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I'm the kind of person who tends to buy one pair of shoes and wear them almost all the time until they fall apart. While I'm vegan in most aspects of my life, shoes is one of the things that I've yet to switch, mostly because there are not easily accessible where I live and I don't know the online brands well enough to know where to start looking.
What are some of the more durable/comfortable materials used to make vegan shoes? And how long can I expect them to last if I wear them daily?
You can expect good vegan shoes to last as long as non-vegan shoes. Durability does not seem to be determined by the non-vegan components but rather the synthetic ones in both cases. Moreover, much as with non-vegan shoes, the quality of the materials seems to be much more important than the material itself.
That said, keep in mind that faux leather used in some vegan shoes ages worse than real leather. It's more a matter of "when", and that heavily depends on the quality of the material. The top polyurethane layer will eventually crack and peel. Faux suede does not have this issue.
If you buy vegan fine dress shoes made of faux leather, it would be wise not to wear them daily but only when you need to. Good quality faux leather can be very durable but it will not develop a patina or luster that leather does.
