Quite a strong opinion you have there so I’ll share my thinking.

First, you can usually find a pair of Huggins Mills for around $250-300 if you check their sales/seconds page.

Second, I’m guessing you never owned a pair of Higgins Mills because I wear mine all the time and can do 10 miles without any foot pain at all. They’re recraftable while Blundstones are disposable and they look a heck of a lot more “business casual” regardless of state (I too live in Cali).

Third, I assumed he meant Brooks Brothers and not running shoes which is as far from business casual as you get. If the brand got tangled in interpretation maybe that’s my bad.

But in sum you’re wrong about HMs quality, comfort, price point and value and pushing a great but totally casual shoe as a business casual option that it’s not.

But hey, keep stating your cases aggressively, ignorantly, and arrogantly and I’m sure it’ll take you far. Xo