Dress shoes can be difficult to wear because typically they have a stylish design that you are not used to wearing, they are stiff (because they are not worn daily), and the soles of the shoe are slick and smooth providing no traction at all. All of this can lead to you losing your balance and possibly falling. The potential for injury to yourself and your ego is great. You can defuse this potential by using a little sandpaper to scuff the bottom of your shoes to give yourself the traction you need.

Fold a sheet of sandpaper into quarters.

Hold the shoe with the sole facing up, and quickly scrub the sandpaper across the sole, where the ball of your foot will be, and across the heel. You want your scrubbing motions to be quick and light. You are not actually trying to sand through the sole; you are just trying to remove the smooth finish on the bottom. Stop every so often and run your finger over the sole. You want the sole to feel "gritty" but not rough. Run your finger from a smooth part (where you have not been sanding) to the area you have sanded to get a real idea of the difference.

Wipe the sole of your dress shoe with a damp paper towel to clean off the dust from sanding. Set the shoe on its side, and let the sole dry for 20 minutes before putting it on. While it is drying, sand the sole of the other shoe.