custom shoes | Be defined by the shoes you don't have

1. Men’s shoes | Be defined by the shoes you don’t have

2. You can get it now. You can get it cheap. You can get it fast. Hell, you can get some of it free. Fast fashion footwear. Shoes you don’t use. But while we were getting fat on the equivalent of fashion pizza, we lost sight of cool, luxury and a certain je n’ai pas ce. The definition of ‘luxury’ is an ever changing beast. In mathematical terms, luxury is the additive inverse of what the masses have. Having what everyone else has not. And not having what everyone else has.

3. Not long ago, the haves could be defined by a shoe collection packed to the rafters. A colour to match every trend. The right loafer for a dinner with Kate Moss, and a version with broguing for brunch with Christy Turlington. So the masses asked, ‘how can I get that?’ And High Street answered, ‘come hither, child’. Refinement of mass footwear manufacturing and distribution has been on steroids for the past decade. Every sliver of margin has been shaved off the business. Every drip of creativity has been squeezed out.

4. It’s gotten to the point where a department store can offer a men’s shoes for $8. Think about that. Most of us on the minimum wage have cost our employer that much by the time Windows has booted, and we’ve launched Facebook. Yet someone has grown the animals and plants to process into the raw materials from which those shoes are made. Someone has taken the time to copy runway designs and create patterns. Dozens of workers have cut, stitched and buffed their way to a finished product. It’s travelled to the port, across the world, to the store, been unpacked and put on a shelf. All for $8. Would you like fries with that? Oops, wrong business.

5. The styling is spot on, too. The big fashion houses and taste makers hold festivals to let the High Street manufacturers know what will be cool in the near future. The next day, High Street manufacturers are able to release it. Well in advance of the original designers. There was such hype and novelty to the whole fast fashion concept. But I knew something was off when I heard about one retailer that decided it was cheaper to have staff sweep fallen clothes into a bin, rather than pick them up, re-fold them and put them back on the shelf.

6. Having a collection of cheap shoes bigger than your iPhone app list, has lost its cachet. No longer reserved for the lux set, it’s common. Luxury is the opposite of commonality. When the working class poor were skint and hungry, the wealthy Edwardians were luxuriously fat. Sugar and corn subsidies put an end to the calorie drought, and now many of the working class poor dream of a life-extending stint on The Biggest Loser. Fresh, organic and healthy food is the new luxury. The new luxury is a self-limited shoe collection. One that is distilled to the best and most essential shoes you can lay your hands on. One that has versatile styles you can adapt for most occasions and styles. One that expresses your individual fashion twist. One that you’ve had the opportunity to shape. One that includes custom made shoes.

7. In fashion and food, less is more. A tight collection of custom shoe ninjas will cut a flabby army of mass produced High Street loafers to shreds. It takes a lot of effort to show shoes the door. But a discerningly curated collection will leave you feeling light and powerful. Every shoe will be worn. Customised for it’s purpose and earning it’s right to make the cut in your collection. In six months time, customize a new pair. Exactly what you want, now. Donate the old pair. Take photos for the memories. Move on. Create some shoe closet momentum and keep it fresh. Curate. Don’t collect. Be defined by what you don’t have.