Perceptions: MTB shoes

Friday, December 02, 2022

MTB shoes

Every few months someone organises an exhibition of shoes on the kibbutz. For the seller, it's a good chance to sell some stock and possibly get rid of some old stock, whereas for the kibbutz members (especially the older ones), it's a chance to try on some new shoes. As it happens, the nearby mall has several shoe shops, but never mind.

The advance notice said that there would be shoes of the Lumberjack brand, amongst others; the very comfortable shoes that I bought in Bari were of this make, so I was hoping that I could find a similar shoe. I had looked at the Lumberjack website but couldn't see my shoe, which was somewhat disappointing.

Not surprisingly, the seller didn't have what I was looking for specifically, but he did have some other interesting shoes. The one on the left is made by MTB, a Swiss firm. Apparently these shoes are "physiological professional sports shoes from MBT Switzerland. The shoe has a unique structure originating from the Maasai tribe from East Africa that transfers the load center to the front of the foot and actually simulates the way runners run". I'm not going to be running in these shoes, but I do note that they have a gel filled sole that is extremely comfortable. They are also the correct size! My wife was there and she approved the purchase. A mere snip at 400 NIS (that's quite expensive).

Back home, I looked online for these shoes, primarily to see if I had paid an extortionate price. To my surprise, I found an Israeli site selling exactly the same shoe (I have the box with the catalogue number and size stuck on it - very helpful). They're selling the shoe for 349 NIS, including free delivery, paid in five installments, so I ordered another pair. Maybe I pay slightly over the odds for the shoes here, but I also had the benefit of trying them on. I need shoes sized 42; as can be seen from the label below, '42' is not mentioned!