If a the site doesn't have a true folder structure, does having subdirectories really help with hierarchy and passage of equity?

[SearchStan]

If a website doesn't have a true folder structure, how much does have the page path structured like 
/shoes/rain-boots/ actually help establish hierarchy and flow of equity?
Since /rain-boots/ doesn't actually live in the /shoes/ folder?

Will you simply have to use internal linking to get the same effect for the search engine?

[Nozzle]

It's all about the linking structure anyway. Google doesn't actually know that /rain-boots/ doesn't actually live in the /shoes/folder. It's bots don't get inside your CMS to see where every page resides. It just crawls your pages through the links within your site.

[SearchStan]

Thank you for your reply! That makes sense.

Is this true of equity as well?

[Nozzle]

Yes. Link equity or PageRank is passed from page to page via the crawlable links on your site.