Byline: Liz Jones
HAS the end of the road been reached for the cheap shoe? According tonew research conducted by Mintel, over thenextfiveyearsthe number
of pairs bought annually is expected to drop by 7 per cent.
Analysts believe women have wised up to the fact that cheap shoes areuncomfortable and liable to disintegrate at the first sight of a puddle.
So although they might buy fewer pairs, in Yves Saint Handags Replica future, they are likely to save upfor more expensive shoes: one-third of women questioned said they now pay more.But are High Street shoes really guaranteed to give you blisters, or have webeen brainwashed?
We now, on average, own between four and six handbags each, and considerspending upwardsof e600normal.Consequently, accessorieshave grown to be the most profitable part of any fashion business.
Visit Prada or Miu Miu, and it seems the whole ground floor is just shoes,bags, luggage, wallets and belts; but the strategy has worked. Accessories atBurberry, once famous only for its trench coats, now make up 31 per cent oftotal sales.
The luxury labels, hit by the credit crisis, want us to keep spending, andwhile we seem to have reached saturation point with the number of bags onoffer, footwear was, until last year, relatively untapped.
Not any more. We are now bombarded with images from the catwalk ofmulti-coloured platforms and wedges in weird and wonderful shapes, fashionedout of ever more exotic skins. Barely a week has gone by when there hasnt beena new shoe trendthe gladiator, thecagedplatform, the shoe boot
to swoon over in the pages of Grazia magazine.
WOMEN have begun to learn, for the first time, the names of shoe couturiers,suchasdesigner Nicholas Kirkwood, French maestroChristianLouboutin and American favourite of the stars, Brian Atwood.
According to Holli Rogers, head of retail at Net-a-Porter, which sells labelsonlyatthetopend of the market: We have seen an incredible increase in sales of footwear.
Womenarespendingmoreto attain better design and craftsman-shipBottega Veneta is a great arbiter of this. Also, the rise in status of designershoes has certainly contributed to this trend.
Net-a-Porters winter best-sellers includedChristianLouboutins Moro shoe boot for Roland Mouret, whichsoldoutinthreecolours despite an eye-watering e770 price tag, and for spring the ChristianLouboutin Rodita sandals (e630) and Chloes patent cone-heel shoe boots (e450)are selling briskly.
All the top brands are muscling in on shoe mania. Mulberry, which saw salesrocket after it collaborated with the likes of Luella Bartley for its bagcollections, recently launched its first shoe collectiona riding boot, ankle boot, shoe boot, pumpand flat lace-up in plum, coffee and grey.
Designed by Jonathan Kelsey, who learned his trade at Jimmy Choo, prices willrange from e375 to e770.
So what about Mintels claim that women are spurning the High Street becausethey want something comfortable and lasting?
Terry de Havilland, the Londoner who came up with the platform in the Seventiesfor the likes of David Bowie, and who is almost singlehandedly(singlefootedly?) responsible for its renaissance, says his shoes, like thee500 Gold Margaux python sandal worn by Kate Moss for her birthday Cosmetic bag
Other articles:
http://phlobuzz.com/community/blog/view/id_38/title_Entrepreneur-stamps-and-totes/
http://www.ipexr.com/Instant-Overview-of-the-G.html
