RunCarla, you are impressive as always. You manage so well with a small collection.

LJP, I don’t know. The silver mules on the photo I shared are bought for a special occasion. These will be my third pair in that capsule. But do I need them? My two other paints are black leather slingbacks with a gold heel and black suede pumps. The silver shoes are the only ones I’m unsure about.

Roberta, I don’t have as many bags as I have shoes but they are definitely more expensive. What does it mean? Your bags are cheaper than mine or your shoes are more expensive than I buy? I wonder what are the most expensive shoes out Forum members ever bought?

Kecisme, from a 100 to 16? Wow, that is drastic! Glad it works for you.

Kare23 & Carol, great that it works for you. So many factors determine the size of one’s shoe collection. But as long as it works well, all is good.

Irena: Indeed, very drastic! I did have an artsy job when I had that many, and I enjoyed the sartorial expression immensely, BUT, even then I really didn't wear but maybe 25-30 of them in a year. And that was with intentionally switching out among them as much as I could--really the rest of them were uncomfortable after a very limited time, or were otherwise incredibly impractical. Fast forward to now, and I have exactly what I need (though I do miss looking at all my pretties!)

Well I give you permission to keep the silver ones. They are great! Personally I'd wear those with every day outfits too!

Kacisme, oh, I see, makes sense.

21. I love shoes and boots. Unfortunately, I have terrible problems with my feet and can only wear certain brands. I want more shoes, but they are so hard to find.

Well, I have succumbed. I’ve broken my wish to only get 5 new things this whole year- already had 4 new things and have just added 3 pair shoes (30% extra off on all sale shoes on Styletread). Last time they had a sale I think it was 20% off and I vacillated too long. Wasn’t sure how long the “Easter” sale would go for. Yet to see if the red boots, tan sandals, and pointy black patent ballet flats will fit but all are size 36 my regular Euro size. Last year I only bought some Skechers.
This takes me to 37-40 pairs if they all fit. Let’s see.

I live in a 4 seasons climate and currently have 35 pairs. They include everything from boots, rainboots, hiking shoes and sneakers to loafers, pumps, bathing shoes, sandals and party shoes. On my shopping list, I have 2 or 3 pairs of comfortable ballet flats suitable for summer wear.

So, as you can see, I, too, have nearly 40 pairs. They are all in use, and I edit my shoe collection each season.

An aside: You know, it’s funny how men often tease the women in their lives for having shoe collections (Imelda jokes, etc), but I estimate that my husband has upwards of 25 pairs of shoes too. No small accomplishment for a person who takes a large shoe size that isn’t even fully stocked in many retailers! LOL Fortunately, he is fully supportive of my footwear habit.

That said, I do try to cast a critical eye on my footwear wardrobe. I tend to keep things a long time. I’m sometimes thankful for that as sometimes items cycle in and out of favor. But sometimes I keep things beyond their usefulness for me. It’s not always predictable which items will come back around to appeal to me again.

Western boots were trending recently, so I was glad I kept mine. However, I only wore one pair of them a couple of times last year, and the others remain unworn after years of sitting on the sidelines. Two pairs are now in my office to be sold (they’re quite nice and I think may fetch a little cash), but it’s been months and I haven’t gotten around to listing them. I’m starting to think I should just give them away instead. My local Buy Nothing group would probably love them!

So….long post, but this thread got me thinking a bit about WHY my collection is large, beyond just needing and wanting variety. There’s also a bit of reluctance to edit.

Just chiming in here to advocate for absolutely no guilt for your shoes. As was said, if you have space and the budget, just LOVE having and wearing them. As someone who's feet seemed to turn very problematic overnight about 7 years ago (early 60's), I had to let go of my beloved Blundstones, Frye Chelsea boots, Donald Pliner zip up boots, etc. that I suddenly could no longer wear. I had walked everywhere in my flat but stylish shoes as a city dweller for years. Now I have only a handful of carefully chosen shoes that work, and me and my feet are very grateful for them. So enjoy those shoes (and feet and walking!) ...I never thought it would change for me but it did.

I previously had a huge shoe collection, with more than 100 pairs. 2 years ago, I started to weed out high heels, and I started to transition to zero and low drop shoes. I developed a strong preference for shoes with a wider toe box and many shoes that previously felt fine, no longer worked so they were edited. Then I suffered a full year of plantar fasciitis, followed by a stress fracture and that further helped me edit my collection. I’m down to 45 pairs, spread over 4 seasons and including winter boots and shoes used as gear such as running shoes, hiking boots, etc.

Oh, my. I'm late to this thread but I just counted and I have at least 80 pair, not counting a few I have stashed in places other than my shoe closet. That's counting multiple pair of flip-flops in every color, which I wear in summer, and also a bunch of sneakers. I used to have dozens of high-heeled pumps for work, but those went away in the pandemic and I barely miss them. No more shoes that hurt!

I counted and I’m at about 60 pair. I think it’s a reasonable-ish amount if you consider all the categories that number covers: sandals, sneakers (most of the shoes I wear on a regular basis are low profile sneaks), gear, boots, flats, occasion/dress shoes. I’m sure I could cull a bunch of these though. Since retiring and moving to a city with crazy old sidewalks, I never wear heels (or much besides sneakers, honestly). I am hard to fit so I tend to hang on to shoes that I like and are comfy because “what if?” (Like, what if I randomly need to wear conservative black heels to some event? What if I suddenly decide to wear my knee high boots again? Etc. ). Might need to face reality and do a big shoe edit soon.

Elena, I hear you on the knee-high boots. I haven’t worn my Stuart Weitzman black tall boots in a few years, but I am not giving them up. They are comfortable and classic, I just think the time may come back around for them.

Given the probable difficulty of obtaining a variety of shoes at a reasonable price in the near future, I have triplicated a couple of workhorses. Oboz and Birkenstocks work pretty much all year for me, so three pair each. I am thinking of duplicating Keen waterproof walking shoes (so comfortable and no wet socks) soon, as they double as a sneaker for me. I have three pair of winter boots, two waterproof. LL Bean sheepskin slippers are very seasonal.
I think I reached the age where if you wear bespoke red Birkenstocks to the Oscars, it will pass, and thanks to Francis McDormand for the inspo.
Lots of shoes may be needed to see us through a shoe drought. I have 19 right now. No guilt if number higher, for sure.

I’m still not counting my shoes. But it’s certainly under 100.

I used to be strictly utilitarian and wanted a few comfortable pairs that went with everything, even though I wasn’t like that about other clothes. Then I suddenly got into shoes. I think the most I spent on one pair was for these Fluevog boots (though they were on sale, haha). Are they comfortable? No, no they are not. But I adore them.

P.S. Speaking of which … am I living in a fashion time warp by wearing tall boots??? This seems to me like too fundamental a category of item to go out of style. I guess I don’t really care what the answer to this question is because I wear skirts in the winter in a cold climate and I just really like them.

Cookie - I wore tall boots this past winter with skinny jeans and really enjoyed the change up from my usual shorter boots with wide legs all season (see photo #3 in this post). So, tall boots are not out of fashion to my eye! And even if they are, I find them VERY hard to fit correctly so I'll keep mine, they'll become popular again at some point.

Cookie, I saw lots of tall boots on young women in Toronto this winter. Riding boots style and a few cowboy boots. Looked trendy to me.

Cookie, tall boots are on trend! You'll see that in my footwear trend posts.

I have two pairs, and I am never letting them go - (unless they break). Tall tailored boots are ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE to fit. Yet these fit me perfectly. I wear the toffee pair quite a bit!

Cookie, I love tall boots, and I think they are plenty current, but for some reason I barely wore skirts or dresses this winter, and I’m totally off of skinnies now, so I didn’t do the skinnies-tucked-into-boots look. I did wear the Aquitalias a couple of times over Pilates leggings with a skirt over top for a quick change outfit for lunches or appointments right after a Pilates class, but that’s about it. Maybe next winter I’ll feel my skirts more — for now they feel more like summer wear!

Gaaaaaahhhh, Janet, I covet those lace-up boots!

Cookie, those boots are fantastic! Not at all out of fashion IMO. I don’t wear dresses or skirts much these days, though I love the 70s-style look of a midi skirt and tall boots. I’ve also made the switch to wide leg pants and have put away the skinnies. But I have a couple pairs of tall boots I absolutely love (including a blue suede pair purchased in Rome about 12 years ago) so I don’t want to part with them!

Elena, such a wonderful thing as blue suede boots should be lifelong friends!

Cookie, I’ve had them forever! They are supposedly over-the-knee boots, but on me they come up to my kneecap! And so-called knee-high boots hit about 3/4 of the way up my shins. One day my Pilates instructor exclaimed, “You have really long femurs!” And then she added “and tibia too!” LOL Too bad I have the torso of someone 5”2’!

Such an interesting read, thank you!

I'm at 20 pairs and it feels like a lot. But footwear is extremely seasonal here. There's no such thing as a "year round" shoe, though chelsea boots come pretty close for me (they only sit on the sidelines in June/ July/ August). I'd say I replace 3-6 pairs of shoes a year, either due to wear and tear, fit issues, or realizing they're not my style anymore.

I have 4 pairs of sandals, 3 pairs of heels, 1 pair of oxfords, 2 pairs of fashion sneakers, 2 pairs of running shoes, 4 pairs of non-insulated boots, 4 pairs of insulated boots. My bases are pretty well covered! Certain things are non-negotiable: trail runners for hiking and backpacking, a second pair of running shoes for roads so I don't wear down the traction on my trail runners, waterproof insulated hiking boots for winter hikes, a super warm snow boot for more stationary winter activities... those eat up a big chunk of budget and space, so I don't have a ton of empty slots for "fun" shoes -- or many opportunities to wear them!

I have one pair of tall boots - fall into the classic - not trendy not dated category I think. I wear them with winter midi dresses - they aren’t quite the right style to wear with jeans.

Tall boots are both too expensive and too hard to fit to edit out here. I would quite like some black leather ones but I don’t think I can justify them on several fronts.