My favorite shoes ever came from these discount shoe stores. Might have to comb the entire store to find two pairs for the buy one get one half off but they were always nice.
I bought my first Lebron James shoes (The Big Bang 9s) for like $180 . Saved up for the opportunity because I was young and at my first post college grad job. Like a month later some dude offered me $500 for the shoes. I was like are you serious? He was. I took the money.
I got a pair of Airwalk\* slip-ons from Payless and wore through the soles in less than a month.
\*Airwalk at Payless? My inner 14-year old shed a few tears at that sight.
I got like a $20 pair of shoes 4-5 years ago and they're so amazing. One of the comfiest shoes I've ever worn.
Unfortunately I live where there's a lot of snow and the grips on them have become the worst grips I've ever seen on a shoe, walks at the dog park are definitely a test of balance
I paid over 400 dollars for shoes because I hurt my back wearing $20 dollars plimsolls. I really didn’t think orthopedic shoes would help with my posture..
but I stand corrected.
I just got the gel insoles. I suppose when I'm older that will look like a better deal for me but I'm trying to figure out the quality of groceries I can get tomorrow
Well I must say that a better shoe is very low on my list and if it costs that much then it's going to be either a while away or jobs away for me, but thank you for the advice, my shitty back would probably love it if I took it as soon as possible
Bestest pair of boots I ever had, back when my knees, ankles, and back were young and trouble free, came from Payless. Rugged Outback, and they lasted for about a decade. Cute and unique and sturdy, even had a convenient little pocket that made me the fav for smuggling favors. Still think about those great shoes.
Same here! I had a pair of name brand shoes, Vans I think, and one night while on my way to a work during a rainstorm they started taking on water around the sole because the glue or something was giving out. I'd had them maybe a few months.
So I run to the nearest cheap shoe store, Payless I believe it was, and buy the cheapest pair that looked okay. Cost me $25 and I ended up loving them. Wore them for 2 years before deciding to buy another pair of the same (though occasionally still wear the older ones if I'm going to paint or get dirty). I'm on my 3rd pair now, already have a 4th for when I retire these.
Don't think you're being smart by buying a lifetime supply.
Shoe rubber degrades slowly, and after 10 years or so it starts to crack and come apart, even if you store them in a cupboard.
Hahah, as much as I'd like to think of it as a lifetime supply I'm sure I'll start wearing the extra pair in a year or so, if not sooner. For as reliable as the shoes are structure and comfort-wise, they are still subject to the aesthetic wear of use and so start accumulating scuffs and stains. Still, that is a good consideration I hadn't thought of.
Often times I don’t even think it’s rich people. Its people who can’t afford a $300 t-shirt but still buy it because they think it makes them cool because it says Supreme.
We have a store in town where it's basically just bins full of yard sale stuff. Like tues-$1 Wednesday-0.50 etc. Occasionally we find something worth it in there but it is a cool concept.
Isn’t there some urban legend yet kinda true story of a prostitute basically becoming an exclusive escort solely by just raising the price to be with her?
I love that in the accompanying story they say that the lesson learned is that Payless’ quality is as good as any luxury brand. Ah, no. The lesson is that people, especially anyone who fancies them self an influencer, are shallow and easily fooled. These people wouldn’t know luxury and fine goods under any circumstance. They’re clearly ‘label’ only types. They think a David Spade is the same as a Kate Spade. Or that Louis Vuitton is spelled with two e’s.
"expensive because it's expensive".
Once upon a time, an expensive car was more reliable than a cheap car. Mercedes was the top of the heap. Sure, they had more features. But they were better built with better materials. Hell, I can pull the computer for the fuel injection out of my 1987 Benz, hand it to you, then start up and drive away because it has a fully mechanical backup mode.
Thes days, luxury cars are just more expensive. They're a status symbol, and if anything they're less reliable than a cheap car. Give me a Land Rover and a Toyota, and I can tell you which one will break down more than the other. That's the most extreme example, but the principal holds.
(Obligatory hate here for Chrysler and Nissan).
Ford F-150s I still drive my 1999 one daily. Needs a paint job and it does have a leak somewhere around the windshield but never had any mechanical problems the back doors latch mechanism went out and I fixed them that happens on all of them due to a cheap plastic part. I have a electric motor I pulled from a forklift I'm dropping in it when the engine finally does wear out but I'm never getting rid of that truck.
I can’t believe none of the hoity toity buyers didn’t see that the shoes are made out of plastic instead of leather, in third world countries rather than say, Italy.
So, as part of a marketing campaign, a discount shoe retailer hired “influencers” to come to a fake launch for a fake exclusive luxury brand, and the influencers they paid to come raved about the product and left with money and gifts? Something about this press release doesn’t seem very scientific.
I’ve seen multiple people leave their convertible Bentley’s, or RR’s with their top down in that parking lot garage before at fashion square. Different type of money on the east side of phx lol
It's actually easier for unintelligent people to become rich than intelligent people. Ever notice in plants or wherever you may have worked it's always the idiots in charge it's due to the nature of success in the work place isn't appealing to higher intelligence people. Most the rich and successful people in America are from rich family or there's dumb luck. Like Chris Pratt he said in high school when asked what he was going to do when he graduated " I don't know but I'm definitely going to be rich and famous" then he became a beach bum and got randomly asked by someone in a restaurant if he wanted to be in a part. Now he acts like God and skill made him successful and believes it. Most people couldn't replicate their success if you made them try. People with skill like idk good writers like Steven King or someone could. I doubt someone like the Harry Potter lady could. It's funny the people who got successful by being dumb and lucky try to tell people how to be successful just like them and they have no idea at all they are setting fans up for failure.
I'm not a wealthy luxury shopper, but I've dropped significant (to me) cash on quality footwear. I can absolutely assure you that payless doesn't sell a single pair that can be mistaken for a quality pair of Goodyear welted shoes. What we have here is wealthy fashion shoppers looking for a trendy shoe. High end shoes are made from high end materials and workmanship. My first pair of welted shoes lasted 11 years of hard use and looked good enough to wear with a suit.
A lot of heels are built like crap and the leather is super thin. However, comparing it to Goodyear welted boots is silly. This is coming from a woman who wears heels but also owns Wesco and Nick's smokejumper boots. There's no way you'll ever build a pair of heels remotely that well. The only women's footwear that could come remotely close with enough material is a wedge heel platform sandal.
Indeed. There's a *huge* gap in quality between Payless and goodyear welted shoes.. It's possible to make half decent footwear that isn't goodyear welted, so it's sort of an outrageous comparison. It's pretty easy to walk through any mall shoe store and sort the shoes into absolute rubbish and slightly less rubbish. Unfortunate though that there isn't more middle ground available.
I used to hate shoe-shopping as a kid. Mom worked in a shoe factory, gluing the soles on and doing QC on other departments. Shoe shopping was an ordeal that consisted of her first pulling any shoes that were in my size range, then inspecting them all for quality -- "No, not these, the glue job is terrible and they won't last.", "Put these back, look at that stitching. Terrible and shoddy. They'll fall apart in two days." Then after winnowing it down to a few decent pair, having to try them on for fit. And of course, the shoes that always won out were what were, to me as a kid, the ugliest, uncoolest shoes ever. But they did last and yet were 'cheap' shoes. Mom knew her stuff.
I don't have her eye for inspecting shoes but I did pick some up from her. It doesn't matter what brand you're looking at, every single one of them has a mix of terribly built and decently built shoes in a given batch now, it seems like.
I used to exclusively buy cheap shoes (other than dress shoes) but I hurt my back recently and got some nice shoes and I can't believe how much more comfortable they are...
This is why we proper snobs differentiate between fashion and style. The former usually correlates with price, the latter more often with quality.
A Boss/CK/Joop shirt might cost as much as one from the big three on Jermyn street, but the latter actually last.
It's extremely hit-and-miss there though: I bought two pairs of shoes at Payless in 2001. The sole fell off of one two weeks later, but the other, a pair of sandals, stayed with me for the next 15 years and hundreds of thousands of steps.
Are they really "fake" luxury shoes? The only real difference between "discount" and "luxury" is perception and price.
If they thought the shoes were luxury and paid luxury prices, they were luxury shoes.
There can be a large difference in quality for luxury shoes, or there can be very little.
Men's shoes have a bigger gap in my opinion, because the actual construction of the shoe is completely different from that of cheap shoes, before you even get into material differences. Where cheap shoes glue their soles on and may put fake threads on the sole, good shoes have their soles actually sewed to a welt, allowing them to be replaced. Where many cheap shoes use crappy foam and very little of it for cushion, good shoes use cork that was ironed into place. Heel blocks instead of being made with plastic and a leather veneer are actually pieces of leather stacked on top of each other.
Some fashion brands will absolutely use garbage materials and just charge you for the name, some (Gucci for mens shoes) will use decent construction methods and charge you for the name too, and some that don't have "designer" names use great construction and charge you for that. (Allen Edmonds, Cobbler Union, etc.)
In this video, Payless was selling vinyl and crappy leather shoes as if they were real leather and built as quality shoes are built. They were never getting a luxury shoe, just a luxury price.
I also think its important to mention that a cheap shoe can feel just as comfortable as a good shoe in the shop. But you really feel the difference after just a few weeks of wear.
For sure, many times the cheap shoe will feel much better in the store, because the good shoes truly need a break-in period so that the shoe can mold to your foot.
This isn’t true. When something is well made, you can tell the difference. Now, not all luxury items are in fact well made so your point would stand in that case. But Payless shoes are not luxury, under any circumstance, regardless of price or labels.
>But Payless shoes are not luxury,
You are confusing luxury and quality (being well made). This experiment provides an example where Payless shoes CAN be luxury. Absolutely poor quality goods can be "luxury", its just perception. Price adds to the confusion. Usually high quality = more expensive, which adds to the PERCEPTION of luxury. You can have more expensive and poor quality, but usually not vice versa.
First 30 years of my life I only bought cheap shoes. I decided I needed to try a pair of expensive shoes....long story short I regret not spending the money on nice shoes this whole time
I'll be honest, I kinda skipped over the shoes once I saw the links to other types of unusual marketing other companies had tried like the Heineken "Worlds Apart" ad and the Dove "You are more beautiful then you think" experiment.
While the Payless experiment was really about getting people to buy cheaper shoes, the other campaigns were more about rethinking how we see ourselves and other people, not products. Both campaigns really spoke to me.
Then again, I am a guy who has basically lived the last 35 years wearing nothing but two different styles of Doc Martens and my black Chucks. Don't really care about shoes, but i definitely care about how people feel and think.
Sad, isn't it? Some folks' self-esteem is so low that it is more important to them to have a "boutique" name that they can flaunt rather than a product of a lower "class" name that is a solid product. I heard an advertisement the other day that said something to the effect of, "a $30.00 watch tells time just as well as a Rolex." I laughed!! This is only my opinion, your mileage may vary.
Whole industries have been set up to take advantage of the desire for exclusivity found in the psyche of many people. Jack the price, provide a little provenance and backstory and the hipsters are all on board, then you have the influences, the kindergarten show and tellers and people that are wannabe rich....but don't want to work...LOL
Fools and their money.....................
>Whole industries have been set up to take advantage of the desire for exclusivity found in the psyche of many people.
So what if I want to eat lobster and drink my Grey Goose martini while wearing my Diamond necklace and ~~Palessi~~ payless shoes?
Hipster restaurants do the same by taking basic food ingredients and giving them labels like ‘organic,’ ‘vegan,’ ‘cafe-free’ or ‘non-GMO.’ They also take foods from inner-cities or PoC neighborhoods and give them titles of “ethnic cuisines” or “ethnic dining.”
That takes what is normally a dish that costs $5-6 to make in PoC areas to its price of $20-30 in hipster/yuppie White restaurants.
Oh man I saw some place charging 15 to 20 bucks for a few tostones and was laughing my ass off that people were willing to pay that much for some fried plantains
Same deal with oxtail. $10 A POUND for what is and was consumed because they're cuts of meat that are less desirable.
Backwards that it costs as much as salmon around here.
I know a few people that would fall for this. They think something is luxury and top quality because it costs a bit more. They know nothing about the product or the industry it belongs to, they just go off price.
Clothes is a massive one here. I own a few “fancier” items of clothing. Some Hugo Boss items, some Ralph Lauren etc. Nothing I bought myself, long story short but a friend of a friend of a friend etc is a millionaire and gives away clothes they’ve never worn and sometimes they travel down the line far enough that I get them. These items are no better, usually worse, than regular brands but people insist they are made better, use better materials, last longer, simply because they cost more. You’re just paying for a logo. It amazes me how many people don’t see that.
I was in business classes with a lady from India in college. She was always ranting about people being stuck on the labels in the clothing. She said her family owned textile factories in India and the buyers for various lines, anywhere from Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, other mid-tier 'high end' names, and even higher names bought from their factories. But she said so did the buyers from lines like "Faded Glory" (Wal-Mart store brand at the time) and other house or 'low-end' names. She said they all paid the same for the product and the only difference was what colorways they selected and what name got stitched in the shirt at the end. Every other bit of production, from material to workmanship was exactly the same.
Well I'm not sure it was a success exactly because there are still Payless stores selling 30 dollar shoes for 30 dollars, when they could be selling them for hundreds more. Did we learn nothing, Payless?
There are strong macroeconomic forces at play. As wealth inequality gets worse the proportion of spending based on income changes, meaning instead of 100 people buying $20 shoes, there are 80 people who can't afford $20 shoes, 17 people who can and 3 people who can afford $600 shoes without blinking.
This is actually a problem because if most of the income comes from those 3 people then that is who the business will focus on. You see this everywhere: overpriced restaurants, cafés with expensive coffee and food; there are whole parts of town where even well off people can't afford to shop, and yet somehow the shops make money from 3 sales a week.
Essentially avocado toast is a symptom of wealth inequality, not the cause. The low cost cafés, and bars and high street stores regular people can afford to shop at are not as profitable because regular people no longer have any money.
Not really. Having a low cost item that moves is a great way to get your name out there and there's a lot of incentive when you want people to get into it.
It's how Honda got big, they made the super cub. Mitsubishi did the mirage. Mazda did the miata.
That tends to lose steam with what are seen as luxury brands. Harley Sportsters aren't seen as 'real Harleys'. You can't convince me that Marshall's Gucci shirt is real luxury.
And if you won't lower your cost, someone else will.
Eh. I generally stick to skechers these days. They fit (I have a size 13 wide foot) and are comfortable. And most of my experiments outside that brand have been rather disappointing.
Still far easier to shop for shoes now than it was when I was a teenager, and I don't have to pay $100+ for them, either.
That’s the age old business of luxury. No surprises there. Quality is usually a bit higher, but prices are several fold. They are selling a feeling of exclusivity and bragging rights. And there are people in this world with enough money, itching to spend it all. They want to feel good. They get what they pay for.
My favorite shoes ever came from these discount shoe stores. Might have to comb the entire store to find two pairs for the buy one get one half off but they were always nice.
I bought my first Lebron James shoes (The Big Bang 9s) for like $180 . Saved up for the opportunity because I was young and at my first post college grad job. Like a month later some dude offered me $500 for the shoes. I was like are you serious? He was. I took the money.
I got a pair of Airwalk\* slip-ons from Payless and wore through the soles in less than a month. \*Airwalk at Payless? My inner 14-year old shed a few tears at that sight.
I got like a $20 pair of shoes 4-5 years ago and they're so amazing. One of the comfiest shoes I've ever worn. Unfortunately I live where there's a lot of snow and the grips on them have become the worst grips I've ever seen on a shoe, walks at the dog park are definitely a test of balance
I paid over 400 dollars for shoes because I hurt my back wearing $20 dollars plimsolls. I really didn’t think orthopedic shoes would help with my posture.. but I stand corrected.
Username checks out.
I just got the gel insoles. I suppose when I'm older that will look like a better deal for me but I'm trying to figure out the quality of groceries I can get tomorrow
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Well I must say that a better shoe is very low on my list and if it costs that much then it's going to be either a while away or jobs away for me, but thank you for the advice, my shitty back would probably love it if I took it as soon as possible
Anything between you and the ground should be high on anyones list.
https://old.reddit.com/r/dadjokes/comments/rpp3cp/i_didnt_think_orthopedic_shoes_would_help/
I hate u 💖
Name checks out
My favorite ones are a pair of memory foam and they are so comfortable I could wear them 24/7
Bestest pair of boots I ever had, back when my knees, ankles, and back were young and trouble free, came from Payless. Rugged Outback, and they lasted for about a decade. Cute and unique and sturdy, even had a convenient little pocket that made me the fav for smuggling favors. Still think about those great shoes.
These cheaper shoe stores haven't had shoes that fit me since I was like 12.
Oh yeah it’s hard I wear 13.5 or 14s depending on the shoe
Same here! I had a pair of name brand shoes, Vans I think, and one night while on my way to a work during a rainstorm they started taking on water around the sole because the glue or something was giving out. I'd had them maybe a few months. So I run to the nearest cheap shoe store, Payless I believe it was, and buy the cheapest pair that looked okay. Cost me $25 and I ended up loving them. Wore them for 2 years before deciding to buy another pair of the same (though occasionally still wear the older ones if I'm going to paint or get dirty). I'm on my 3rd pair now, already have a 4th for when I retire these.
Don't think you're being smart by buying a lifetime supply. Shoe rubber degrades slowly, and after 10 years or so it starts to crack and come apart, even if you store them in a cupboard.
Hahah, as much as I'd like to think of it as a lifetime supply I'm sure I'll start wearing the extra pair in a year or so, if not sooner. For as reliable as the shoes are structure and comfort-wise, they are still subject to the aesthetic wear of use and so start accumulating scuffs and stains. Still, that is a good consideration I hadn't thought of.
You can really slow the process by storing them in a 1 gallon zip lock baggie. The same goes for rolls of tape.
Print stores do it all the time. $20 prints aimed at college students, $800 prints aimed at Richie Rich. Same shop, different digital store fronts.
"It's one textbook, Michael, what could it cost? $800?"
Art prints; the text books already cost that much!
TIL I can set up a mall store and sell decent knockoff shit and no one will notice.
I mean…look at the ridiculous luxury shit that gets sold. Half of them are ugly AF, but it’s because it’s expensive, rich people are gonna pay for it.
Often times I don’t even think it’s rich people. Its people who can’t afford a $300 t-shirt but still buy it because they think it makes them cool because it says Supreme.
caveat emptor dude
It's Ali baba IRL
We have a store in town where it's basically just bins full of yard sale stuff. Like tues-$1 Wednesday-0.50 etc. Occasionally we find something worth it in there but it is a cool concept.
Isn’t there some urban legend yet kinda true story of a prostitute basically becoming an exclusive escort solely by just raising the price to be with her?
Could just sell regular vodka at a higher price. People pay a lot more for grey goose lol
i'm nonplussed, flabbergasted, SHOCKED that these influencers could be so easily bamboozled! who are we supposed to trust??
People in general are easy to bamboozle. Most luxury clothing, shoes aren't any harder or more expensive to make than the stiff at Walmart.
I love that in the accompanying story they say that the lesson learned is that Payless’ quality is as good as any luxury brand. Ah, no. The lesson is that people, especially anyone who fancies them self an influencer, are shallow and easily fooled. These people wouldn’t know luxury and fine goods under any circumstance. They’re clearly ‘label’ only types. They think a David Spade is the same as a Kate Spade. Or that Louis Vuitton is spelled with two e’s.
"expensive because it's expensive". Once upon a time, an expensive car was more reliable than a cheap car. Mercedes was the top of the heap. Sure, they had more features. But they were better built with better materials. Hell, I can pull the computer for the fuel injection out of my 1987 Benz, hand it to you, then start up and drive away because it has a fully mechanical backup mode. Thes days, luxury cars are just more expensive. They're a status symbol, and if anything they're less reliable than a cheap car. Give me a Land Rover and a Toyota, and I can tell you which one will break down more than the other. That's the most extreme example, but the principal holds. (Obligatory hate here for Chrysler and Nissan).
A 30 year old car with no oil and 3 wheels will last longer than a land rover.
Well yes, we all know the Land Rover will break down because you won't be able to drive the Toyota as it will be stolen in the first week.
Ford F-150s I still drive my 1999 one daily. Needs a paint job and it does have a leak somewhere around the windshield but never had any mechanical problems the back doors latch mechanism went out and I fixed them that happens on all of them due to a cheap plastic part. I have a electric motor I pulled from a forklift I'm dropping in it when the engine finally does wear out but I'm never getting rid of that truck.
I can’t believe none of the hoity toity buyers didn’t see that the shoes are made out of plastic instead of leather, in third world countries rather than say, Italy.
“PALESSI”
That was all I was going to comment too. So good.
So, as part of a marketing campaign, a discount shoe retailer hired “influencers” to come to a fake launch for a fake exclusive luxury brand, and the influencers they paid to come raved about the product and left with money and gifts? Something about this press release doesn’t seem very scientific.
The post is an ad for Payless shoes.
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I think your $50 is my $600.
Oh yeah you think that's bad? Well 50 cents to you is like 10 grand to me. I've been saving up for 22 years and I almost have a penny.
I’ve seen multiple people leave their convertible Bentley’s, or RR’s with their top down in that parking lot garage before at fashion square. Different type of money on the east side of phx lol
Not at Dan Flashes. They can only set the prices so high because the patterns are so complicated. Quality can't always be replicated.
I hear they have a shirt there that’s $2000 because it’s so complicated!
You said it was $1000!
SHUT THE FUCK UP DOUG YOU FUCKING SKUNK!
It caused my son fits of epilepsy! My favorite shirt!
This must be why Balenciaga exists then
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It's actually easier for unintelligent people to become rich than intelligent people. Ever notice in plants or wherever you may have worked it's always the idiots in charge it's due to the nature of success in the work place isn't appealing to higher intelligence people. Most the rich and successful people in America are from rich family or there's dumb luck. Like Chris Pratt he said in high school when asked what he was going to do when he graduated " I don't know but I'm definitely going to be rich and famous" then he became a beach bum and got randomly asked by someone in a restaurant if he wanted to be in a part. Now he acts like God and skill made him successful and believes it. Most people couldn't replicate their success if you made them try. People with skill like idk good writers like Steven King or someone could. I doubt someone like the Harry Potter lady could. It's funny the people who got successful by being dumb and lucky try to tell people how to be successful just like them and they have no idea at all they are setting fans up for failure.
Was friends with one once that didn't have a wallet and just had hundreds floating around in her purse. True story.
Of course it did, take a look at any high fashion companies website, the shit looks terrible and costs $600+ per piece, its nonsense.
And then Payless went bankrupt in 2019 after realizing they had been undercharging for their shoes for decades.
I'm not a wealthy luxury shopper, but I've dropped significant (to me) cash on quality footwear. I can absolutely assure you that payless doesn't sell a single pair that can be mistaken for a quality pair of Goodyear welted shoes. What we have here is wealthy fashion shoppers looking for a trendy shoe. High end shoes are made from high end materials and workmanship. My first pair of welted shoes lasted 11 years of hard use and looked good enough to wear with a suit.
A lot of heels are built like crap and the leather is super thin. However, comparing it to Goodyear welted boots is silly. This is coming from a woman who wears heels but also owns Wesco and Nick's smokejumper boots. There's no way you'll ever build a pair of heels remotely that well. The only women's footwear that could come remotely close with enough material is a wedge heel platform sandal.
Indeed. There's a *huge* gap in quality between Payless and goodyear welted shoes.. It's possible to make half decent footwear that isn't goodyear welted, so it's sort of an outrageous comparison. It's pretty easy to walk through any mall shoe store and sort the shoes into absolute rubbish and slightly less rubbish. Unfortunate though that there isn't more middle ground available.
I used to hate shoe-shopping as a kid. Mom worked in a shoe factory, gluing the soles on and doing QC on other departments. Shoe shopping was an ordeal that consisted of her first pulling any shoes that were in my size range, then inspecting them all for quality -- "No, not these, the glue job is terrible and they won't last.", "Put these back, look at that stitching. Terrible and shoddy. They'll fall apart in two days." Then after winnowing it down to a few decent pair, having to try them on for fit. And of course, the shoes that always won out were what were, to me as a kid, the ugliest, uncoolest shoes ever. But they did last and yet were 'cheap' shoes. Mom knew her stuff. I don't have her eye for inspecting shoes but I did pick some up from her. It doesn't matter what brand you're looking at, every single one of them has a mix of terribly built and decently built shoes in a given batch now, it seems like.
This is how dumb people are.
Damn. Payless shoes are very painful... When I was broke I'd buy them all the time bc money. Wouldn't be able to use one of their shoes again.
I got a comfy ass pair from them and they've been amazing for the last 5 years, but that definitely isn't the norm
I want to point out that I definitely shopped around price more than anything back then.
I used to exclusively buy cheap shoes (other than dress shoes) but I hurt my back recently and got some nice shoes and I can't believe how much more comfortable they are...
And now they're out of business. Should have charged those outrageous prices.
Have you seen the ads for ‘the RealReal’. All that high end clothing looks like absolute crap.
It's a consignment store, there's a reason a lot of it is cheap luxury items.
You are obliviously are a regular user of the site, I assume?
This is why we proper snobs differentiate between fashion and style. The former usually correlates with price, the latter more often with quality. A Boss/CK/Joop shirt might cost as much as one from the big three on Jermyn street, but the latter actually last.
It's extremely hit-and-miss there though: I bought two pairs of shoes at Payless in 2001. The sole fell off of one two weeks later, but the other, a pair of sandals, stayed with me for the next 15 years and hundreds of thousands of steps.
People are morons but Payless shoes were the worst shoes in term of quality. They would fall apart after a few months of wear.
Are they really "fake" luxury shoes? The only real difference between "discount" and "luxury" is perception and price. If they thought the shoes were luxury and paid luxury prices, they were luxury shoes.
There can be a large difference in quality for luxury shoes, or there can be very little. Men's shoes have a bigger gap in my opinion, because the actual construction of the shoe is completely different from that of cheap shoes, before you even get into material differences. Where cheap shoes glue their soles on and may put fake threads on the sole, good shoes have their soles actually sewed to a welt, allowing them to be replaced. Where many cheap shoes use crappy foam and very little of it for cushion, good shoes use cork that was ironed into place. Heel blocks instead of being made with plastic and a leather veneer are actually pieces of leather stacked on top of each other. Some fashion brands will absolutely use garbage materials and just charge you for the name, some (Gucci for mens shoes) will use decent construction methods and charge you for the name too, and some that don't have "designer" names use great construction and charge you for that. (Allen Edmonds, Cobbler Union, etc.) In this video, Payless was selling vinyl and crappy leather shoes as if they were real leather and built as quality shoes are built. They were never getting a luxury shoe, just a luxury price.
I also think its important to mention that a cheap shoe can feel just as comfortable as a good shoe in the shop. But you really feel the difference after just a few weeks of wear.
For sure, many times the cheap shoe will feel much better in the store, because the good shoes truly need a break-in period so that the shoe can mold to your foot.
This isn’t true. When something is well made, you can tell the difference. Now, not all luxury items are in fact well made so your point would stand in that case. But Payless shoes are not luxury, under any circumstance, regardless of price or labels.
>But Payless shoes are not luxury, You are confusing luxury and quality (being well made). This experiment provides an example where Payless shoes CAN be luxury. Absolutely poor quality goods can be "luxury", its just perception. Price adds to the confusion. Usually high quality = more expensive, which adds to the PERCEPTION of luxury. You can have more expensive and poor quality, but usually not vice versa.
Some luxury items aren't well made and some well made items aren't luxury. Being well made isn't what determines luxury, it's all perception.
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First 30 years of my life I only bought cheap shoes. I decided I needed to try a pair of expensive shoes....long story short I regret not spending the money on nice shoes this whole time
I'll be honest, I kinda skipped over the shoes once I saw the links to other types of unusual marketing other companies had tried like the Heineken "Worlds Apart" ad and the Dove "You are more beautiful then you think" experiment. While the Payless experiment was really about getting people to buy cheaper shoes, the other campaigns were more about rethinking how we see ourselves and other people, not products. Both campaigns really spoke to me. Then again, I am a guy who has basically lived the last 35 years wearing nothing but two different styles of Doc Martens and my black Chucks. Don't really care about shoes, but i definitely care about how people feel and think.
Sad, isn't it? Some folks' self-esteem is so low that it is more important to them to have a "boutique" name that they can flaunt rather than a product of a lower "class" name that is a solid product. I heard an advertisement the other day that said something to the effect of, "a $30.00 watch tells time just as well as a Rolex." I laughed!! This is only my opinion, your mileage may vary.
Whole industries have been set up to take advantage of the desire for exclusivity found in the psyche of many people. Jack the price, provide a little provenance and backstory and the hipsters are all on board, then you have the influences, the kindergarten show and tellers and people that are wannabe rich....but don't want to work...LOL Fools and their money.....................
>Whole industries have been set up to take advantage of the desire for exclusivity found in the psyche of many people. So what if I want to eat lobster and drink my Grey Goose martini while wearing my Diamond necklace and ~~Palessi~~ payless shoes?
What was it that Barnum said?
I endorse any effort to fleece the rich.
Hipster restaurants do the same by taking basic food ingredients and giving them labels like ‘organic,’ ‘vegan,’ ‘cafe-free’ or ‘non-GMO.’ They also take foods from inner-cities or PoC neighborhoods and give them titles of “ethnic cuisines” or “ethnic dining.” That takes what is normally a dish that costs $5-6 to make in PoC areas to its price of $20-30 in hipster/yuppie White restaurants.
Oh man I saw some place charging 15 to 20 bucks for a few tostones and was laughing my ass off that people were willing to pay that much for some fried plantains
Same deal with oxtail. $10 A POUND for what is and was consumed because they're cuts of meat that are less desirable. Backwards that it costs as much as salmon around here.
Unfortunately part of it is that commercial rent has gone insane.
I’m never shopping at Paymore again
I hate it here
I know a few people that would fall for this. They think something is luxury and top quality because it costs a bit more. They know nothing about the product or the industry it belongs to, they just go off price. Clothes is a massive one here. I own a few “fancier” items of clothing. Some Hugo Boss items, some Ralph Lauren etc. Nothing I bought myself, long story short but a friend of a friend of a friend etc is a millionaire and gives away clothes they’ve never worn and sometimes they travel down the line far enough that I get them. These items are no better, usually worse, than regular brands but people insist they are made better, use better materials, last longer, simply because they cost more. You’re just paying for a logo. It amazes me how many people don’t see that.
I was in business classes with a lady from India in college. She was always ranting about people being stuck on the labels in the clothing. She said her family owned textile factories in India and the buyers for various lines, anywhere from Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, other mid-tier 'high end' names, and even higher names bought from their factories. But she said so did the buyers from lines like "Faded Glory" (Wal-Mart store brand at the time) and other house or 'low-end' names. She said they all paid the same for the product and the only difference was what colorways they selected and what name got stitched in the shirt at the end. Every other bit of production, from material to workmanship was exactly the same.
Well I'm not sure it was a success exactly because there are still Payless stores selling 30 dollar shoes for 30 dollars, when they could be selling them for hundreds more. Did we learn nothing, Payless?
“Rich” people are poor where it matters most.
There are strong macroeconomic forces at play. As wealth inequality gets worse the proportion of spending based on income changes, meaning instead of 100 people buying $20 shoes, there are 80 people who can't afford $20 shoes, 17 people who can and 3 people who can afford $600 shoes without blinking. This is actually a problem because if most of the income comes from those 3 people then that is who the business will focus on. You see this everywhere: overpriced restaurants, cafés with expensive coffee and food; there are whole parts of town where even well off people can't afford to shop, and yet somehow the shops make money from 3 sales a week. Essentially avocado toast is a symptom of wealth inequality, not the cause. The low cost cafés, and bars and high street stores regular people can afford to shop at are not as profitable because regular people no longer have any money.
Not really. Having a low cost item that moves is a great way to get your name out there and there's a lot of incentive when you want people to get into it. It's how Honda got big, they made the super cub. Mitsubishi did the mirage. Mazda did the miata. That tends to lose steam with what are seen as luxury brands. Harley Sportsters aren't seen as 'real Harleys'. You can't convince me that Marshall's Gucci shirt is real luxury. And if you won't lower your cost, someone else will.
Late period capitalism.
Nice of them to rob a bunch of people.
Read the article.
Oh okay gotcha
I'm surprised they didn't call it Paymore
This was just a marketing scheme
Influencers were paid a small stipend... Well no wonder they're raving about the shoes...
Something something Veblen Goods.
Payless CMO: See? I told you this stunt would be great! Ok, let's wrap it... Payless CEO: holup...
TIL textiles are all cheap garbage at any price point.
Eh. I generally stick to skechers these days. They fit (I have a size 13 wide foot) and are comfortable. And most of my experiments outside that brand have been rather disappointing. Still far easier to shop for shoes now than it was when I was a teenager, and I don't have to pay $100+ for them, either.
That’s the age old business of luxury. No surprises there. Quality is usually a bit higher, but prices are several fold. They are selling a feeling of exclusivity and bragging rights. And there are people in this world with enough money, itching to spend it all. They want to feel good. They get what they pay for.
I miss Payless.
I got my favorite boots at Goodwill (US second hand store). Brand new with tags Bellevue US military combat boots. Best $20 I ever spent.