Yes, unbelievably, I am the owner of a pair of $145 shoes.
Mind you, I didn't buy them for $145. While on vacation my MIL took me to an upscale clothing store and there they were in the back of the store in a clearance pile. It was a really fancy store so the clearance pile was in a dark recessed corner. I think most of the women shopping in the store probably didn't even venture to that part of the store lest someone think THEY were perusing the clearance stuff. But I'm not proud. I found the shoes. They were $20!
The woman at the cash register reminded me of what a great deal I was getting even though the original price was on the bottom of the shoe (and at the same time, judging me, I imagine for my very poor choice.)
Anyway these are really cute shoes. I did not have occasion to wear them until last night at a dinner party we hosted in our home. I never wore them outside. I have hardwood floors. I didn't run or dance in them. During a game of Apples to Apples, the heel broke! I was sitting down. I was leaning on it a little with my foot. It was a skinny heel. BUT IT BROKE THE FIRST TIME I WORE IT.
Having never before owned a pair of $145 shoes I must say I expected a little more life out of them (Ok, perhaps that is why they were on clearance!) But can you even imagine what kind of PO'd I would be had I spent that much (or even half of that!) Heck, if a pair of $20 shoes from Target break I would take them back.
Anyway, I suspect these are some more cheap crap shoes made in a foreign country with questionable labor practices. Some joker just found out a way to charge even more for them than the cheap shoes you expect at Payless or Target. People in upscale shops are paying more than I spend on groceries for something the same quality of the shoes all of the rest of us wear.
And now I am even more convinced that labels and prices tell us very little about the quality of our clothing and exist more to make you feel good about the exorbitant price you are being charged.
10 comments:
Sorry about the broken shoe - can it be fixed? And I couldn't agree more about overpriced "junk" designed to make us feel good about splurging on ourselves. I do appreciate good quality and will pay for it - but only if I can't find it on sale, or maybe even 2nd hand.
I think I'm going to take it to a shoe repair place by my house-They are really cute shoes!
I do agree some things are worth the price. We need to just make sure we know what they are and not just assume expensive = quality!
Haha. Ok, I don't mean to laugh, but seriously, I can only imagine your face when this happened. Plus, you deserve it for titillating my inner shoe maven without even showing a picture.
Most of my life, I wouldn't have ever purchased a shoe that cost more than thirty bucks. Now, I'm seriously a shoe diva. I have high qualifications that a shoe must meet, and I'm willing to look forever until I find exactly what I want.
This means that I do, in fact, own a pair of $145 shoes. A pair of knee-high leather boots, to be precise, but they've lasted five winters of hard wearing so I don't regret the purchase. If the heel had broken the first day I wore them, I'd have been in a rage :P
Well it was kind of funny, especially because I told EVERYONE that evening the story of the shoes before they broke in a rousing game (apparently ) of apples to apples.
Anyway, I would love to be a shoe diva but alas, this is not my station in life presently ;-)
The most I have spent on a pair of shoes was $85 (with a job of course!) and that was on a pair of Nine West Boots. I loved those boots.
The shoes are cure-Skinny heeled black mules with a sexy strap across the top. They have kind of a canvas top all embroidered with flowers.
I realized that if I exclude boots, my shoe purchases are pretty frugal. I think boots really are in their own category--they are workhouse shoes, and when you buy them in leather, they probably are worth the extra expense.
But as for normal shoes, the most expensive pair of shoes I own is a $75 metallic crossover shoe that is both a hiking shoe and a dress flat. I bought them for our vacation so that I could go touring in them by day, and still wear them with casual dresses for dinner out. I only bought them because I convinced myself that they were really two pairs of shoes in one :P
Well as long as they were really 2 shoes in one.....
I have to say I actually don't think all expensive shoes are junk, I have a pair of Bjorns and a pair of Clarks that I bought last year (under $20) on clearance at Marshall's and those shoes are wonderful and usually more than I spend on shoes. I actually in desperate need of a new pair of shoes and was thinking I would go to Marshall's for a pair of either of those and EVEN PAY THEIR NOT ON SALE price if I have to!!!
Ironic, isn't it, that the fancy upscale store you bought the shoes from probably doesn't have much of a return policy, especially on clearance items (at least, that has been my experience), while you could have totally taken them back if you'd gotten them, as you said, at Target?
I realized in reading your post that my most expensive shoe purchases have been sneakers - my last pair was $110, I think. Well worth it if it keeps me comfortable while I'm working out!
I think comfortable sneakers are a must! And mine tend to last a long time if I wear them only for walking in.
And yes, these shoes were all sales final! It was in Florida anyway so I would have to send them to my MIL to take back for me so there would be shipping on top of that.
I had to smile when you described how the shoes were in the back and that most of the people shopping there probably didn't even go there lest someone THINK they may be looking at the clearance stuff. I have been in stores where I felt exactly the same way. Like there is some kind of shame from looking at the stuff on clearance. Like you need to wait until no one is around and then sneak back there. And then, if you find something, how can you face the cashier who is going to look down her nose at you for going back there!
Not that I care about all that pressure, mind you, but I definitely have noticed it. How sad that the shoes turned out to be such poor quality. You're right, though, that we shouldn't mistake high prices for quality. Thanks for the lesson.
It really was a dark corner! :-) I was like a second class (or no class) citizen back there!
The store is so cute otherwise I probably would not go there at all. Whenever we visit my in-laws in Fl I go with my MIL and NEVER buy anything because it's all so outrageously priced. Oh well. Someone is buying this stuff!!! (maybe I should open an outrageously priced store!)
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