Sneakers, boots, cleats, or costume footwear?

5.11's ATAC Storms. Wore my first pair into the ground over the course of 1.5 years by wearing them both at larp (as an NPC, 8 events/year + mod day on mountainous terrain and a more widespread site than I suspect most chapters have) and as my everyday boot (city concrete, walking everywhere I can, about 2-4 mi a day). Amazing traction, absolutely waterproof, my feet never got wet even when walking through puddles and standing in snow. My feet only got cold when standing around in well-below-freezing (teens Fahrenheit) weather for a couple hours in mid November. Probably TOO waterproof and airtight for southern climates though.

I now have replaced my first pair with a second pair of the same kind which are now LARP boots only, because I suspect they didn't like all the city walking. I've also laced them with ladder lacing to improve ankle support even more and the debut this past event went quite well for my feet.
 
Sketchers has several wonderful styles of their leather relaxed fit shoes that work for game. They are easy to find, and super comfortable. It's like being able to wear tennis shoes because they have the same soles and insoles. I personally have a ballet flat in brown leather that has straps across the top to keep it in place for my character for anything but the one game a year we may get snow. For that I wear well oiled sherpa boots. They are soft and warm but not the greatest for hiking in. I suggest them for people who prefer hanging out at the tavern to looking for trouble.
 
I have a pair of Vasque hiking boots that were returned for "defective" reasons to REI, and I got them dirt cheap ($10!). They've been my favorite pair of boots to run around in, as they aren't heavy, but support me great.
 
I'm a huge fan of the Nike SFB. Good support and reasonable traction and they last well and are light which is a big deal for me. I wear them to ruck run in as well as larp. Though llately all I wear them for is work;)
 
Depends on the character I play. I have a set of water-resistant cloth tabi, a pair of lace-up boots, and my go-to is hiking sandals of whatever variety (typically some Target or Walmart cheapies that I blow out in one event, then apply marine Goop to readhere the sole, which then last me another year or so).

Roland said:
I've had a good time with Roman caligae. My feet don't get sweaty and I never have problems with traction when I'm outside, though they have pretty non existent traction on concrete floors. You get used to it though and I've yet to have any problem slipping when I'm inside.
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What's your source for them?
 
I've always had a real obnoxious time with costume footwear.
My first major purchase for costuming was a pair of $80-90 Minnetonka Moccasins. They were comfortable, had pretty solid traction despite the leather sole, and let you feel the ground under your feet and sneak like nothing else. On the downside, they utterly destroyed my feet by the end of a weekend.
I followed that up with a pair of $50 costume shoes from random larp/ren. fair site #12. They lasted two games before falling to pieces and were wildly uncomfortable.
I then purchased another pair of Moccasins, used, and while my feet still ached at least my footwear fit my costuming and they had their benefits despite the agony come Sunday afternoon.
My current pair of boots are shorter Moccasins I found at a flea market. For these I had this crazy idea to put insoles in them. Long story short, with the insoles the shoes are amazing. Comfortable, solid traction, great for sneaking, fit costuming for two separate characters...

I personally hate wearing anachronistic footwear so I'm willing to hurt myself a bit to avoid it. That being said, with some cloth/linen/burlap you can wrap any pair of boots to hide their modern appearance and get away with wearing comfortable and useful footwear without ruining a costume or other players immersion. With burlap especially you can wrap it under the arch to keep it in place and hide even more of the modern look. Coupled with a boot cover (which is now conveniently held in place!) this looks better than sneakers and doesn't cost much at all. Heck, you can buy rolls of burlap ribbon at walmart for a few bucks.
 

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as an NPC I tends to bring 3 pairs of footwear so I can change out.. some nice leather sandals, doeskin dyed light blue, also a black pair, wool leg warmers and wrappings for instant boots, and either my black snowboarding boots, black and grey mukluks, or tall grey pleather boots. I'm pretty good at falling without hurting myself, trained in sports as a kid. And all summer, I don't mind the wet feet in sandals, dries out quick.
the mukluks were 100$ at Soft Moc ( Canadian retailer in malls ) the sandals $40 at walmart, it's getting easier to find styles suitable for LARP as it hits mainstream..

adding in the link to the ones I picked: https://www.softmoc.com/ca/womens/s...kluks/candy4-blk/lds-candy-4-blk-suede-mukluk
 
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