Quote Originally Posted by MacMillan of Rathdown View Post
Probably because brown shoes tend to stain easily and look rather bad after tramping around in the out of doors, something that does not occur with black shoes.
Precisely. I currently own four different pairs of brogues, all from Loake. They vary in style by the difference in what type of brogue pattern each shoe has - some are full brogue (wingtip), half brogue (cap toe), etc. They are all high polished black leather with Goodyear welted leather soles. I have owned them for 5 years now, with me only wearing them with Highland attire and nothing else. They are still in very good shape and since they have had adequate time to be broken in, and I take good care of them by using saddle soap, good polish, soft brushes and polishing cloths, cedar shoe trees, etc, they truly fit even better when I first purchased them direct from Loake! I had many years of shoe care experience during my tenure as an active-duty Marine, so naturally any shoe of mine that is leather and can hold a shine, shall be polished (and that goes for anything silver or brass as well!)!

Cheers,