Where Has The Shoe Industry Gone? This is a blog post that I wrote in 2018. It is amazing to see the foresight (not trying to pat my own back here) that I had then and how it probably rings 10-fold now. The world is vastly changing year on year, especially in style trends/shoes, etc. What was true last year is no longer true this year and won’t be true next year. Let’s look below at my thoughts at the time.
Being one of the original shoe bloggers in the industry, I have had the opportunity to meet many people, including shop owners, brand owners, and individuals in the shoe industry. And because of this, I get to hear a lot about what is going on, for everyone, which allows me to understand the industry better. The last few years have been interesting, to say the least. A lot of ups and downs with the growth of social media and globalization, and brands from all around the world now being able to market to anyone in the world at the drop of a dime.
It has made the options endless for the consumer, but truth be told, it has made the industry overly saturated for the companies as they compete for the global internet consumer. And whether you know it or not, many brands, factories, and retail stores are suffering due to this. So the question is, what is going on in the mind of the consumers? What has changed for them in the shoe industry? Was it all a trend? I have a few theories of my own, so I thought that I would discuss them and then ask all of you to leave your comments/opinions.
People are not wearing dress shoes as much
With the way that the world is changing to be more casual, you see more and more people wearing these hybrid dress shoes with sneaker soles, or just full-on wearing sneakers with their work attire. People want to be comfortable, and therefore, the idea of wearing leather-soled shoes in the age of ‘the sneaker’ looks less and less appealing to them, so they stop buying $400 dress shoes when they can get 2 pairs of $200 sneakers. And as workplace dress codes seem to be getting more and more relaxed, the idea of wearing your sneakers to work seems to be more and more appealing.
Too many cheap online brands are ruining it for the good quality brands
With the craze of social media and the ability to just create a shoe brand and build it on Instagram, the industry has become immensely saturated, and the consumer has a million options to choose from these days. The problem lies in the fact that everyone’s marketing campaign is this: ‘We are such and such online shoe company making handmade shoes that have cut the middleman and therefore are able to sell you the “best dress shoes in the world” for only $299.’
Sadly, the consumer believes these marketing gimmicks and buys the shoes, thinking they are great. All the while, the shoes are mediocre, and the client believes that this mediocrity is the end-all be-all, never understanding why they should invest in the more expensive and better-made product.
People have too many dress shoes
Sometimes, I feel that buying well-made dress shoes was a trend that boomed at the beginning of the social media craze, and being able to buy European-made shoes from the US in only a few clicks on the computer. People went shoe crazy and were buying 10-20 shoes a year. And let’s be honest, who really needs that many shoes? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I probably have around 150. But I don’t need them all, not even close.
A lot of people started buying up all of these exotic European shoe brands that were never available to them before, without taking a trip to Europe. But $20,000 later with a closet full of shoes, they started to realize, ‘What have I done? I don’t need all of these. I better start selling them off now.’ So there was this huge boom of consumers for dress shoes, which made it great for the original brands that were there to be there for the boom. But now has come the crash where people spent more than they could and/or needed, and now have stopped buying dress shoes full stop.
Or maybe there is a 4th option I have not yet thought about and would love to hear all of your opinions on why the shoe industry has quieted down. And this is coming from a lot of brands/shop owners out there who have been struggling to keep up with the boom of 2016/early 2017.
I hope that you have enjoyed this throwback post. I look forward to hearing your comments on where you think the shoe industry has gone/where it is now vs then.
—Justin FitzPatrick, The Shoe Snob