As someone who lives in SoCal I'm astonished by the amount of shoes sold here which are GTX. I always think they don't breathe as good as just normal shoes. Thoughts?
Anecdotally, they definitely don’t breath as well as shoes without, which is to be expected give n the properties of gore-tex. Since Gore-Tex needs to be kept clean and washed regularity, my theory is the shoes will perform well in a lab/testing but in the real world will get dirty and “plugged” up pretty quick. Shoes are gonna see a ton of dirt compared to a jacket. I avoid Gore-Tex foot wear unless it’s for a winter mountaineering and waterproofness is essential.
I think they are selling based on the brand name. I bought a few GTX versions before concluding that for me it isn't worth the cost. Clothes are much easier to wash and keeping clean so the membrane can perform.
Yep using that material makes the breathability suffer. No comparison to other water restiant materials which are worse. If I were in your region I would not buy water restiant shoes to begin with.