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What’s the Matter Wi’Shoe?
One of the more surprising trends revealed in the YoLG shoe usage survey was the tendency for women to spend more on shoes than they feel comfortable with. I asked respondents for the highest price they had ever paid for a pair of shoes, and also how much they felt was too much to spend. On average, the most ever paid for a pair of shoes was actually higher than the identified “too much” price point. In fact, almost one third of respondents said that they had paid well about their comfort level for a pair of shoes.
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Despite this exhausting weekly regimen, Angie claims to own a mere 30-40 pairs of shoes. In order to keep her stock fresh she shops constantly, estimating that she has bought 8-10 pairs in the last six months alone. But it's not the quantity that dictates her purchases. Angie carries out a detailed quality check based on “craftsmanship, their uniqueness, versatility and longevity ... plus their color and beauty, how they look on my feet and as I get older, dare I say, comfort is becoming more of a factor.”
With this rigorous inspection process, it's not wonder Angie says that she has never sustained an injury from a pair of street shoes. However, she spent many years wearing specialized shoes for her dance study and feel this has “impeded upon my ability to wear certain types of heels – [dance] was before becoming a shoe fashionista.”
To feed her shoe jones, Angie has developed tight-knit relationships with local vendors who know her tastes so well they have been known to call her at home when items of interest come in. Indeed, out of the survey she told me that one particularly aggressive salesman once spotted her on the street, took her by the arm and dragged her into the shoe shop (although something tells me he didn't have to tug too hard). The loyalty pays off.. “I generally receive a 10% discount,” she says, “and every 10th pair, I receive a $100 credit.”
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