Patent Leather Belt

[Steve M]

Originally Posted by Dakota

I do have a curiosity question, though, for anyone who has and wears both regular and patent leather plate shoes...

The only patent leather shoes I've ever worn were what came with rental tuxes, and those shoes were uncomfortable in just about every way possible, but the part attributable to the finish of the leather was that my feet got hot and sweaty - and I was mostly just standing around, and they were very stiff.

So, my question: Do you notice a difference in comfort between the two? Do the natural leather shoes flex more easily and breathe better? I would think so.

Personally (even if the softball HFMICs endorsed patent leather), the shoes would seem completely unsuitable for any athletic use and I would not use them for that purpose. The ease of cleaning and glaringly shiny look would not be a good trade-off for stiff sweaty shoes.

Tom,
I wear both types and do not notice a difference in comfort or in heat. But I would not notice a difference in heat as I am generally soaked after a game - it's one reason why I really prefer the navy pants when I work the plate, the grays end up as two-tone and nobody can tell that my pants are all wet in the navy. Both types of shoe seem to flex equally well, both broke in in a reasonable amount of time, and both types seem to last - the regular style has conservatively seen over 700 plate games and the patent leather ones have been through over 300 plate games.