shoes

Summer is here and it’s time to think about getting out into the woods for a hike. Purchasing your new hiking shoes online is simple and affordable. Once you know what you are looking for, getting a new pair of hiking boots online to replace your old ones is easy and can save you a lot of money. Online shoe stores are a great place to find shoes and other accessories. Often times you will find a huge selection including the all the brands you could possibly want. Finding a variety of hiking shoes online should be easy, and you just might find some other items you want to go with them.

Online shoe stores can offer a wide selection and great prices because they don’t have the overhead that other stores with a street location do. Finding a new pair of hiking shoes from an online shoe store can save you a lot of time and money. Forget about fighting the crowds at the local shopping mall or trying to find a parking spot downtown, just turn on the computer and peruse the option from the comfort of your own home. Discount online footwear retailers have everything the other shops do and more. Usually you can find much better prices and a great selection. Always make sure to check the return policies for any online shoe store you deal with. Any reputable online footwear retailer will have a great track record with customer service and be able to accommodate your needs.

Hiking boots are an important part of your outdoor equipment. A good pair of hiking shoes can increase your enjoyment of the trail, while reducing the risk of injury and discomfort. Hiking shoes are specifically designed to perform on the rugged terrain of the mountain trail. It is not a good idea to wear your tennis shoes, running shoes or other sneakers for hiking any serious distance. All athletic footwear is made for a specific purpose and should be used for that purpose only. Hiking shoes come in many shapes and sizes these days, and often are geared toward a specific terrain or environment. When choosing a hiking boot or any athletic footwear, it is important to focus more on the performance of the shoe than on the looks, color or design.

Hiking shoes are made to give a lot of lateral support to help avoid a twisted ankle while still being lightweight enough to be worn over miles of rugged terrain. A good hiking boot will provide a lot of traction on the sole to keep your feet where you place them for safety and ease of motion. Various levels of water resistance and waterproofing are available depending on the terrain and environment you plan to be hiking through.

Like most shoes, a hiking shoe should fit snug but not be too tight. Your feet should not feel pinched across the top or sides, but the heel shouldn’t slide when you walk. Most hiking boots are made to be flexible and comfortable and give a full range of motion when moving through the trail. Your toes should not push against the front of the shoe, and the shoe should fit snug and comfortable without being tight.

Finding a pair of hiking boots or any shoes online can be fun and enjoyable. Using an online discount shoe store for your footwear needs is a great way to save time and money when shopping for shoes.

With spring coming up it is a great time to begin thinking about getting outside and starting our athletic routine anew. Oftentimes our exercise regimen will move indoors for the winter, but in spring time it is a great chance to take our workout outdoors and experience all the wonderful things that nature has to offer. Springtime is an ideal time to get off that treadmill and take our running or jogging workout back to nature. One of the important steps in this process is choosing the right running shoes for an outdoor workout.

Running outside is wonderful, and offers many benefits that running inside on a track or treadmill can’t offer, but it also requires us to be cautious in choosing the appropriate shoes to do it in. Outdoor running will often take us onto a variety of surfaces, from asphalt to concrete to grass to dirt trails and everything n between. Selecting the correct athletic footwear for this activity is crucial in that it will help us get the most from our workout without causing undue stress and injury to our bodies.

One of the first questions you must ask yourself is: What is the main type of terrain will you be running on? If we are mostly going to be jogging on the street, then basically the major factor will be cushioning. Asphalt is unforgiving stuff, and reflects a lot of the impact of our stride back up your legs and into your body. Having an excellent cushioning mechanism is essential for road running. If you are going to be hitting the trails and the woods for your workout, then stability will be of primary importance. Any cross-country runner can tell you that the woods offer an infinite amount of pitfalls and uneven terrain to create hazards. Branches, rocks, roots and every other type of woodland obstacle may be hiding in wait for you and having a running shoe that offers stability is one of the best ways to avoid injuring yourself on these little hurdles.

Fitting a men’s running shoe or ladies running shoe is basically the same. Always make sure the shoe is comfortable in general. Ensure that your foot is snug but not tight. The shoe should never pinch across the top of the foot, but should be held firmly in place. Your toes should never touch the front of the toe box, but there should be no sliding of your foot back and forth. You heel should not be sliding up and down at all, but there should not be a lot of pressure on the back on the ankle. The shoe should fit nice and snug side to side, and when you step forward, you should feel cushioned and supported all the way through your gait. The fabric on the toe of the athletic shoe should be flexible. Running requires a wide range of motion and the toe should be able to flex. No good running shoe should have leather across the top of the toe; it should be some type of woven or mesh material that allows our feet to flex.

Ordering athletic footwear from an online discount shoe store is a great way to save time and money when replacing your running shoes. Finding quality footwear online is easy, especially if you already know the type of shoes you want to purchase. Make sure that you read the return policies well and make sure you are dealing with a reputable online shoe store.

Houser Shoes new GB Warehouse in Asheville, NC is open for the tax free weekend in North Carolina this year. This huge 30,000 sq feet shoe store, opened last week with over 50,000 shoes in stock.
Be sure to check out all the shoes, handbags, and clothing available at this new store. Discounts Shoes are available at 20% off and some styles are discounted 50%-75%! They are located just off I-26 at Asheville Hwy:

South of I 26 interchange and Fletcher
5418 Asheville Hwy
Hendersonville, NC 28791

Their phone number is: (828) 209-1800

Their hours are:

Monday - Saturday 10:00AM to 8:00PM
Sunday 12:00 noon to 6:00PM

There are many after school shoe discounts going on after the tax free weekend Aug 1-3, so drop by and check them out in August for great savings on shoes.

Sturdy shoes first came into widespread use between 40,000 and 26,000 years ago, according to a US scientist.

Humans’ small toes became weaker during this time, says physical anthropologist Erik Trinkaus, who has studied scores of early human foot bones.

He attributes this anatomical change to the invention of rugged shoes, that reduced our need for strong, flexible toes to grip and balance.

The research is presented in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

The development of footwear appears to have affected the four so-called “lesser” toes - excepting the big toe.

Ancient footwear

While early humans living in cold northern climates may have begun covering up their feet to insulate them as early as 500,000 years ago, protective footwear comparable to modern-day shoes is thought to be a much later innovation.

It has been difficult for archaeologists to determine exactly when humans stopped going barefoot, however, because the plant and animal materials used to make prehistoric shoes is highly perishable.

“The oldest shoes in the world are about 9,000 years old, and they’re from California,” said Professor Trinkaus, of Washington University in St Louis, US.
However the University of Oregon disagrees. They have on exhibit shoes that are 10,000 years old found in a cave in Central Oregon.

But by examining the foot bones of early modern humans (Homo sapiens) and Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) dating from 10,000 to 100,000 years ago, Professor Trinkaus says he has determined the period in which footwear became the norm.

Anatomical evidence

He found Neanderthals and early moderns living in Middle Palaeolithic times (100,000 to 40,000 years ago) had thicker, and therefore stronger, lesser toes than those of Upper Palaeolithic people living 26,000 years ago.

A shoe-less lifestyle promotes stronger little toes, says Professor Trinkaus, because “when you walk barefoot, you grip the ground with your toes as a natural reflex”. Because hard-soled shoes improve both grip and balance, regularly shod people develop weaker little toes.

To test the theory that the more delicate toes resulted from shoe use, the Washington University researcher compared the foot bones of early Native Americans, who regularly went barefoot, and contemporary Alaskan Inuits, who sported heavy sealskin boots.

Again, he identified chunkier toes in the population that routinely went without shoes. The research suggests shoe-wearers developed weaker toes simply because of the reduced stresses on them during their lifetime; it was not an evolutionary change.

The comparison proves his hypothesis, he says: “It has been suggested in the past that thicker toes and fingers are related to greater blood supply in colder climates, but it just doesn’t hold up.”

Cultural “explosion”

The advent of footwear occurred during a period Professor Trinkaus describes as “a well-documented archaeological explosion” which also produced a number of other notable human advances.

Paul Mellars, professor of prehistory and human evolution at the University of Cambridge, UK, agrees there were “dramatic changes” in human behaviour at this time. “From 35,000 years ago onward, you see the first art, the first stone tools, and the first personal decorations and jewellery.”

More advanced shoe-making skills could have been a product of this overall increase in technological ingenuity.

“There is a strong hint that people were doing more complicated things with …skins, with special stone tools for cleaning and awls for piercing.

“In view of all these changes, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if we saw better shoes,” Professor Mellars explained.

So check out this story on the world’s oldest shoes at www.housershoes.com!

Tennis shoes are a little different than other shoes, because of the tremendous need for lateral support. Unlike a running shoe, where the concern is mostly for forward motion, tennis shoes must endure the constant action of sideways starts and stops. Also, tennis shoes will usually have reinforced toe and heel pads because of the fact that tennis players will often drag the toe or heel of the shoe across the court creating a lot of wear and tear in those areas.

Basketball athletic shoes are similar, however most basketball sneakers have a higher top, and tennis shoes are almost always a low or mid top to allow for maximum range of motion in the ankle. Tennis players don’t want to feel any resistance when changing direction.

Fitting tennis athletic footwear is a lot like fitting any other shoes. When you try the shoes on, put on both pair and walk around a little bit. Stand in a stance like you would playing tennis and move side to side, jump a little bit and run a short distance. Try to get the feel of them on a hard surface so you can see how they grip the floor.

Make sure that your heel does not slip, but also ensure that your toes are not hitting the front of the toe box. If the shoe seems to otherwise fit, but your heel is still slipping, make sure you have used all the eyelets at the top of the laces. If the shoe is still slipping even when properly laced, then try a different brand or size.

The sneaker should fit snug without pinching across the widest part of your foot. If a shoe pinches your toes, the result can be anything from bunions to stress fractures. The foot depends on a certain range of motion to operate properly during a step, and the footwear you choose should enhance and support that range of motion, not inhibit it.

Quality tennis footwear will generally have a flatter, tighter design to the pattern on the sole for traction. Unlike running footwear, which has knobby waffles all over the bottom, a tennis sneaker is more likely to have smaller more closely spaced grips. The reason for this is that tennis is always played on a hard flat surface, so maximum contact with the court is both possible and desirable.

You will also notice that usually tennis shoes are wider and flatter, with a lower heel than a basketball shoe or running sneaker. This is because tennis involves a lot more lateral motion, and a high heel would create the likelihood for the ankle to roll over very easily.

Because tennis does not require nearly as much vertical jumping as basketball, or the repetitive forward impact of running, jogging and track sports, the additional cushioning under the heel is not necessary. Most of the support and cushioning in a tennis shoe will be located towards the front, under the pad of the foot where all the tarsals meet the metatarsals.

Shopping for footwear online can offer many benefits, such as finding quality discount footwear. When online shoe shopping, always make sure to deal with a reputable company and website, like www.housershoes.com. Familiarize yourself with the return policy of any online store you deal with, and make sure you know all the shipping costs involved. Again, dealing with reputable online shoe stores is the way to ensure a professional experience.

As the name implies, shoes made from alligator skin are commonly called alligator shoes. Just as with the leather that comes from cows, alligator shoes are made from the hides of alligators. Comparing the hide of a cow and the skin of an alligator is like comparing apples and oranges. The alligator skin is so many levels above the cow hide in every category. This is why gator shoes are so popular. The quality and natural durability makes it one of the best shoes in the world. Because of limited availability of alligator skins, the shoes are relatively expensive in comparison to other shoes constructed of more common materials, such as the cowhide mentioned before. Just recently, due to better controls by the Fish and Wildlife Service, more alligator products are being made available since their population is growing again.

Like crocodiles, alligators have been on the planet for many millions of years and are the closest living relatives to the dinosaurs. Their huge teeth and incredibly resilient, tough skins give us an indication of what the dinosaurs may have been like. This same quality is also what makes them such great shoes. They are practically indestructible and in addition to being used for shoes, the hides are also used to fashion wallets and belts.

One of the top makers of alligator shoes is the Mezlan company from Spain. These shoes are considered some of the highest quality alligator shoes you can find with some of the best craftsmanship in the shoe industry. They are available in a wide variety of sizes and styles that are sure to please any owner.

Another very well known maker of not only alligator skin shoes but also other exotic skins such as ostrich, crocodile, and lizard is the David Eden Company. They have one of the largest selections of colors and designer styles in the entire world. Their products range from very simple and plain to something that is colorful and trendy.

Regent is another company that specializes in high quality exotic designer shoes from all over the world. Although they feature shoes from all kinds of different skins and in a wide variety of styles, their specialty is their exotic skin department. This company is also known for having a wide array of sizes including those for people with extra wide feet.

The International Manufacturing Group Int. is a shoe company that is just beginning to make its mark in the exotic shoe industry. They are known for having very low price on their products.

Everyone needs to own at least one pair of alligator shoes before they die. I only say this because you only know how good of a shoe they really are once you try them on. They are truly a treasure to own.