Suede vs. leather weightlifting shoes

[pats fan]

Rip,

I jumped on the sale price of the VSAthletics suede weightlifting shoes...and am curious...what is your opinion of the durability of the suede vs. leather shoes?

thanks!

[Mark Rippetoe]

Last I heard, suede was leather.

[pats fan]

Shows you how little I know about leather...thanks

[Drewfasa]

Some leathers are more equal than others. I skateboarded for years as a teenager and nice, hard leather shoes tended to outlast suede ones by at least double or even triple the time. I wore holes through a number of suede ones, but usually wore out the soles on hard leather ones before the leather wore all the way through.

That said, I don't imagine that weightlifting shoes wear out very fast at all, considering how little friction they are exposed to (unless one wears them out dancing on weekends).

How often do you have to replace your weightlifting shoes, Mark?

[Mark Rippetoe]

I've had my Safes for about 12 years now, I think.