For dress shoes, I own shoes ranging from $25 to $500 but the best ones for me have been Rockport. They are the most comfortable by far which helps since I walk to work everyday (snow, rain or sun) and also handle the elements the best. My last pair I bought in Houston while on business a few years back for $25 USD at Macy's. I wish I bought a few more pairs! Here in Calgary they range from $75 to $150 depending on if they are on sale or not. I still wear them most of the time and only wear my more expensive but less comfortable dress shoes the odd time to switch things up. If I had to strart from scratch I'd buy a few pairs of Rockport and stick with those.
For the whole work etiquette debate here's my take:
I work for a Wall Street bank that has an energy trading desk in the Calgary. When I first started out I worked in New York City. When they opened up our Calgary back in 2004 I moved back.
New York Head office: suit and tie every day - no exceptions. You basically were told that you should have $1000+ suits. Cheaping out didn't help your career as shallow and lame as it seems. That's the Wall Street etiquette and I was fine with that.
Calgary: at first we followed the New York dress code but a few years back changed it. The Calgary take was that it didn't fit in with the oil and gas crowd so now we wear dress pants and dress shirt (no tie) and jeans/dress shirt on Fridays. I personally like it. For business travel to big financial centers like New York or London where that's the code or personal for weddings I dig them of my closet.
Calgary is not a suit and tie city and I like that.
|