Why are shoes so expensive?

THIS spring, nearly every top designer has a  "Cinderella" slipper, a shoe priced so high that it should come with a handsome prince -- or an hour with a male escort, at least. Christian Louboutin's webbed suede and button sandals sell for $1,345, while Versace offers a $1,450 satin pump festooned with nothing more than a few tassels. Dior's platform slingback with beaded heel runs $1,030, while Balenciaga's pink and brown braided gladiator sandal goes for $1,375.

Then, there's the $1,045 Lanvin flat (pictured left) that should land at Barneys in Beverly Hills any day now. Already, women are salivating for this sandal adorned with a couple dozen leather-covered studs. Run, don't walk. There's a waiting list.

"Footwear is having its runway moment," says Marshal Cohen, chief analyst for New York market research firm NPD Group. Designers are "raising the cachet of the brand by having one extravagant style, and that one makes the other pairs seem more reasonable."

In other words, the glass slipper has shattered and consumers have resigned themselves to splurging. Case in point: You pick up a sandal and sigh with relief when it costs less than your monthly car payment. And those sale endorphins surge when you see $1,000 platforms marked down to $675.

WHO'S READY TO BURN THEIR LOUBOUTINS AND GO BAREFOOT?

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Photos: Kirk McCoy , LA Times. 

Comments

[seahorsese]

WOW -- this articel blew my mind.....cant believe Prada says BAGS are over! Welldone MONICA! Page 1 story & page 1 news flag for it too...GO GET EM TIGERESS!

[Judith]

Shoes nearly $2,000, woa, and like it says the price of these shoes are just like a car payment. These shoes should be purchased by very wealthy people, because a middle-class person in my opinion couldn't afford them. Or maybe they could but their is other things that are more worth buying. I think we should just leave these expensive shoes to the wealthy who can buy them like if they were a bag of chips. Although I do wonder why can these high end shoes be so expensive when most of the time you can find very similar shoes at a lower price.

[Shoeman]

I think I have seen the price of shoes going through the roof and most of them are being produced in China. There is no reason in my mind to believe it's nothing but a greed fest milking the public at retail.

Nike has shoe that are so expensive I think people shoe should boycott their brand. Average price of a tenis shoe is now between 55 and 65 dollars.

A simple molded foot insert can be expensive too. That's the markup of greed again.

Volume in manufacturing over in china should bring price down but currently it's going higher.

Folk's...there are billions of feet out there. They are raising prices because people are willing to pay for it.
Vote with your money. Buy better value and you will simply starve the rats out of their holes.

[Robyn Marie's Shoe Closet]

We own a shoe store in Northern California and if we priced anything over $100 bucks (besides leather boots) we'd never have any customers. We pride ourselves on our low prices even on name brand shoes with good quailty material.

I do understand that designer shoes have a lot more creative effort going into making them and are made with more luxurious material.

But I agree with Judith, they're not worth not eating/paying your car/house payment that month just for a pair of shoes that most of the time only you even know were that expensive.

In addition, note to Shoeman, while I totally agree that some brands like Nike jack up their prices because people will buy them, there are other brands out there that in my opinion are priced very fairly. For example the shoe brands MIA and Aerosoles. Most of MIA's shoes ar made in Brazil and both brands combine quailty and comfort at great prices.

It's also important to consider who is selling the shoes. In our store we price everything $10 to $20 dollars cheaper than all the big department stores, just because we're a family owned business that believes in quaility at an affordable price. Check us out if you'd like robynmariesshoecloset.com.

Great, informative article :)