre blog and read away! We regularly post articles about shoe style, tips, hacks, favourite picks and more! Contact us to chat about your shoe needs and how we can hook you up.