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The addiction of shoes
27 April 2011
Shoes can become an addiction with some people just never having enough of them. With more and more designer brands now available, this can become a very expensive business. So, how many shoes does the average person have and what do they spend on them?
Surveys differ in their results, however the stats for womens spend on shoes are pretty easy to find. Not so easy is that of men, with no conclusive reports on how much the males spend on footwear during their lifetimes. This indicates that the shoe-buying obsession is primarily a female-based phenomenen.
Most surveys agree that women spend in the region of USD$ 54,000 on shoes during their lifetime. That's around GBP 31,000. The average value of a pair of shoes is $49, which would lead us to believe that the collection of shoes is more quantity-driven than a quest to own the single, most expensive pair.
There have been some notable exceptions to these figures. One of the most famous being Imelda Marcos, the former First Lady of the Philipines. While much of the population of her country live in poverty, she amassed a shoe collection of around 3,000 pairs. A museum has now been opened to display these.
A more recent high-profile shoe addict is the romantic author Danielle Steele. She is rumoured to own over 6,000 pairs of shoes, double that of Ms Marcos. Steele, who has sold over 600 million novels, is supposedly a huge fan of Christian Louboutin. With her own fortune estimated at over GBP50 million, it is thought that her shoe collection alone us worth in the region of GBP2 million. Louboutins 'killer heels' are her favourite, and reports say that it's not unusual for her to walk out of the Louboutin store with in excess of 80 pairs.
Christian Louboutin has seen sales of his shoes soar in recent times with high-profile fans such as Jennifer Lopez, who even write a song called Louboutin as a tribute to the designer. He estimates that there are 3,000 women 'super fans' who each own around 500 pairs of his shoes.
Aside from the rich and famous, the austere times we're living in at the moment may be having a small impact on people's shoe buying habits. Four years ago it was estimated that women own an average of 19 pairs of shoes each. However, this has been reduced slightly to an average of 17 pairs being purchased last year.
Such a small decrease is very unlikely to dent the long-term buying habits of consumers, with shoes becoming more and more popular and ever-more available. The internet means you can now get a pair of designer-shoes delivered directly to your door, without the need to venture outside.
However, for some people, especially where designer shoes are concerned, owning the shoes is just part of it. The entire purchasing process is something they enjoy. Travelling to a city centre, visiting boutiques and exclusive shoe shops, and leaving with the all-important carrier bag containing their treasured purchase is all part of the experience and not something that can be replicated by having an anonymous brown box delivered to your door.
Regardless of fashion trends, the footwear industry looks like it will always be popular and the trend for buying womens shoes will only increase further.
Surveys differ in their results, however the stats for womens spend on shoes are pretty easy to find. Not so easy is that of men, with no conclusive reports on how much the males spend on footwear during their lifetimes. This indicates that the shoe-buying obsession is primarily a female-based phenomenen.
Most surveys agree that women spend in the region of USD$ 54,000 on shoes during their lifetime. That's around GBP 31,000. The average value of a pair of shoes is $49, which would lead us to believe that the collection of shoes is more quantity-driven than a quest to own the single, most expensive pair.
There have been some notable exceptions to these figures. One of the most famous being Imelda Marcos, the former First Lady of the Philipines. While much of the population of her country live in poverty, she amassed a shoe collection of around 3,000 pairs. A museum has now been opened to display these.
A more recent high-profile shoe addict is the romantic author Danielle Steele. She is rumoured to own over 6,000 pairs of shoes, double that of Ms Marcos. Steele, who has sold over 600 million novels, is supposedly a huge fan of Christian Louboutin. With her own fortune estimated at over GBP50 million, it is thought that her shoe collection alone us worth in the region of GBP2 million. Louboutins 'killer heels' are her favourite, and reports say that it's not unusual for her to walk out of the Louboutin store with in excess of 80 pairs.
Christian Louboutin has seen sales of his shoes soar in recent times with high-profile fans such as Jennifer Lopez, who even write a song called Louboutin as a tribute to the designer. He estimates that there are 3,000 women 'super fans' who each own around 500 pairs of his shoes.
Aside from the rich and famous, the austere times we're living in at the moment may be having a small impact on people's shoe buying habits. Four years ago it was estimated that women own an average of 19 pairs of shoes each. However, this has been reduced slightly to an average of 17 pairs being purchased last year.
Such a small decrease is very unlikely to dent the long-term buying habits of consumers, with shoes becoming more and more popular and ever-more available. The internet means you can now get a pair of designer-shoes delivered directly to your door, without the need to venture outside.
However, for some people, especially where designer shoes are concerned, owning the shoes is just part of it. The entire purchasing process is something they enjoy. Travelling to a city centre, visiting boutiques and exclusive shoe shops, and leaving with the all-important carrier bag containing their treasured purchase is all part of the experience and not something that can be replicated by having an anonymous brown box delivered to your door.
Regardless of fashion trends, the footwear industry looks like it will always be popular and the trend for buying womens shoes will only increase further.