Thanks for the advice, I'll check those out. I bought gel cushion soles for my work boots, like the scholl brand ones but about ⅓ the price, from a $2 type shop in Sydney road, and they were just as good. Unfortunately my latest pair of boots (Everlast) aren't as good as the first ones I bought. They seem to have gotten stingy with the quality of the upper material and are already disintegrating (I bought them before the end of the financial year).

My MIL just told me that the shoes she gave me (the runners that this original query was about) were sitting in her wardrobe for 20 odd years. No wonder they're falling apart!