MISFIT


To heel or not to heel A


young lass got her pictures in the papers at Aintree this year by falling over because she was unaware that walking on soft turf in high heels needs great care, and now Christian Louboutin has weighed in by telling the world that he doesn’t care if his shoes hurt his


customers. In his own words: ‘High heels are pleasure with pain! If you can’t walk in them, don’t wear them.’ The poor man has been accused of insufferable arrogance, but he is absolutely right. The first time I saw a pair of stilettos I remarked that they must be


uncomfortable to wear, and was told that they were not for girls who walk but for those who went around in cars, this last word being rapidly amended to taxis. Subtle difference. Unfortunately the price of stilettos came down to a point where everyone (female that is, mostly) was wearing them, but the technology took a little time to catch up, with the result that the proportion of faulty returns went up to insufferable heights as the thin heels snapped. Impossible to reject the complaints by saying that stilettos were not designed to be walked in. I know – I tried and I was right but as we all know, you can’t win an argument with a customer. High heel shoes are there to make the wearer look attractive, even sexy,


and nothing else. There are sub-texts of course, like Mr. Louboutin’s red soles, which proclaim ‘I am wealthy enough to afford these,’ but in some people’s eyes being rich is in itself a turn-on. Anyone who says stilettos are comfortable to walk in is deluding themselves. In recent years the distinction between beauty and utility


what you know about the customer, with the object of making them come back and tell their friends. You do this by asking the customers what they want the shoes for. If it is


for the Lord Mayor’s Banquet you try to sell madam the latest fashion, however impracticable, bearing in mind that mutton dressed as lamb could make her look ridiculous. If on the other hand she tells you she wants a pair to go round the shops to replace the scruffy pair she is wearing you go for comfortable lace-ups or trainers. All rather basic stuff, but the bit that really got me going was about extra


pair sales. Having made a sale, the booklet says, you should try to make another while the customer is there and her credit card is out of her purse. How? The obvious way is a discount combined with a spiff for the salesperson, which is something we were already doing, but the booklet goes further. You should suggest she buys a second pair for another purpose. Again how? By trying to find out about the customer, which the book suggests is done by trying to find out her lifestyle in the course of conversation. Does she go to the gym? – Sell her trainers. Does she do ballroom? – Sell her spangly stilettos. Get the idea?


has become blurred. Agreed something that is useful does not have to be ugly, but when buying shoes or anything else you have to consider what they are going to be used for. If you go in for off-road racing in your Ferrari do not be surprised if they don’t honour their guarantee, just as I used to check boys’ shoes that came back as a complaint of wearing out too quickly for the straight scratches on the sole that revealed they had been used as bicycle brakes. But the reverse is true. As sellers we have to think about what the shoes are going to be used for. This may sound like a new concept to some people, but it is part of the art of selling shoes. I learned about this, oddly enough, while on holiday in America. In my hotel bedside drawer, along with the Gideon Bible, some earlier guest had left a pamphlet called Selling Shoes is a Skill. How they knew I was going to come along, I have no idea. I have it to this day. The thrust of the booklet is that being a Shoe Clerk, as they term it, is not


the lowest form of life, something that at that time was common belief in the USA. I have no idea why Americans then thought fitting shoes on people’s feet was lower than, say, selling real estate, but it is not Misfit’s policy to interfere in the internal affairs of other sovereign states. Much of the booklet is devoted to rather elementary things. For instance


it stresses the importance of polishing your own shoes every day, using de- odorants and would you believe, breath freshener, but the bit that makes sense tells the reader about the importance of studying the customer. In other words try and sell them something the will be happy to wear, which includes knowing about the shoes you are selling, giving advice based on


12 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • JUNE/JULY 2012


High heel shoes are there to make the wearer look attractive, even sexy, and nothing else. There are sub-texts of course, like Mr. Louboutin’s red soles, which proclaim ‘I am wealthy enough to afford these,’ but in some people’s eyes being rich is in itself a turn-on. Anyone who says stilettos are comfortable to walk in is deluding themselves.


Does it work? Only up to a point. Customers come in to buy shoes, and


may not be at all amused by a chatty salesperson. There is a good chance most will get the impression they are being subjected to interrogation, especially if the assistant is a bit heavy-handed. We tried it and the experiment lasted less than a week, when we went back to the tried and tested technique of trying to add polish and stockings to the sale. So what do you do when Michelin woman totters through your door and


wants to buy a pair of four inch heels? Tell her about the real chance of spraining her ankles? Warn her about the effects on her spine? Burble on about bunions? Not on your nellie. Just shut up and take her money. But it can’t do any harm to suggest she might like to try a pair of sensible


walking shoes while she is replenishing her wardrobe. Maybe the American way is not so silly.


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