Mephisto Sabatina -- eta experiences with insoles

BrieN

The Mephisto Sabatina oxford in black suede arrived at my house today and I'm looking for input on these shoes in particular, on Mephistos in general, and would also appreciate your thoughts on adding arch support to shoes.

I really like these shoes, especially their appearance and the lightness of the sole. They give every indication that you could walk and walk in them (which with the travel I'm planning this fall and winter is the reason I am considering them).

I am concerned and a bit surprised that they don't feel to me like they have much arch support.

Have you tried these or other Mephistos? Have you added insoles to these or other oxfords with success? any thoughts or suggestions appreciated.

These are expensive shoes (I didn't realize how they would fill a big wardrobe hole during NAS) and I really really don't want to make a mistake. Many thanks!

7 years ago

Shopping

5 replies

Latest reply was from Firecracker (Sharan)

rachylou

Veteran

I have a pair of Mephisto footbed sandals. They're one of my favourite pairs of shoes. I find them extremely comfortable and all-day walkable.

Hard arch supports hurt my feet, but if they're not hard, then I feel the support quickly deteriorates. I kinda rely on lacing...

7 years ago

BrieN

Veteran

I'm bumping this (after adding to the title).

Thanks, rachylou for your comment. I have heard such good things about Mephisto shoes over the years...

7 years ago

minimalist

Veteran

Trust your impressions. I don't have time at the moment to look up reviews, but when I had PF issues and was reading a lot of review sites, I came across several reports on Mephisto shoes without sufficient (for the reviewer) arch support.

My own favorite Mephisto sandal has declined in quality since I started wearing them. They dropped full-grain uppers in favor of bonded leather; this means those uppers won't hold up to re-soling. A Nordstrom SA tracked down one pair of old stock for me, halfway across the country, and had them sent; if she'd found more, I would have taken them.

The current price is significantly lower than I used to pay for the higher quality shoes. Do we really all need so much variety, that there's no longer even the option of paying more for long-lasting, repeatedly restorable items?

It seems the company is still held by the founder and family, so these developments are just in the course of usual expansion, rather to blame on private equity firms.

If you love the shoes, are happy with the quality (I would want to be sure the uppers are of full grain rather than bonded leather), and have time to size up for supportive insoles, then that might be a solution. I've long put insoles in most of my shoes, for the sake of shoe longevity and hygiene. Have probably rambled on about that elsewhere on the boards. Then gained a lot of weight and for a while accepted PF as inevitable. (It's not always; others here have posted ways of addressing PF.) So I experimented a lot with adding arch support to all footwear.

How much support do you usually like? Pedag's full-length 'Viva' insert is my default at the moment.

7 years ago

BrieN

Veteran

minimalist - thank you for sharing your insight. I will double check the quality of the leather being used in the oxfords I bought. You answered one of my questions before I asked it: I guess I will have to likely purchase the next size up in order to get an insole in the shoes.... Those Viva inserts look *amazing*. I was just going to throw in a pair of superfeet type insoles, but I am reconsidering that.

7 years ago

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

I have these Mephisto sneakers, and I found they had relatively minimal arch support, too. So I wore them initially (when I was needing very good arch support, struggling with plantar fasciitis) with my Superfeet 3/4 inserts. Now I wear them without the inserts, and they are fine for my current needs. When I used the Superfeet with them, I just put the inserts in right on top of the insole that came with the shoes.

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7 years ago

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