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I did this with shoes. Bought 4 pairs of the shoes I liked. Right on schedule, they discontinued them, and I was so happy I'd done so!

And then when after about 5 years I said "hey, these shoes are getting pretty worn, time to move on to the next pair", I was 43 years old, and lo and behold ... my feet had widened and I couldn't even get my feet into the brand-new shoes. I had to put them in an expanding last for almost two MONTHS before they would fit.

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Next time don’t store the old shoes - rotate wearing them so at the end of (shoe_lifetime * number_of_pairs) years you’ll have a number of pairs of evenly-worn shoes :)

I actually did this not too long ago and observed an interesting phenomenon that I had kind of noticed over the years, but never really tested.

I found a pair of shoes that I liked, but they wore out quickly with daily use (3-4 months). I bought 3 more pairs and rotated them and those three lasted for like 2 years.

As silly as it sounds, I wonder if there is something about giving shoes a "rest" that makes them last longer.

Yes. This has been well known in the running community for decades.

The foam midsole gets beaten down in a days wear, so resting gives it time to spring back. Additionally, the uppers get to dry out which inhibits bacteria & such and stops moisture from attacking the adhesives and stitching.

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