Once upon a time, as a competitive runner, I swore by Adidas shoes. (at that time there where made in West Germany. Yeah I'm old).

when they moved their operations overseas, the quality of their shoe dropped. I needed a really high arch, and oddly, the design changed and so did the arch.

I had to go with another company, Asics.

while no longer in the front pack and have lots knee problems, I'm willing to give them a try again.

but again, while made in Germany, they are now made by robots.

so I don't know what to do.

Germany by and large has a pretty good labor/worker reputation.

And since Adidas hadn't made shoes in Germany in quite sometime, are they technically aren't putting anyone out of work in Germany.

I have to think on this one for a while.

Mine were made in USA.

There are some shoes still made in this country:

http://www.newbalance.com/made-in-usa-1/

http://www.zappos.com/search/made+in+usa/filter/productTypeFacet/%22Shoes%22/orig/made+in+usa

http://www.usalovelist.com/american-made-shoes-ultimate-source-list/

I have needle thin feet with a high arch.

I have trouble finding that in a New Balance running shoe.

I do wear their cross trainers though.

common issue it seems, it get worse after washing
not good in a closed environment like a car

I've washed them multiple times and it worsens, the smell comes from outside the shoe and well as from the inside
baking soda will not help that

I prefer kordura and nylon in sport shoes But these composite leather materials used in couches, clothing and shoes make be suspicious

They break down very quickly

Plus there is the Chinese factor The Chinese are not above using substandard and or toxic materials in their products. I don't even trust their food products

made to fit inside shoes. Shoes need to air out. I wouldn't keep them in the car.

I've never had a pair of tennies begin to reek as fast as my latest Asics. Just terrifying. I don't normally have stinky feet, either!

As I wrote to the other poster, I need the high arch.

I have weird narrow high arched feet.

Hell even serious amateur skiiers use orthotics

A buddy of mine boosted his resume by leaning how to carve custom orthotics

Bet there are businesses salivating at the prospect.

Question is then who do they sell the shoes to if no one has a job.

The question is, will any of those remaining pay well enough for anyone to buy Adidas? Or Nikes? Or any of the other name brand stuff? Seems to me, that these types of products are much more available to the middle to well to do than to the working class. My last pair of sneakers I got for twenty bucks at a Kmart - lasted me three years.

Somehow, I suspect that automating this part of the process isn't going to reduce cost a great deal - if at all. Still, I've suspected for a long time that this sort of thing was coming. I expect to hear a lot more companies doing this with their products in the near future.

have the world that we blew up that we can now profit from rebuilding.That's done.

We either manage this, or die,

…their damn shoes if everyone is jobless and has no money?

Probably well-paying jobs at that.

…..mean "people employed"—because it could be women too, right?

But over time, ti will just be cheaper to repair robots with robots or replace worn robots with new ones, robotically made. Maybe even 3-D printed robots. Yes, somewhere you'll need a human being, but human beings are so messy—they need health care, go on strike, have families, get preggers. Why keep them?

It seems like a relentless compulsive drive by the 1% to just pursue immediate profit no matter the consequences. Even for themselves.

Robots seem to do a lot of the work. I haven't seen one of those films in some time, but as I recall, most of the humans were employed as one of the following:

1. Military/security personnel
2. Smuggler
3. Scavenger/Trader
4. Politician (limited opportunities)
5. Bar owner
6. Musician
7. Freedom fighter (not really a paying job)
8. Royal handmaid

I think the robots even built themselves -- or built other robots. So no jobs there, either.

And put them out of business, the medical industrial complex is one ripe cherry waiting to be disrupted. Much of what physicians do is interpret lab results and other data that interpreted by AI will be much more efficient at providing positive health outcomes than the compomised physicians who are focused on promoting the latest phama products.

Technology will automate 80% of what doctors do...
http://fortune.com/2012/12/04/technology-will-replace-80-of-what-doctors-do/

And scientific exploration --a necessity as we will eventually need a new place to live.

The reality for our future is one where there will be billions of people who are no longer employable and no longer needed. The future will consist of a small population of highly educated, skilled workers with ample free time to pursue greater knowledge and training.

How we get there from here won't be pretty but it's going to happen.

I always thought they were French or Swiss

I didn't think the GOPpers could surpass what their previous evil.