1/3 of female shoes are sold to males

[Hansi1973]

This is an interesting market info, I found about the German Ebay sales:

In der ersten Jahreshälfte 2011 wurden bei Ebay circa 23.300 Paar Damenschuhe gekauft. Ein Drittel der Damenschuhe wurde dabei von Männern gekauft.

Source: http://www.schuhmarkt-news.de/handel/studien_marktanalysen/show/10412-Ebay-Verkaufszahlen-gewaehren-Einblick-in-weibliche-Schuhschraenke/

Translation:

Within the first six months 2011, about 23,300 pairs of women´s shoes have been orderd on EBAY. Thereof, one third was bought by men.

That means: ther is definetely a demand!

But what I do not understand is why they do not go deeper, investigate why men like to purchase women´s shoes.

Because they buy them for their girls ("you don´t have to walk in them - just wear them in the bed")

Are because these buyers are all lunatics, perverts?

Or maybe because there is something missing in the men´s shoe section?

When do they start to think about it, that they could generate more sales and turnover, if they offer pretty shoes for men?

[Dr. Shoe]

Hold on a minute. Before we start hoisting the flags and revelling in the fact that there are increasing numbers of male heel wearers, the question needs to be raised about the sizes of the shoes sold. Whilst I'd love the fact that men are turning to "pretty shoes" in droves, I'm afraid that the truth is more likely that the vast majority of them are buying them for their girlfriends or they are using their husbands' ebay accounts to make their own purchases. Having said that, I went to a fetish club a number of years ago and the only guys wearing heels were drag-queens and transvestites.. When I went more recently, I was found that about half the guys were in heels to compliment male fetish outfits. Therefore heels are getting more popular for men.

[Hansi1973]

@Dr.Shoe: tell me how many women do you know, that would be pleased if their friends/ husbands do the shopping?

[heellover21]

Very interesting. I love to take my stepdaughter heel shopping. Its a fun time.

[Tacchi Alti]

Having said that, I went to a fetish club a number of years ago and the only guys wearing heels were drag-queens and transvestites.. When I went more recently, I was found that about half the guys were in heels to compliment male fetish outfits. Therefore heels are getting more popular for men.

I'm intrigued and gratified about the change, but a question comes to mind: what are male fetish outfits like? Excuse my ignorance.

And yes, that's a good question about the sizes of the shoes as it might be some indicator of the real percentage of male heel wearers rather than just purchasers/victims of hijacked accounts. This would of course give an indication only of purchases by/for persons with larger feet, although it would be an interesting start. I take a UK 8 so might slip through the net.

[Dr. Shoe]

@Dr.Shoe: tell me how many women do you know, that would be pleased if their friends/ husbands do the shopping?

You mean to say that none of the women you know like to receive gifts? thinking about it, most of the shoes I have acquired in the past year were bought by my boyfriend. Besides, the original article doesn't mention heels, many of these guys could be buying ballerina flats or funky wellies.

I'm intrigued and gratified about the change, but a question comes to mind: what are male fetish outfits like? Excuse my ignorance.

If you went to a fetish club you would see what I mean by and large. Take uniforms for example: male fetish would be soldiers, police and firemen and females (and TGs) would dress like airline stewardesses and nurses. There are obvious differences between "male" and "female" latex too.

And yes, that's a good question about the sizes of the shoes as it might be some indicator of the real percentage of male heel wearers rather than just purchasers/victims of hijacked accounts. This would of course give an indication only of purchases by/for persons with larger feet, although it would be an interesting start. I take a UK 8 so might slip through the net.

This was an ebay survey remember? They would know if it was a male buyer regardless of the size bought, hence my original post musing about the sizes and postulating that guys were buying female shoes as gifts.

[BoyLegs]

@Dr.Shoe: tell me how many women do you know, that would be pleased if their friends/ husbands do the shopping?

Umm, we're talking about shoes here. Whether or not a woman is pleased with a man buying her shoes has very little influence on whether or not he does it.

[loswabs]

Having said that, I went to a fetish club a number of years ago and the only guys wearing heels were drag-queens and transvestites.. When I went more recently, I was found that about half the guys were in heels to compliment male fetish outfits. Therefore heels are getting more popular for men.

I go to a few fetish and tv events and always wear heels as a cross-dresser, though I'm not trying to pass as female. Not all of the tv's or cross-dressers wear heels though, it's just like anyone else, it's down to personal taste and (god forbid) whether the wearer can stand, walk or dance in heels.

As for the original question, I wonder how many of the shoes a guy buys his lady are then re-sold on e-bay as an unwanted gift? Certainly my taste in heels are a lot higher than my wife's as I can walk in them better and she just doesn't share my enthusiasm for them. I've bought her some heels way back when and she simply didn't like them so they ended up in the local charity shop. Ce la vie!!

[Gudulitooo]

Went to ebay recently. Ebay.com has 20 000 + pairs in sizes 11+12+13 Ebay.de has even more in sizes 43+44+45 Ebay.co.uk don't looked but I think it's similar. ebay.fr has 1500 results. And there are different offers between ebay.de and ebay.com. Either women's feet are growing bigger in the 21st century. Or the study has it right. By the way, shipping rates to the continent have decreased, right ?

[Guest]

I buy for both the younger stepdaughter and Chris at mainstreet/online stores and Ebay. Sizes 5 (38) and 6 (39) and for me 8 (41/42). for theirs it's about 50/50 who buys. Al

[Hansi1973]

Umm, we're talking about shoes here. Whether or not a woman is pleased with a man buying her shoes has very little influence on whether or not he does it.

Okay, maybe it is a "German problem", that girls would reject clothes, because they believe, guys do have a bad taste when it comes up to fashion (okay - according to what is normally offered to men - they must be blind or defenitely have a bad taste!).

Or they think, their partners would like to press them into roles, they do not want to belong ("I will not wear hooker shoes!").

You can overwhelm them with jewlery, give them a new car, invite them to restaurants, to opera and musical, to a trip around the world, yes and you can go out for shopping (it you have the nerves to) and pay all the bills - but you better not try to tell them what to wear - except you are the (gay) stylist at a fashion show (on TV).

Because of this behavior, I do not believe, that more than 10% of the shoes "bought by men" are dedicated for their female partners.

About the sizes and heel heights: yes, that would be interesting. Unfortunately, they did not present more details about it. But for the first instance, it is interesting enough THAT they (men) do.

The next step was, to find out WHY they are doing it.

According to what I can see in other communities, there is a trend to wear normal, "female" shoes. From flat Ballerinas, queeny heels, big block heels, up to thin and high stilettos. Those men (including me) do not want to wear only 6" pink patent pumps. They like to wear what is up2date, too. This can be 2" wedges or 4" stilettos. Open toe pumps or boots with an "offroad-profile" sole. Whatever.

It is not a fetish, it is only the pure desire, to wear NICE and PRETTY shoes (the opposite of what is offered to men normally) - the height of the heel is of secondary interest.

[roniheels]

I would like to believe it is a delicate balance. And no, I'm not hoisting the flag and declaring victory, but I believe more men are buying high heels either on-line or in stores for themselves. And I believe there are still many men who do buy high heels for Wives, daughters, GF's, SO's and even female friends as gifts. My female friend who owns and exotic boutique says that it is truly half and half as far as male vs. female who comes into her store and buys high heels.

[wood&metal]

"Sold to".... As a guy who would buy heels for my girlfriend or wife (single by choice for the time being) I'd be more interested in the number of males who are the end user..

[CassieJ]

Love her opinion on how many buy shoes that appear to be the man's size as opposed to obviously smaller shoes, probably for girlfriends or wives.

[samusiii]

@Dr.Shoe: tell me how many women do you know, that would be pleased if their friends/ husbands do the shopping?

I have bought my gf shoes and she loves them. Perhaps this is because I have a better insight into shoes but I think that most men know what is good.

While I would love these stats to be true, and more large sized heels to be produced as I and no doubt almost every one here has wished for smaller feet countless times, Ebay.co.uk has even (rather annoyingly) removed the option to search for larger sized shoes under womans shoes.

[HappyinHeels]

I don't know if ebay even has the capability to track such a thing and then conclude 1/3 of shoes sold on the site were bought by men. What point are they making anyway? Like Dr. Shoe points out we don't know for whom they are buying them all these shoes. While there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that the purchase and wear of high heels by men has notably increased in the last 10 years I would say it doesn't approach 1/3 of all sales in most mainstream stores. It may certainly approach that in stores that are more GLBT-friendly and certainly closer to Halloween but I cannot believe the ebay figures can be extrapolated to mean 1/3 of all ebay women's shoe purchases in a certain month in a certain country were to worn by males. I'm sure we are nevertheless appreciative of any perception that more males everywhere are strapping into high heels than before.

HappyinHeels:wave:

[SleekHeels]

If I was buying shoes for the woman in my life, I wouldn't order them on the internet. I'd take her shopping so she can indulge in trying on shoes before buying them, and then maybe go to a cafe so she can enjoy showing off her new heels. Some guys can be so coldly functional sometimes - it's not the shoes, it's the whole experience that's part of the gift.

[Hansi1973]

I don't know if ebay even has the capability to track such a thing and then conclude 1/3 of shoes sold on the site were bought by men.

They were even able, to announce the average heigt of heels ("women" in bigger cities prefer higher heels) and about the colour (in the south, black is the prefered colour).

So I think, they should be able, to let us know the sizes that had been sold.

Why they do not let us know?

Because it is the average allocation? Or because they would have to explain... I don´t know.

Anyway - I still hope, that more men will find the courage to wear heels in public.