Being honest, these Aurora shoes have been on Blue Button Shop for a while and I’ve scrolled past them time and time again. They looked a bit squidgy to me, not that robust, maybe a bit nut loaf. There’s certainly an eco-friendly vibe; I expect to see them idling beneath threadbare, tie dye culottes, a tote full of dried apricots and a rolled up copy of The Gentlewoman. Perhaps my tastes are becoming more kale salad? Because now these are looking pretty cool to me.

It’s not that unusual really. I really enjoy my two pairs of McKinleys x Nepenthes ghillie lace-ups – they’re wide and comfortable, just a really useful casual shoe. So I’m always on the look out for the same, but different. Oi Polloi are experts in this space they’ve got Arcus, Mephisto, Finn Comfort and the astonishingly shaped Jacoform. But, as is indecently the case with me, I always want the thing more difficult to get hold of.

Aurora’s have been manufactured in upstate New York since the early 1990s and as you might surmise, their website is full of phrases like, “simplicity and organic“, “comfort, durability and quality“, and my personal favourite, “values and lifestyle“.

I know my lifestyle involves typing shit on my laptop in coffee shops. But I don’t really know what my values are? I think they predominately revolve around buying clothes other blokes haven’t got so I can artificially prop up my aching soul through consumerism and a shabby belief that better clothes somehow make me a better person. If you feel similar, you can pick up a pair here.