Q: "What dress shoes actually last a whole mission — especially for wide or hard-to-fit feet?"
It's one of the most common questions online and that we hear in our stores from missionaries and their parents — and we understand why. A lot of the good-looking dress brands either fall apart halfway through a mission or never fit a wider foot right to begin with. After outfitting missionaries since 1997, here's our honest take: a mission shoe has to be built for daily walking, made of real leather you can condition (and resole), and backed by a guarantee — or the manufacturer will never learn how to make the shoe to "Mission Grade" standards.
That's exactly why we make the Robbins & Brooks H-Line: work boot–grade waterproof leather, built to get wet and dry out daily, and comfortable from day one. Buy two or more pairs and they're covered by our 2-Year Wearproof Guarantee — and you get a package deal. Rotate them, condition them, and they'll go the whole two years. For Sisters, our Dot shoes and boots are waterproof, supportive, and built for the miles.
Tip: "H-Line" refers to any of our shoes whose name starts with an H — Harrison, Hinkley, Hammond, and so on.
The current H-Line is our most durable and comfortable shoe ever produced. So far we haven't had a single pair come back on the two-year guarantee since we started making these shoes in León, Mexico last year. This is by far the best shoe we have ever made! The Dot shoes aren't guaranteed yet, but they're some of the best-performing shoes we've ever seen for women.
Tip: León, Mexico is the home of the best work-boot makers in the world.
As far as fit, we make both the H-Line and Dot shoes with a very generous toe box that lets the front of your foot splay out as you walk. If you have extremely hard-to-fit feet, we also carry SAS — made in the USA and custom-orderable in many sizes and widths — but we recommend visiting our stores or getting measured at a local shoe store with a Brannock device so you get the correct size.
