Is Germany "the source" for a lot of good shoes?

I've bought several pairs of shoes in Germany. I like the way they look, the way they fit my foot, and the quality you get for a moderate price. They're generally not high fashion shoes, though, like you would find in Italy or France.
ARA is a popular brand. There are some ARA stores and they have an outlet store in the old town of Aachen, Germany. Salamander is a popular shoe store chain. Some carry a better selection of shoes than others (usually the ones in the larger towns).

I like my Finn Comfort. You can buy them in the states but they are made in Germany. They are like Birkenstocks but more $ and higher end.

Gerany is an excellent place to buy comfortable shoes. I treasure my Berkmann sandals.

I can only disagree with you here. The shoes you get a the department stores (Karstadt, Hertie, Kaufhof) are mostly expensive and of very low quality. Even C&C don't offer any good quality anmore. They usually buy the cheapest they can get on the italian market to sell it here at outrageous prices. I am happy I could get 2 pairs of Weinbrenners, made in China, the other day. Salamander shoes are mostly made in Russia. The Chinese shoes you can buy in many places now are a lot better than what you get out of European fabrication.

i agree with logos about salamander...i just had the sole of a lightly worn pair delaminate. They were purchased in munich and were not cheap. they are ambiguously marked "made in europe".

Jil Sander! You can't go wrong with her minimalist designs...and this is the last season designed by her. She's gone for the second time now, and she's gone for good. Spring/summer '06 has been designed by the Belgian, Raf Simons. It's a big departure for him, as he's got to find a completely new direction and style. Some of the pieces were great, and he's obviously tried to keep a similar minimalist aesthetic to that held by Jil.

I love my comfy Walberschuhe, which are just like Birks, but less expensive. We were taken to a factory store somewhere near Karlsruhe, Germany to purchase ours.

It's shame if Salamander shoes have gone down in quality. Our kids simply could not wear them out. That was back in the 60s and 70s.

I used to attend a trade show every winter in Frankfurt and the shoes were always on sale in late January/early February. I saw a lot of Italian-made shoes at quite reasonable prices, and those I bought held up really well and lasted years.

I totally agree with logos. Apart from such special purpose shoes like Birkenstocks, I am not aware of any German brand that's worth the money.
Lloyd's, e.g., a medium priced brand predominantly for male shoes, is simply crap IMHO.
English or American shoes are the way to go!

Geox is has very comfy shoes of good quality.
Gabor has a more fashionable collection, comfy as well but the quality of the leather isn't as nice as from Italian shoes. The latter are still the best!
Furthermore I agree with logos999 about the very poor quality in department stores. Larger cities usually have a few nice shoe shops with German and Italian brands.

I like Sioux shoes: evry pair I have owned over the last twenty years has been sensationally comfortable.

For good comfortable walking shoes I buy either Sioux or Ara. Like Adeben I have been buying them for 20 years and have never been disappointed.

My ARA shoes are still holding up fine and I bought some of them at Salamander. Some Salamanders sell more than just their own brand.

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English or American shoes are the way to go!
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agreed...church's english wingtips bought in 1991 for my first "real" job...my time with them included several years walking to work (40 min each way). i'm on only the second set of soles. still in excellent condition and expect to resole them 2 or 3 more times before the uppers give out. should last a lifetime at this rate.

English shoes lack so much in the style stakes. Church's is owned by Prada...but sadly they really haven't injected any of their style into the brand. Quality is good, but they're just so boring.

Continental brands use covered Goodyear welts which looks much tidier. Instead of having an exposed seam of stitching on the sole, this is covered again by a piece of leather.

Italian and French made shoes are the finest. English ones certainly have the durability, but tend to be too traditional.

@Walkingaround. Where would be the best place to go in London, if I was looking for shoes of that quality. Or somewhere else in the UK? Sounds like this is exactly what I need. The goodyear welt is o.k. but those shoes too only last about 2 years. "Boring" is o.k. with me... ;-)

My dad had four pair of Churches shoes. He had to wear a suit to work everyday (the stone age) and he was conservative. He had wing tips, brown and black, and then two other pair with a buckle in brown and black. I don't ever remember him having any other shoes except the casual kind for weekend stuff...he had those shoes re-soled a couple of times through the years. and kept the leather in good condition. Don't know if the quality is the same today.

I would have to send them to the factory to have them resoled, right. I don't think anybody else is capable of doing this job nowadays? Yes, I am one of the stone age guys...