Driving Mocs and Your Personal Torque
I was recently on a shoe mission for a client when I overheard a disappointing conversation between one store's saleswoman and an uninformed shopper. The poor bloke was looking for comfortable and stylin' summer shoes that were more substantial than a flip flop. The saleswoman placed a driving moc firmly in his hand and said, "These are perfect, they're driving mocs." The guy nodded approvingly and then asked, "I do a lot of walking, aren't these just for the car?" The perky (and at this point either deceitful or negligent) saleswoman reassured him that, "You can wear them everywhere, they're super comfy walking or driving."
Indeed the driving moc is very comfortable and a perfect example of relaxed elegance, but it's absolutely not a durable walking shoe.
Annoyed that this guy was being misled I walked over and asked how many seasons that driving moc would last if used primarily for walking. She responded with, "Oh a while, they'll last three or four seasons." Nope, she wasn't clueless - just plain old lying.
In truth the answer is: less than one season. Why? Take a look at the photo above and you can see for yourself, the driving moc is like a slipper. The bottom of the shoe has no sole, no arch support, nothing to protect the soft leather underbelly except for little rubber grippers; and trust me, these little grippers aren't made from Wolverine's alloy adamantium.
Better driving mocs will endure a modest amount of pavement, but again they simply are not designed for that purpose. Go ahead and rock them out to brunch, dinner or whatever light-on-the-trekking, heavy-on-looking-good activity you want. Just know when you're plunking down the cash for driving mocs they won't make it into next year if you wear them as your everyday kicks.