Why Are People Willing to Fork Out a Fortune for Shoes That Cost Little to Make?

[marmar]

AlterNet / By Anneli Rufus

Why Are People Willing to Fork Out a Fortune for Shoes That Cost Little to Make?
Shoes spur cravings, compulsions and crimes as no other clothing does, and the true cost of making them is just as surprising.

October 1, 2010


Shoes are fashion's version of drugs.

More than any other article of clothing, shoes alter the way we move, walk and feel. Shoes spur cravings, compulsions and crimes as no other clothing does. Some people can't have sex without seeing or touching shoes. (Know any hat or tube-sock fetishists?) The fashion industry knows this. It tells us that shoes can improve our health, skill, speed: that, in effect, shoes are medicine. The industry tells us shoes can render us irresistible. Thus it knows it can charge us anything.

It also knows we can't go DIY with shoes, the way we can with drawstring totebags and elastic-waisted skirts. When we buy shoes, we're paying for technology -- and design, transit, marketing, and manufacturing that (just as with real drugs) occurs far away under conditions we'd rather not envision as we buckle strappy sandals as seen on TV.

In 2005, the National Labor Committee and China Labor Watch reported that Chinese factory workers making New Balance shoes earned 40 cents an hour, which dropped to 32 cents after mandatory room-and-board deductions.

"I was unprepared for the heat," says Beth Rosenberg, a Tufts University assistant professor of public health and community medicine who toured Chinese shoe factories as part of a project funded by the International Labor Organization. "Air conditioning -- are you kidding? They don't even have fans." ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/media/148376/why_are_people_willing_to_fork_out_a_fortune_for_shoes_that_cost_little_to_make/

[Tunkamerica]

1. I wear kung fu shoes

on sale for 20 dollars on Amzon or Simple (brand) boots. I'll kick your ass or recycle something.

[xchrom]

2. Recommend - I just found a brand of shoes that are hand made

In Burbank, Cali.

And when I'm in London I always pick up a pair
Of hand made shoes there. I'll be buried in those.

[grace0418]

3. And why do women pay hundreds of dollars for shoes that destroy their feet and are little

more than 3 straps, a couple of rhinestones and a 4 inch spike? I can't tell you the number of times I've visited my mother in her senior home and had her or one of her friends tell me they wish they'd never worn high heels. I'll wear them on occasion but never super high ones.

I will however pay for good running/trail shoes. I've learned through experience that a good exercise shoe makes a HUUUUUGE difference.

[JNelson6563]

4. Oh, can I tell you stories!

I was a manager of a dept. store here in my burg a while back (it has since closed). It was hard to keep the shoe dept. staffed as you had to run your ass off. The other managers were afraid of covering that dept 'cause it could be stressful. Fortunately I have a bit of a shoe fetish and didn't mind at all so I ended up there often. These poor little old ladies would come in and give me a shoe of their choosing and ask for their size. I'd bring it out and their shoe would be off, waiting to try on new shoe. I marveled at how their feet were often no longer shaped like feet. Most times I was certain they'd never get their poor, mis-shapen foot into that shoe but somehow they did. The stories these dear old souls would tell me of their days working at the bank or where-ever, where they absolutely had to wear heels. I saw the results all the time and it was horrifying. To this day my heart breaks for those poor ladies.

Julie

[grace0418]

7. My brother used to work in shoes at Nordstrom and had similar stories.

I see so many poor dears with completely messed up feet, in terrible pain, walking with canes. Sometimes it happens no matter what due to injury or arthritis, but I cannot understand why women still choose to wear something so bad for your whole bad (not just feet, but knees, ankles and back as well). There are even dance classes and exercise classes for women in high heels. That just makes me shake my head. It's such a bizarre concept to me.

[smokey nj]

9. I saw the same things when I worked in the ladies' shoes department at Sterns

after I graduated from high school - women with bunions the size of baseballs and toes that overlapped and pointed sideways.

[JNelson6563]

11. Quite something to behold, isn't it?

My heart breaks at the thought of it.

Julie

[Merlot]

15. Bunions are hereditary. You can wear nothing but flat sandals and still have them.

As someone who has many a pair of flat sandals, I speak from experience.

[Shallah Kali]

16. A friend told me of working in a nursing home seeing the same thing

years ago when she saw all the women had their poor toes bent over one another and twisted from years of high heels. It killed what little urge she had at that point for wearing them. Stories like this makes me glad I never found any I could stand to wear no matter how cool they looked. Gimme a nice flat with good arch support and some cushioning or my feet *hurt*.

[dawg]

5. I never have got the *high-heels* thing ...

I've been told they somehow make womens' legs look shapelier? :shrug:

[_ed_]

6. Mass delusion

Women look bizarre trying to balance on their tippy-toes. Fashion is like a self-imposed prison.

[grace0418]

8. I guess it's worth it to some women to have shapely legs when they're younger.

I'd rather be able to walk without blinding pain when I'm older.

[Uncle Joe]

10. I disagree, here is an example of a tube sock fetish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh-Q8ru3oVc

Thanks for the thread, marmar.

[grasswire]

12. the malformations of western women's feet are akin to foot binding...

...in Asia. Just as gross, IMO. Just as stupid. Very frustrating.

[billyclem]

13. Back to the OP retail cost, it is not just women.

Men get taken in the current market trying to find quality US made footware at any price. A lot of the time I wear western boots and there are quite a few bootmakers in the country making quality boots at reasonable prices. As for shoes, the choices are far more limited. I think Allen Edmonds is the only maker of men's shoes left. I have been wearing them for about 30 years, they last a long time; but, they are expensive. What drives me to boots and the more expensive shoes is the need to find 13 EE/EEE and they are difficult to find except for New Balance and others of that type. Leaving aside the quality factor, there are some industrially ugly shoes out there.

I have paid attention to what and where my clothing was made for a long time. I try for 100% cotton or wool and avoid the sweat-shop nations.

[NorthCarolina]

14. Why are the Ultra Rich willing to spend personal fortunes running for Offices

that pay so little in comparison to what they dole out to get themselves there?