Putting a man on the moon VS shoes
“We live in world where we managed to put a man on the moon and orbit space, where we can print food, where distance and time is challenged by the existence of the internet, where we have self-driving cars, can clone animals and many other extremely amazing human feat, however why are we …..insert the most ridiculously basic thing..?” , this way of thinking is what I always have use when I can’t understand.
I often have this argument about shoes. If you think about it, it is something really essential and most people use it nowadays since the dark ages, but why are there still:
- Uncomfortable shoes?
- Leaky shoes?
- Non practical shoes?
I know this is silly, but I often see a beautiful lady walking down the street, wearing beautiful shoes, and I can bet almost 90% of the time they have a red mark at the back of their heel bone or quite often plasters on it. Showing obviously discomfort marking of having wore the shoes she is wearing or from the last shoes she has worn.
Why can’t pretty heels be comfortable, when they say “No Pain no Beauty” or “Being pretty hurts” I think that is a load of rubbish. I mean seriously! Why is it so difficult? there are pretty shoes, there are comfortable shoes and there are expensive shoes, why can’t they exist in one sphere, why can’t all shoes be like that. Comfortable= functional=pretty=affordable.
Last winter I was looking for boots that are comfortable, smart enough to wear to the office, affordable and fashionable enough to work in the art world without looking to shabby. OMG it was a battle, considering when you wear boots you wear socks or tight anyway, but
- there are ones that the back of the boots rub through your heal
- too heavy
- not comfortable enough to walk for ages
- and the worst crime is the soles are not rigged or have any sort of grip
The last problem is ridiculous, why are there shoes with out any grip on the soles? where in this world, in what country is it that we don’t have slippery surface? Here in the UK it rains quite often, in Indonesia is the same, which means that there are slipery surfaces around. Why are there shoes are as slippery as a marble floor on a wet day?
I am not saying they don’t exist but I am just saying why can’t all shoes have the similar basic good standard?
After days and the considerable amount of shoe shops I visited, considering I work in central London, there are hardly any shoe shops that I can’t find. I settled on this boots that were discounted, I refused to pay full price. Black, very comfortable, with grippy soles, looks good and I can walk around for ages in it. But why can’t all boots are like this?????
It is not only winter shoes, I bought this sandals that are quite a famous brand at the moment, saltwater, I bought it because I really wanted red sandals, but when I got home and I flipped it it has the most straight and smooth soles. They were quite expensive and they do look pretty, but it was so disappointing to always have to be careful when and where I walk.
When people say “ah when you work into the shoes, it will become comfortable”. Why can’t it be comfortable from the very beginning? it is possible I have had shoes like that, but not very many. Why do people have to bring 2 shoes to work, one to use to walk and one to show that they can be business like? aren’t all shoes supposed to be used to walk?
Those are just basic ones, shoes that doesn’t hurt and is not slippery. What about shoes that keeps your feet from getting wet? I get that back in the days it was easy to make shoes out of canvas, and I also get in mostly hot countries. But nowadays there are waterproof fabric and breathable fabric.
I mean they just release those Back to the future self lacing shoes, Nike Mag, but they can’t figure out to make basic things like the above.
If you think about it, it is not really rocket science right?
Ok my rant is over now. What is your most comfortable shoes and have you still got it? What is your “they put the man on the moon, but they can’t do this?” question.
No Pain no Beauty. Nih buat yang suka pake hig heel ya 😀 aku paling nggak bisa pake yang ada heelnya. Paling kalau ada party, tapi ntar ganti kalau dah mau pulang pake yang flat. Kalau musim panas dan traveling aku suka pake sendal Ecco, sendalnya lembut dan nggak bikin capek, itu aku pake juga buat kerja di RS..nyaman banget…
Iya .. dan juga banyak kok flat yang sakit belakangnya hihi nyebelin deh. Ecco memang banyak yang nyaman yah, cumab harganya tuh juga lumayan lah yah..:)
Harganya bikin nggak senang ya 😀 tapi aku beli juga krn pas lg diskon 50 % di Nuuk, jadinya murah banget. Di Denmark, Ecco cuma diskon 30% nggak pernah lebih dari itu …
yeah, i think Mango is still considered the fast fashion type even though it’s a lot more expensive than Primark. :p and i’m quite pessimistic about Louboutin (if that’s what you mean?), because if you’re talking about high heels then at least for me nothing will ever be comfy enough, LOL! 😀
another thing that i realized a few years ago was the fact that men’s footwear on the other hand seem to have it all. well, i don’t know about “cheap price” (i still think it’s non-existent currently, though i do understand your theory, and hope they will soon be ready!), but at least comfy + durable + good looking. i always envy my husband for this!
Hahaha shows how much I know about fashion right? Can’t even spell louboutin. I am as pesimistic as you are, because if they haven’t done it by now as long as the capitalistic thing goes on I think the more uncomfortable they are the better.
Well, that is exactly my point, I disagree with you re: have to be expensive. I get the production thing, because material can be expensive, but this is where that innovation and design needs to happen, working on making cheap comfortable materials or a combination of design feature that makes them all that.
Sure the first prototype, or the first mould are always expensive, but surely by now they should figure it out, is my point.
Putting the man on the moon is expensive, sure, but I am also sure by now the cost it takes to get the man on the moon would be a lot less and faster because of innovation then it was back then. Plus surely the idea of putting the man on the moon came a lot later than people wearing shoes. 🙂 innovation for this should be far advance then rockets.
Put it this way, like developing camera and mobile phone which takes a lot of engineering and etc , from only the riches can have to now people in third world having at least two of them, shows that really human can produce things exponentially cheaper etc. Again smart phones start existing long after shoes. Just saying that phones like Xiaomi with only a fraction of the price of Iphone with similar abilities is now a lot more affordable.
I believe more to your “Fast Fashion Theory” or what we call capitalist world, they break faster people need to buy new ones, uncomfortabe shoes mean people have to buy ones that are comfortable. Which essentially mean they might know how to but choose not to, makes me even angrier. Hahahhaha.
Another thing is if I look in London, the shoes in Aldo for example or Mango still 3 times the price of Primark, but they still hurt as much and as sliperry. Pricey and fashionable ones are still rubbish. I am tempted to try a La boutin just to test whether they are comfortable with the design and the price they are in?
I have my Doc Mart too, which is heavy and was also an investment buy and havel lasted 3 years so far. 🙂
hmmmmm…. interesting post! though i think i do know why they can’t make shoes that have everything, because comfort + good looks + durability = expensive design & production, which means less people can afford getting them, which means essentially there’s not a big market for those. especially these days when most people only care about being trendy, hence the sad truth of fast fashion (which equals cheap prices for crappy quality). you do have to pay extra for those 3 good things, because there’s a lot of work involved, starting from the designing till the production. 🙂 it wasn’t cheap either to get those men to the moon, hee hee! but think of it this way: if the shoes have all those qualities, you don’t need new ones for a loooong time, so in that sense paying more money for a long-term investment isn’t really ‘expensive’.
the most comfy shoes i have are surprisingly from Crocs, pink ballerinas with dark purple rubber band going around the feet. they have nice design, they were cheap, very comfy, and almost durable except for the fact that one small part of the hole where the rubber band goes through has broken after 2 years of use.
as for boots, i also had a terribly hard time choosing the right one that are non-slippery, durable (my previous boots always broke after one winter season!), and still somewhat stylish. my choice finally landed on a pair of Steel Toes Cat boots, which are quite comfy but unfortunately very heavy. they have served me now for 5 winter seasons and are still going strong! 😀
My one and only boots are mid-length brown boots from Hush Puppies. I bought it from Netherlands six years ago, and it has been with me battling Euro trip, New York wet days, office meeting and weekend parties. I don’t know what I’d do without them.
I also have those Saltwater sandals in white, I like them very much. It is pretty chic to go to casual dinner and beach strolling. But you are right, they are not for an all-day city-strolling and forget about slippery surface.
Sounds like a brilliant pair of shoes! Why can’t they make all shoes like that?
I thought Dr. Martens was built for London weather?
They are but they are not exactly party or office friendly as they look bulky, plus they are not exactly what you call affordable.by the way I do have them, and they do last 3 years so far. 🙂
Come to think of it I don’t have “The most comfortable shoes” ! :O I mean I have a few sneakers but I still got blisters if I wore them for too long/too much walking. Is it just my feet or why can’t they make ones that are comfortable…
Right? No it is not your feet! They should design and produce it right! 🙂
The most comfortable pair of shoes I have is a pair of black Nike Free. I still use it a lot when I’m traveling. Screw the chic-look, these days I just want to be comfortable 😛
Yes I use trainers too, when travelling. But that is exactly my point is why can’t all shoes be comfortable..? Why do we have to choose? I just think it is really shouldn’t be that difficult.
I feel your pain!!! I love my Wakai and Toms shoes but they are certainly not waterproof though they are so pretty and wanna wear them all the time. And boots! The waterproofs one are not warm enough and vice versa grrr.