From the Ground Up: Shoes

Seeing as this series is called "From the Ground Up", I thought it would be fitting to start with the first thing that hits the pavement when you step outside. In my opinion, shoes can make or break anything you wear. You can get away with buying almost anything else from anywhere, but if you cheap out on shoes, people will notice.

Nowhere is your taste and social background so neatly summarized as in your choice of shoe. It is single most important part of your image, the root from which your projected self grows. Large numbers of single women judge prospective male partners rapidly and solely by looking at their feet. -Russell Smith, co-found of DailyXY 

The one shoe every man should own is a black lace-up. You can dress it up or dress it down; it'll work with everything from jeans to suits.   -GQ 

I tend to go a bit over board on this subject solely because this is my favorite aspect of fashion (along with jackets). I stepped away from my computer for a second and counted how many pairs of shoes I own. They totaled to 3 pairs of dress shoes, a pair of boat shoes, 14 pairs of athletic shoes (8 of which I wear on a regular basis) and a pair of flip-flops. Now I definitely do not think that all men need to have quite as much versatility in their collection, but there are a few must haves. Here are 4 shoes that are necessities to a man's wardrobe:

1. Dress - All men need to at least one pair of formal dress shoes. I recommend more, but it's not necessary. The pair that you must have are black oxfords. I went with Florsheim Broxton Black Oxfords. My Grandfather Chester wore Florsheim's, his father wore  Florsheim's and I intend to keep that tradition. 
2. Athletic - All men need a few pair of athletic shoes. If you are active, which I highly recommend to everyone, you'll need at least one pair for the gym/running. You should also have a pair of casual athletic shoes. Depending on your job, you may have to wear your Oxfords all week, but you should have a pair of athletic for the weekend when you want to dress nice while running errands. I must note though, you should not be wearing your work out shoes are your casual shoes. Keep each pair of shoes for their own task. 
3. Beach - Boat shoes are very much in style this summer. Flip-flops are nice for the beach, but if you'd like something that lets your feet breathe on those 90+ degree days, I recommend a nice pair of Dockers or Sperry's.
4. Protective - All men should have at least one pair of boots. I'm not in love with the boots I have, but I'm very glad I bought them. I live in Ohio. So on those crazy days where it goes from being 50 degrees to a snow storm the next day, it's nice to have shoes that won't get ruined/damaged in the tundra.

Like I said earlier, it's nice to have variation, but the four above are the only necessities in my opinion. What do you think? Is there a style I left out? Let me know in the comments.