lostinohio

After my last flight where I had to mix both casual clothing and suits, I noticed that one of the most frustrating bulk issues was that neither my dress shoes, my Allen Edmonds leather casual shoes nor my sneakers fit well into my bag. I ultimately ended up stuffing sneakers in the bag and trying to use the dead space in side of the shoes to store stuff, but with size 12 feet that was by far the biggest thing in the bag.

Any ideas? I'm ideally looking for something that would be very comfortable for walking so that I would use it when I'm not traveling (I don't travel every week, so my better half would not be happy if I bought shoes solely to stuff in the bag). What I really want is something that looked nice enough I could wear it with khakis, but could also pair with blue jeans if need be but would then fold very small in the bag.

OneBagManiac

I'd go with moccasins. Thin, light, and look good w/ jeans and khakis. But that may be too casual. Sounds like you may need something that's "work presentable". Mocs could work. Maybe not. I usually pack a pair of mocs or a pair of barefoot style running shoes, depending on the duration of the trip and the schedule of the trip (longer trips where I use hotel gym - barefoot exercise; overnight trips where there's socializing after client engagements - moccasins). I also use shoe bags - takes a few seconds pack & unpack, but always keeps everything else clean from soles of shoes.

tentseller

ECCO driving Mocs is what I have and they do pack very easily.

crp5

Given your varying needs I would second the ECCO driving mocs and add a pair of Nike free 3.0. Both will pack down to ~3" if pressed together and wrapped with a couple of thick rubber bands. I lay them toe to heel on top of one another and slide forward slightly to the heels fold into the shoe, rubber band and stuff into an eagle creek shoe bag. I can actually get both pair into a single EC bag when done this way.

gobluetwo

Mocs are nice, and the ECCO driving mocs are particularly so. Good choice.

Re: sneakers, Nike Free 3.0 (the flattest or lowest heel-to-toe drop of the Free line) are a nice shoe if your feet aren't very wide. If you need a bigger toe box, I'd recommend something like the Merrell Bare Access or Ascend Glove. Also look at the Inov-8 F-Lite 195.

boltjames

You, sir, need to meet the King of all Travel Shoes. The Sperry Topsider.

Lightweight, get better with age, supremely comfortable, looks great with jeans, khakis, shorts, with socks or without.

Available in a high-end mall near you. You'll wonder how you lived without them for so long. When I travel in Asia for 10 days and need a shoeless carry on experience, these are the pair I wear.

BJ

LondonElite

I often travel with driving moccasins by Tods. Very soft, light, and pack easily.

Mellonc

it depends on how casual you want it. I carry a pair of Birkenstock sandals in my bag which pack pretty much about 2 inches in depth. In fact, I can put it in my outside pocket of the carry on. (but you shouldn't cuz it causes the edge of the shoes to bend....). Admittedly my size 11 dress shoes stay on my feet even when I'm travelling.

Hoyaheel

How much walking? Because I know my husband (nor I, for that matter) wouldn't want to do a long day of city touring in a pair of boat shoes. Ecco mocs might have good support for walking, but.... - I love that brand but am not familiar with the mocs (though going to check them out^)

tentseller

Since you are "heel", this is my personal experience with my ECCO driving mocs:

As a pair of shoes it is very practical. Polished up and it is dressy enough for most occasion. Comfortable unless you are doing a lot of walking. If I need to do much more walking then it would be the "normal" ECCO line. If it is heavy duty walking I have a pair of older disontinued ECCO biom that is all black that I save for heavy walking and must wear black shoes. For city touring days I wear the more colourful ECCO biom.

ne52

Agree on the boat shoes if you can get away with that casual. I tend to wear through driving mocs with any kind of regular walking.

New Balance Minimus on the sneakers. There are enough styles that should fit your preference. I've been wanting to try the Nike Frees but just haven't had the need yet.

OskiBear

You might consider looking into Cole Haan's casual shoe line. They have a lot of shoes that integrate Nike Air technology. The shoes are very light, comfortable for long bouts of walking (feel like sneakers), and look OK with jeans or pants. Unless you need actual athletic shoes, these can serve both purposes.

Alternatively, I've sometimes carried a pair of very low profile running shoes (Merrell Barefoot line) that are similar to the finger shoes but look like actual mesh-y running shoes but with minimal sole. They pack very flat. This is only when I think I absolutely need work-out shoes.

wizy

how about some rockports?

the dress casual shoes come with adiprene. quite comfy.
http://www.rockport.com/mens-dress-casual-shoes

N1120A

I've owned 2 pairs of shoes for Aldo that work equally well for dress and casual, which I have worn with a suit to court and jeans. They have a sneaker-style rubber sole, but are leather on top in a dressier style. Good for running to make a connection.

lostinohio

I've never had a pair of driving mocs - I'll have to think about that.

Do the boat shoes or the Rockports you all are mentioning squish down to be nearly flat? If they don't squish, it doesn't really solve the problem no matter how comfortable they are. I've got several pairs of enormously comfortable Allen Edmonds shoes ranging from full dress to leather sneakers (which I wore on vacation in London when I was on my feet ALL DAY and were magnificent), but none of them pack well. So one pair easily travels through airport on my feet, but it is if I need a more casual second pair of shoes or just want to not have the same pair of shoes on my feet every day for a week that I end up with the dilemma particularly now that I'm trying to avoid using the roller bag whenever possible.