Other things like weight, gait, the angle of your feet, and mileage can factor in too. My sister has “flat feet” so her shoes get sort of squished to one side and break down faster.

I bought a pair of Ahinsa shoes in their Sunbrella material (embarrassingly expensive) that have lasted about 3 years as my daily shoes (work, errands, casual weekend stuff, local hiking). They still look great! The inner lining is starting to get some holes and I’m considering asking a local shoe repair person if it can be replaced. Unfortunately the company shifted to using mostly a vegan leather material that I have not tried but am skeptical of.

For the price ($250) it would be reasonable to buy 3-4 cheaper pairs that only last a year.

Im going to to make a few assumptions. 1) your male (or at least buy men's shoes). 2) your in the States. Adjust advise accordingly.

Your big mistake is two fold. One your buying shoes from a mall "discount" retailer and two your probably not rotating shoes.

Let's talk about that first part. Go into Nordstrom (if your not in the states look for the high end department store in your area). The reason is because the staff are trained in the product, and the return is amazing. Your going to be spending $2-400 on a pair of shoes. Talk to the sales person about what your looking for. Your goal is to not end up with a track shoe, but something made of leather with a real sole.

Secondly. You weigh a bunch compared to your shoes. Every step puts some level of stress on the sole(be it leather, rubber, foam, etc). When you lift your foot back up that stress is relaxed and quickly reapplied. Over time this can wear down your shoes. The trick here is to rotate your shoes so each pair has a day or two to "rest" before usage. This (In conjunction with buying good quality shoes) will result in you needing a new pair closer to every 5 years (longer if you get the soles replaced).

Sketchers all the way. Went from breaking shoes every 6-7months to 5years.

I've been wearing palladium shoes for years and they usually last at least 3 to 4 years

Try Salomon or Salewa. They make rugged shoes.. Might be overkill for pavement though

My last pair of vans lasted about 3 months. I only skated in them like 2 times too.

Nisolos hold up for me, my oldest are 5 or 6 years, have been resoled, look and feel better than ever. For dress and fancy casual they are good.

AFA running shoes Newtons are good but my feet are not wide - even converse hold up ok for me, the bottoms wear out eventually but the uppers don't tear.

For walking I wear Hoka - not lookers but comfortable.

Try Oboz. They're light hiking shoes. Got my last pair before the pandemic for $140. They're not waterproof anymore but still holding up well.

I highly highly recommend Redbacks. Super comfy, and each one pair of mine has lasted ~7-8 years. They're pretty tough!

If you get welted shoes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9xSnu69Qtg) where the sole is mated to the upper - so if the sole wears out, then you can bring it to the cobbler to get a new sole. And they don't have to be expensive either - look for used shoes on ebay.

Have the same experience with my Vans. They're not even three months old, and already have holes in the top canvas...

The Peter Storm ones I got from Go Outdoors have lasted me a year so far, and I walk about an hour most days. Not bad for about £50 or whatever it was I paid for them. I was a bit dubious but they've lasted just as well as the £130 ones I had before.

My Scarpa ones were decent a few years back, but I bought another pair and some of the heel padding wore away almost immediately and blistered my feet every time I used them.

Brooks Ghost

I have hokas and brooks that have both held up well with daily wear.

I used to buy Think! shoes in the Sale, but they've started using split leather now and they're not worth it anymore.

By walking shoes, do you mean sneakers? I never had this problem, but my New Balances and Onitsuka Tigers fared better than my Chuck Taylors... I'd recommend looking for chunky rubber soles as opposed to thin ones like

If you're open to boots and loafers and things, it's a whole other ball game. Look at brands like Meermin, which are well-made and resoleable, but you're worried about comfort, right? So let's focus on sneakers.

New Balance are pretty durable in my experience.

I've been wearing Reebok Walk Ultra 7's for ~8 months and I haven't had any major complaints so far. The outsoles are wearing down as I expected them to, but they're wearing down slower than I expected, tbh, especially for how soft they are and how often I use them. And as someone with quite big feet, seeing a big, established footwear brand like Reebok make a good shoe I can actually wear (and not look completely like an off-brand New Balance) is nice.

I've also owned a pair of Airwalks with gum soles that held up quite well for walking around. In my experience, athletic and skate shoes with harder outsoles tend to last MUCH longer than a typical sneaker, and that pair of AWs had harder outsoles than any other shoe I've owned. That pair was made before the brand went out of business a few years back though so YMMV on their current lineup, though it seems they still have a handful of gum sole shoes available.

Mephisto has always treated me pretty well in the past.

I have a pair of Bellville MiniMils that I wear every single day; I had the last pair for about three years, and I'm at about a year and a half on this pair. I work and hike in them (although I want to get nicer hiking boots, something like the VivoBarefoot Tracker). They are minimalist boots though, so if you don't already like and wear minimalist shoes, you're not going to like these.

Have another look at Ecco's they're exactly what you're looking for. There are good models for 1-200 dollars that last for years and are great for putting city miles on. I got a pair about four years ago when I was commuting on busses and going through cheap shoes every couple months. They're still in great shape and clean up nice.

Camper is my favorite.

They are not light, but I usually buy work boots with steel toe and sole at someplace like homecenter. The ones with thicker soles made with good rubber and real leather can last a few years.

My current ones are redline branded (just some generic brand common where I live). They cost me about half of what a set of Brahma boots would and are just starting to go bad after 2 years, something punctured the sole up to the steel liner and I think it's starting to rust inside, since sometimes I can feel it move inside the sole. An old pair failed the same way a couple of months after stepping on a nail, that boot's steel plates started to move until one got loose enough to start poking on the side of the sole, but the ones that I've used besides those pairs usually last about 3 years of daily use with some occasional care to the leather to keep their appearance until either they start to look bad or the sole starts to wear to the end of the thread

Adidas Sambas. I've worn multiple pairs for close to a decade apiece. The soles eventually wear down but it takes several years. Haven't seen any signs of decreased quality on my newer ones.

Plus they've got that classic, timeless look. Imo

@hungry_freaks_daddy@lemm.ee I got some Nike air force that I purchased almost 5 years ago and have used to go to work. They seem a little worn out but are still fairly ok.
I have also purchased several pairs of second hand running shoes, they are all fine and I use them to literally run hundreds of miles.
So far so good with shoes in my experience.

Doc Martens

Your shoes last a full year? I wear through the soles so fast I need to replace them about every 3 months (I find no difference in expensive or cheap shoes for this problem so I just buy the cheapest ones I can get).

Adidas ax series, not indestructible but good for 5+ years. I'm on my third pair and have been wearing these daily since ca 2008