- 2,932
- 1,119
Real leather vs synthetic leather is what you need to be comparing.
Again, you can't compare casual walking versus on-court hooping. When you are casually walking, you aren't making lateral cuts and you definitely aren't going through the same movements and putting your shoes to the test like you do when you're on the basketball court. Therefore, you will BARELY feel the difference between synthetic leather versus full grain leather when you are simply walking.
While one may suffer the consequences earlier and have a longer lasting pain from court-play, the difference can most definitely be felt via casual wear. As an example, I can wear early/mid-00 SB's and be on my feet through a ten hour shift without any problem. I can barely go three hours on current models. Same rubber sole, same foam insole, same Zoom bag. The difference is the quality of the upper and how well the material flexes in the flex/pinch points as well as how forgiving the material is when your foot expands.
The uppers won't have any bearing on heel pain but it'll definitely kill the toes.