Designer vs High Street: Shoes Part 2

We’re back to conclude this feature on designer vs high street shoes. If you didn’t catch the first part of the article then you can go back and find it here. As I said before we’re not going to say there is one particular winner, just review different aspects and how they stack up in each of those. We talked about how they compare when it comes down to quality and ethics involved in making the shoes in the last article. This week we’ll be looking  at pricing and practicality of the shoes.

When it comes to pricing there are a number of factors you have to consider. For starters you really have to consider what type of shoe it is and where you’re going to wear it. For example if you’re paying  £400 or even £200 for a fine satin shoe and wear it out every weekend to a club it’s not going to last long so in that instance you’d be better paying less for something you’re worried about getting dirty etc. Usually the high street costs less than designer however there are instances when they can cost you about the same. Some of Topshop’s shoes can be well over £100 and are usually really on trend. Which means you’re going to get most of that wear for one season.

Then you can consider there are plenty of occasions when you don’t have to pay full price for designer shoes. You can find fantastic sales at designer boutiques and department stores, twice a year where you can find anything up to 90% off designer shoes. Alternatively, there are websites like net-a-porter’s sister site, theoutnet which offer discounted designer shoes all year round. If you can grab a classic pair and work out the cost per wear, you’ll find it’ll cost a similar amount if not less than some of the higher priced high street shoes.

Another often overlooked aspect when buying shoes is practicality. You’re probably thinking what is he talking about, shoes are not supposed to be practical. That is a valid point but no one wants to pay a lot of money for shoes that are going to end up wrecked in 12 months time. That’s why you should always consider the purpose of the shoe before you buy it, in what sort of environment will you be wearing them? Although the quality is usually better on a designer shoe, they are still classed as a luxury item so they’re not designed to be worn day in day out. This is when the durability of some of the high street shoes triumph, plus if they did collapse after 12 months it probably wouldn’t be as big an issue if you’d spent £30 as opposed to £300.

When dealing with designer shoes I’d often see people bring back expensive shoes in all sorts of states, some had been worn in clubs and had glass stuck in and marked the leather sole. Exotic skins, which are hard to clean, had got dirty and satin shoes had been worn on grass leaving dirt marks around the lower part of the heel. That’s why it is important to consider where you’ll wear them, these people didn’t and then thought it was a fault with the shoe.

So that’s part two wrapped up, as always have your say by commenting below.

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