Like it's wired into the DNA; something about wearing white shoes when you get older - bike, athletic, casual...what's going on? Similarly, I notice some 70+ guys I've known for many years suddenly wearing pink or pastel colored shirts, something they would never have done in their day...they look like a bunch of easter eggs.

What strange sick trick of nature is this?

Not a trick of nature- As we get older-Eyesight fades- our tastes change- money gets tighter and the less popular colours are on offer at a good discount.

Athletic shoes have been predominantly white since I was kid, with the exception of some sport-specific ones like bike shoes, or shoes for turf sports (though many of those changed to white in the late 60s), so I don't really get that one. Street shoes, though, yeah that's pretty cringe-worthy. And white belts.

For me, the breaking point is horizontal-striped polo shirts like my dad used to wear. If I ever wear one, my wife has permission to take me out back and shoot me.

I can see the white athletic shoes but if my belt ends up across my chest -- shoot me, it's over.

That's not exactly how it was in the 1950s. Many movies picture the teenagers of the '50s wearing jeans. However that didn't come in until the 1960s. Where I grew up, only the boys who had just come from doing farm chores would come to school wearing jeans. The rest of us boys wore the trendy colors to school: pink and charcoal. Usually that was a pair of charcoal dress slacks (sometimes with pink flecks in them) and a pink (long-sleeve with collar) shirt or charcoal & pink shirt (if we could afford it). So maybe these fellow 70-year-olds are just reliving the glory days of the '50s.

I think the plaid shorts, white shoes, black knee-high socks, and belt go well with the striped shirt while riding my golf cart to the 7-11 store.

The OP must live in Florida.

I think you've got way too much time on your hands.

Wearing white shoes, white belt, pink shirt, plaid shorts, black knee high socks, panama hat and driving a vintage convertible cadillac will help you score a woman with blue tint in her hair! (Not a blue streak, like the fixi chicks, but old lady grey, tinted blue)

My 76 year old mother calls those sporting the white hair/white shoe look "Q-Tips."

I wear white sneakers (New Balance). One pair is trimmed with dark blue. Another paid is trimmed with yellow. But my favorite off-bike footwear is my sandals. I like them so much I ordered two pairs from Cabela's. Very comfy. I wear them during the warm months. NO SOCKS!!





I wear these on the bike. White socks!!

I don't know what all the fuss is about. I like all that stuff.

Just remember this post when you get older and are tired of dressing the way everyone else is or want's you to.

I'm 65 and I started dressing different at 59 'cause I was so damn tired of jeans and work shirts or tee shirts.

The world can go right on by if they think I'm strange 'cause I don't dress like they expect me to.

Get a grip kid...your times coming.

It's called a Full Cleveland.

I have white shoes, helmet, jersey, wind jacket AND gloves. And one of my bikes is predominantly white with a white saddle. I just pretend I'm an Italian traffic control officer. White has good visibility, and no one makes fun of you if you're fast enough.

+1, but black paint is cheap, too. Paint it black.

I'd post a picture of my once white shoes, if I wasn't too lazy to look for my camera.

Maybe the same one that compels them to go and buy a Buick, a white belt to go with the shoes, and a funny hat.

[QUOTE=Terex;12661645]It's called a Full Cleveland.

I have white shoes, helmet, jersey, wind jacket AND gloves. And one of my bikes is predominantly white with a white saddle. I just pretend I'm an Italian traffic control officer. White has good visibility, and no one makes fun of you if you're fast enough.[/QUOT

But you got to have the goods to go with white cycling shorts. Real men are color coordinated.

When I was young, I tried to look Cool, and eventually figured out nobody cared anyway. I could wear pink or polka dots, wouldn't make much difference. They'd say, "Hey, nice polka dots, but you're still uncool."

On a somewhat related note, my dad is the kind that just can't stand to throw anything out, regardless of how worn or how out-of-fashion it might be. I was at a costume store one time and saw a clown tie that was about 8" wide. I was tempted to take it down to his place, say, "Oh, this tie is too ugly to wear" and toss it in the trash, just to see if he would dig it out and wear it himself.

What<<<< no bow ties**********?

A few years ago my boss came to work in a pair of 1970's plaid polyester pants with flared cuffs!

I told him if he died and was buried in those pants, they would never decompose. In 10,000 years an anthropologist would find his remains and develop a theory on the culture in the 20th century based on those pants.

Itsn't it considered a fashion faux pas to ride a white bicycle except between Memorial and Labor days?

It's not a faux pas; it's just that outside of those times you can't find the bike in the snow pile.

Count me out

I still wear Converse All Stars/One Stars/Chuck Taylor's practically all summer long. I've got white, grey, black, blue, and stars & stripes. Very comfortable for anything but the cobbles.

I am looking for a white belt, though. A wide one.

Its whatever they had in the thrift store.....
Bud