MISFIT
Where has this year gone?
W
here has this year gone? It seems like only yesterday that I suggested we have a national window dressing competition to be awarded at the Annual Footwear Awards
night in February. To my total astonishment and delight it’s going to happen! Remonte, part of the Rieker group, have put up an amazing prize of £1500 worth of travel vouchers for the winner.
I think this is a fantastic opportunity for every shoe shop in the country to have a go. You can send your entries in any time between now and January 1st 2014 and you can enter as many times as you like. As I suggested the idea, I would be really grateful if every retailer who reads this column entered the National Shopfront Of The Year Award at least once. The manufacturers have supported the idea, now let’s show them that the retail sector will take up the challenge!
You can send photographs of your shop windows to Cheryl Taylor, editor of Footwear Today Magazine, email:
cheryltayloreditor@googlemail.com.
With the autumn stock starting to sell so well, it got me thinking about waterproof footwear. This has always been a very difficult matter. For some reason the public have it in their head that all shoes should be waterproof. Why? I have no idea. They don’t expect every coat they buy to be waterproof but shoes yes. As far as I can remember the first ladies shoe range to offer guaranteed Waterproof shoes was K Shoes way back in the 70s, K Shoes Sculler was done in every colour you could imagine and they sold millions of them, they even had a Giant pair made, well over 2 ft long.
More recently the use of waterproof membranes has become the most widely used solution which is great but the problem comes when customers buy a pair of leather shoes and then wear them out in the rain and get wet feet. Back to the shop they march quoting their statutory rights, demanding a refund as the shoes they have purchased are not fit for purpose. How does the retailer solve this matter?
Firstly they want to keep the customer happy but the shoes are
not faulty so they don’t want to refund they then try and explain about waterproof shoes, this usually finishes in the customer getting more irate and leaving the shop never to return.
10 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013
ou can email me on this subject or any subject you feel I should talk about in future at
misfitfootwear@hotmail.com
Y So what is the solution......... I wish, I knew. Should the retailer
clearly explain when selling every pair of shoes that they are not waterproof, I’m not sure you would sell any stock at all if you go down this road. In lots of shops there are clear signs explaining that leather is not naturally waterproof and if you require a waterproof shoe please ask the assistant.
Some manufacturers enclose a note for the consumer to read
explaining about leather being a porous material. This is excellent but we need all manufacturers to do it.
As I suggested the idea, I would be really grateful if every retailer who reads this column entered the National Shopfront Of The Year Award at least once. The manufacturers have supported the idea, now let’s show them that the retail sector will take up the challenge!
Mind you, do the consumers read all those bits of paper inside
the box? and if you want to really get me started let’s talk about swing tickets. These tickets drive me mad they get in the way when the customer is trying to look at the shoes, with lace shoes they usually finish up kimbled into the laces so you can’t undo the laces and then they finish up on the shop floor and get thrown away with the rubbish. I hate them.
I diverse back to waterproof footwear, I would be delighted to
hear how other retailers deal with issue and any good suggestions I receive will be mentioned in later editions
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