How much are you willing to pay for a pair of running shoe?

I will pay 70% of whatever shoe I really need... that's the discount I get at my local running store. However, I haven't actually paid for a shoe in years, somehow people are always just giving them to me. Can't complain...

cheap can be good wrote:

$50 or so. My last shoe purchase was $20 plus tax for a pair of Reebok Milan Lites. They are light, basic and flexible, with good cushioning. They are one of the cheapest shoes I ever bought for running and turn out to be one of my all-time favorites. Bought three extra pairs.

I've bought shoes from all the major (and many of the minor) companies over the years, for a wide variety of prices, and many of the cheaper shoes have been my favorites. In my case, the more technology on the shoe, the less *right* it feels. I do like some decent cushion, though. The real old school stuff was just too hard on my feet.

I should add that I'd be willing to pay whatever I could afford to get shoes that work for me. I'm just lucky at the moment that the cheap ones are doing the job just fine.

Good point about the true cost of things. In the very near future, this cheap stuff from Asia act is going to end. We'll either rebuild our own industrial base, or, more likely, do without.

Now think about it. If we are paying $140 for a pair of Kayano (Made in China). How much you will expect to pay if it is made in US or even worse, in Japan. Are you willing to pay $400+ (Yes, that is the difference of the labor rate) for a pair if you are currently buying them?

Considering the price of garments made in Mexico, the US will probably shift manufacturing operations more that way if Asia becomes too troublesome of a labor market.

Nimbus on sale for $70...just picked up a pair...

http://www.eastbay.com/catalog/productdetail/module--productDetail/action--view/sku--6359390/model_nbr--71059/supercat--home/id--0/mvp--/cm--Cross+Sell/

Wow, on that page it says the Nimbus only weighs 10.1 oz, is that right? I thought it is a regular trainer and will weigh at least 12 oz.

Well let's break it down...

For a $90 pair of shoes, $45 goes to the retailer for rent, wages, advertising, and other overhead costs.

The remainder, $45, goes to the manufacturer. The raw material costs are minimal (something like $1-5 for your average shoe) and with advanced automation, assembly costs are very low. At least half of the $45 stays with the manufacturer and is split between product development, marketing, and pure profit.

The heart of the matter is that well over 70% of the cost of the shoe stays in the United States (if the manufacturer is American, of course). Would it be better if 100% stayed here? Definitely. But it's not like we're sending $90 to China whenever we buy our trainers.

to the embarrassment posting under the name 'notattheraces', what about the £6 billion the migrant workers added to our economic growth last yr? if you dislike the UK so much then leave.

i did, a very, very long time ago.

also trackchick and others it seems to me that you're throwing the usually dogma up against problems that you cannot possibly understand.Do you know that an unemployed couple with 5 children in France can obtain about 3000 dollars a month or more in state aid? A minimum wage worker who slogs away at a crap job with very little control on bad employers can take home about 1350 dollars for a 43 hour or so week.

What finances this?, taxes, 19.6% sales tax in France, 17.5% in the UK, 20% or more in germany i think.Exhorbitant social charges on every pay packet,for a person who earns 2000 dollar a month ,the real cost to his employer is over 3000 although the employee takes home just about 1400;

Sales tax applies to everything although there are some adjustments for food and stuff, just 5.5% for that. So when you buy a pair of crap trainers in a shop in France for 166 dollarss in France 33 dollars goes to the government to finance hand-outs amongst other things.The "secu"(medicare) in France is billions of dollars short every year, cos everybody just gets whatever medecine they want at minimal cost. I even know some people who,if they don't think their usual doctor is giving them the right medecines ,just go to others until they find one who agrees with them.

Please do not call me names because i told you why running shoes are so expensive in western europe.

I wear the NB 99x's 'Made in USA' and pay $90 to $110 for them. 10 years ago I could get '2 for one' specials on them but haven't been able to for some time. I am not happy they are so expensive but at least they are US made. I train and run marathons in them but hey I am slow.

And this is exactly the reason that running stores don't care about most of the "faster" runners. Everyone here is complaining that shoes are too expensive, or bragging about how they don't spend more than $60 on a pair of shoes. You then complain that running stores don't have racings flats and lightweight trainers, yet, you would only buy them if they were $30 off.

I've never paid more than $75 at this point, and never felt I needed to pay more.

When the economy tanks for good, which will be in the next three years, and dollars are as valuable as monopoly money, I'm going to start resoling my shoes and just run on the grass, like I did when I was 16, 35 years ago. It wasn't so bad. It may even be an improvement.

really? wrote:

And this is exactly the reason that running stores don't care about most of the "faster" runners. Everyone here is complaining that shoes are too expensive, or bragging about how they don't spend more than $60 on a pair of shoes. You then complain that running stores don't have racings flats and lightweight trainers, yet, you would only buy them if they were $30 off.

I think you've misconstrued some of the comments. I pay <$60 because I can find them for that price, someone is willing to sell them for that much. It's not as if the shoes will just disappear if nobody wants to buy them at the MSRP or if they fall too far below the MSRP. They're going to be sold to someone, eventually. I also make purchases at my preferred local running store, but most purchases are for items such as drink mix and other gear. I don't avoid buying shoes there, either, and would (and do) happily buy shoes there before I ever gave another cent to RRS or any other superstore or any big box chain store. Being a smart shopper doesn't mean that I necessarily turn my back on the local running stores, so don't go around tarring everyone who isn't willing to pay full MSRP for every single pair of shoes they buy.

Back to Basics wrote:

I've never paid more than $75 at this point, and never felt I needed to pay more.

I'm going to start resoling my shoes and just run on the grass.

I am with you there on the max price ($75, unless it is some really nice flat).

But, I will not be resoling my shoes and reuse them, b/c I have more pronation on one foot than the other and it wear the rubber out after 500 miles and I have replace them for this reason. I guess I can glue another piece of rubber and continue...

I have just spent $162 on one pair of running shoes, and £113 on another. Is this bad?...

I was expecting a few people at least on this forum to say they would be willing to pay more than they have. Or are they just scared to admit it?

I have been injured a lot so thought that it was OK paying a little more for the correct support etc.

I thought I just implied that I would pay more, if I didn't have what I wanted rather readily available in the <$60 range. However, $90 seems pretty steep and $100 is pretty much an absolute upper limit. I can still get Adidas Supernova Classics for $85 locally (less a club discount) or one of the Adidas Response models would suffice just as well and thankfully I really don't need more shoe than that.

One of my friends who runs Marathon and he run strictly with Kayano and pays the retail price ($135 plus tax) every 3 month and when I told him that he can get it for $90, he said it is OK, he do not mind and do not want to go through the trouble to find the deal.

So, it seems that there are some that will pay the high price - otherwise, how would ASICS set their price and sell a major percentage of their Kayano at retail? If they can not sell, they would lower their price.