Expereince with Slippers:

In prepping for my first meet, I decided to originally get some slippers from LiftingLarge.com. But, I tried them for a week or two's lifts (3 or 4 times) but the issue I was expierencing was that my foot is a size 9, and I ordered the 7-9, meaning my foot was slightly over the edges of the little rubber sole. When I tried to spread the floor, this caused me to have my foot slide around over top of it. Once I got to heavier weight, the whole thing just wound up slipping out from underneath. NO BUENO.

Asics or Sabos?

So I then went and asked some of the other powerlifters in my gym what they used. Some, as in this thread, suggested MatFlexs by Asics. I tried looking for them later, but found there are the MatFlex 4's and 5's. In trying to search which of the two were "better" for Sumo pulling, and what the differences were, I found a lot of reviews comparing Sabos to Chucks to MatFlexs to weightlifing or other powerlifting shoes (AdiPowers, Romelos, etc). This was the one that sold me, ultimately.

Every one I could find said that while Matflexs are ok, there were a number of things that made the Sabos nice. The metatarsal strap, the strap around the top, the design of the sole (and marginally thinner sole), and material were all some of the differences. So, I bit the bullet and just said, "Well, if I dont like em, I can return em."

I've used these now for a few deadlifting sessions, and even a few bench and squat ones to wear them in a bit. I have to be honest, when I first got them, I was a bit disappointed when I put them on. They fit the width of my foot (I usually hover between 9 Wide - 9.5 Wide) nice and snug, but felt long in the foot. There is about a half inch or so that my toes don't go all the way up to. This, combined with the thin/breathable material means theres a weird sound that happens when it bends in the toe of the shoe - HOWEVER, this is fairly quiet, and when i was in the actual gym (and not my silent wood floor house), you can't hear it. My other complaints were that were the material meets the sole of the shoe looked kind of flimsy, and that the shoelaces are a bit too short to use all the eyelets (though thats easy enough to replace).

On the topic of the "flimsiness" though that I thought I saw, after having worn these shoes a few times, I have to say I was completely wrong. They have held up just fine, and I wonder if it was just some rough edges from the machining. With a bit of lifting put into em, these have pretty much gone away. Guess it's just been awhile since I've purchased a new pair of shoes for myself.

With all of that said: I absolutely love these shoes though. The tightness of the shoe as a result of the metatarsal strap is awesome. While the sholelaces are short, by skipping a few eyelets, I can tie them fine and get them much tighter than my older shoes. I get a lot of grip from the sole to the floor, and don't feel any slippage at all no matter how much I try to spread the floor and push outwards really. They feel pretty close or even better actually to when I lifted without shoes for my max attempts (what I used to do). I'd say go with the Sabos,

Some people recommend the Reebok Lite TRs, but from what I've seen, those are nearly as expensive price wise... While these aren't available prime on Amazon, I ordered mine on Mar. 30th, and got them on the 3rd with just the default shipping. Im totally with you on the wanting to stay cheap though. I have a meet in June and have been buying a bunch of the equipment needed (singlet, approved belts/wraps, etc) and god fuckin damn is picking shit up and down apparently expensive as dicks. I prefer the "Buy slightly more expensive for quality once, than buy shit twice" kind of mentality though, so thats part of what influenced my decision as well.

I like deadlift specific footgear, but as a sumo puller (like me), you might need more than just slippers—my experience with a really cheap pair I got from my local sporting goods store is that if the floor and the slipper’s sole don’t have enough traction, I might roll my ankles, which you don’t have to worry about right now in your hi-tops.

I have a pair of Sabo deadlift-specific shoes (in red because they make my lifts go up 3 times faster) and they’re pretty nice. If that’s out of your price range as a student, you might consider a pair of hi-top wrestling shoes instead. ASICS is a trustworthy and affordable brand.

https://www.amazon.com/SABO-Sports-Sabo-Deadlift-Shoes/dp/B01LYL78GC

You can also find them on MAXbarbell.com aswell I believe. Chucks are good as well but they run a bit narrow so they weren't for me.