Remember the time when most of us owned a bare minimum of footwear - school shoes, gym shoes, and party wear, maybe.
The threshold had moved up considerably since then.
That's right - no more a basic essential, your shoes are what define you today. In other words, you are as stylish or happening as your clogs. But interestingly, here is where numbers are as important as quality.
So to all the fond shoppers out there - in this era of plenty, how many pairs, one wonders, are too many?
Or maybe, how many simply not enough.
I for one, took a look at my multilevel shoe racks, which are at groaning point and decided to remain humbly silent on that score. But what brought about this epiphany, you might ask?
An article I recently read about the anatomy of a shoe buyer brought on the aha moment. Anatomy, they say. What's next? Maybe a psych profile. Anyway, here's some info you probably didn't (even want to) know.
- Online shoe sales alone exceeded 5 billion dollars in 2009 - what, people don't go to stores anymore?
- On an average the max spend on a pair is $90 - Jimmy Choo, please to note!
- People love the color black - yeah, like that's a surprise.
- Most women own at least 11 pairs - sure, there is food and rent to think about...
- The average woman owns 27 pairs - now, you're talking!
Even now as we speak, the new spring catalogues were jamming my mailbox, beckoning like the siren's lure. There's no escaping the onslaught retailers unleash with no mercy and terrifying regularity. Plus there are sales, coupons and what nots.
Finally, said that article, that 40% of women have more than 50 pairs. And only 4% of men can boast the same.
And I say - duh!
For sure, those (4%) men have gotta be single. Ever seen how much closet space a married man gets?