I bought a pair of multi purpose walking shoes while in Germany last year as my old ones started disintegrating. The sales staff made heroic teaming attempts to sell me a can of water repellent/proofing. The sales pitch was ‘keeping them clean’ in mist/mud so they could just ‘wipe off’ and keep looking new longer. I held out. A year later they have been regularly worn in all sorts of conditions and still look near new. The shoes have Gore-Tex uppers. Water proofing products can be a profit centre akin to the car dealer add-on polishes and protectorants.
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I like my Gore-Tex lined boots but they are expensive but time vs cost they work out economically being around 8 years old 
. But if I had just the light fabric shoes as mentioned by @passerbye123 then a 20 or 30 dollar can of silicone spray may be an alternative to wetter feet in the dewy mornings 
. I believe Scotchgard™ does a similar job to the dedicated shoe sprays and may even be cheaper but it does contain a product that has a month’s half life in a human so should be applied like the other sprays in a well ventilated area and using a decent mask 
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I had not meant to confuse treating ‘regular’ tennies with treating Gore-Tex shoes 
Selling the customer a $20~30 can of treatment for Gore-Tex shoes is a profit centre as I see it while probably an advantageous purchase for others who wear their shoes beyond their homes. Especially in drizzly places like Melbourne.
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either way i still remember footwear previously were straight forward and easy to wear i cannot remember having hassles with narrow fitted shoes in some brands. quite a lot brands don’t even have rubber soles, i can only think that alternative materials they use are easier to make. Let me know what you think about alternative soles on footwear .I will include mesh that is used to construct the side walls,previously leather was used but recently mesh is used… i have noticed some brands use rubber for soles and others seem to use memory foam. let me know what you think about foam materials. Just a quick recap on waterproofing i have 2 spray bottles not really sure how effective it does with waterproofing.all i know is in a previous comment of another member waterproofing sprays are very strong surely need ventilation.
Waterproof, no sprays required.
Recommended suitable for long distance running and optionally rounding up sheep by Champion Cliff Young OAM.
P.S.
Long lasting I got nearly five years out of the first pair before they started to leak.
After the first marathon, my sneakers could have been thrown away. It’s very sad. I bought expensive sneakers for the second marathon, and they literally fell apart, too. So now I’m on the lookout for good material.
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Is this normal and do other runners have the same experience with their shoes? I would expect a pair of shoes to last more than 42km.
If not, it might be classed as a fault under the Australian Consumer Law.
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That is a good question. There are many ‘high performance’ products that are ‘high performance’ because there is a 100% trade-off to ‘performance’ from longevity.
An old saw in the days of ‘real Jaguars’ (arguably 1950s to 80’s) was they were like thoroughbred racehorses that broke their legs every time out. I can imagine the materials used for sole grip or flexibility, or for some sports extra spring for jumping, being such that they have fairly short useful lives before deteriorating.
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That must be why my New Balance ones last for years.
I cannot run and only take half sized steps.
I end up replacing them when they start looking tatty and then use the old pair to replace the even more tatty gardening pair.
What seems like common sense and may be well understood by those who train for and run marathons.
Interestingly, the discussion mentions training shoes lasting 3 months, and having a second pair just for those special fast runs.
No mention of ‘sneakers’, just running shoes, if there is a difference. I’m not a runner. Just an ex gym junkie who wore cross trainers and light weight running shoes depending on best fit and feel. My brand choices survived 6-12 months of step and cross training including outdoor sessions.
I too wonder what lifetimes competitive marathon runners achieve from their footware? 
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The reason I asked the question is that a marathon possibly wouldn’t be a usual use for a shoe…and may be akin to say a set of tyres on a car which races on the weekend. The use may push the limits of shoe design and manufacture.
On the other hand, it may be no different to say running 42km over a few weeks (which may people do for fitness). I suspect that their shoes last more than 42km.
It would be interesting from @davidgr experience, if a one shoe race is ‘normal’.
I think I am still a beginner. I found Hoka shoes yesterday with a lot of good reviews, they will be delivered the next week. I hope it will be good.
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I’m on my second pair of Salomon trail runners. First pair I purchased Dec 2014. These failed after many years of use with a hole in the side of the upper near the toes. I kept wearing them before some more cracking and bond failures made it terminal.
Not a recommendation, but of interest the warranty.
Two years product warranty excluding fair wear and tear.
Some shoe brands seem to limit themselves to be free of manufacturing defects, and place a time limitation on claiming same that is much shorter. Hope HOKA are equally generous? One year on their web site?
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The rate of failure may also have something to do with running style, if the runner has a lot of pronation then the shoe will be subject to more twisting forces that could easily cause early failure if the design doesn’t account for this. I ran half and full marathons over several years, but have a neutral gait, and found that my preferred Asics lasted for around 800km of training and events. I poked holes in the top with my big toes which made the shoes look tatty but didn’t alter their function. Eventually the padding within the soles gradually lost a bit of spring, but the difference going to new shoes was only slight. Also at this distance there wasn’t a lot of tread left in several parts of the sole. That said I was not particularly fast, at 70 I figured if I took twice as long as the winner I was doing all right.
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