We should contact the Media about this fashion

[Geoffrey]

I we want the whole world to accept this fashion, we should contact the Media, so that we can start a commercial or something. Does anyone agree with this?

[Dr. Shoe]

The big problem with the media, especially the tabloid press, is the fact that they tend to portray people like us as weirdos or even perverts who enjoy dressing up in womens' clothes! A few years ago, I read an item about a transexual who robbed a store to pay for his (her?) operation and the article started with the phrase "Transvestite John Smith...". If he had been a fisherman saving up for a new super duper fishing rod, would the article have started: "Angler John Smith..."? I don't think so. My point is, that anything out of the ordinary tends to get over-sensationalised and even if a designer were to introduce high heeled styles for men, that too would be represented as something weird, sordid or fetishistic and so would never get off the ground.

[Geoffrey]

So I guess we're on our own now. We have to do it ourselfs to achieve accetance?

[terayon]

what ive done is post messages on large public message boards like the one on aldo.com, ive also asked questions to ALDO shoes, Steve madden and skechers about making heels for me...all with fairly posative feedback, ALDO gave me the best reply, saying i shouldnt have to wait long for platforms to come back in style for men

[Charlie]

That's interesting T. Aldo DID sell platform shoes for men about 2 to 3 years ago, but sadly, with little success. Of course, all of the styles were the BIG look. Maybe if they had some more streamlined looks....... This is precisely why I started shopping on the women's side. Charlie

[Highluc]

Geoff, don't expect the media to show a honest picture of what we are aiming for, they only sell sensation. What most of us on this board want is just to wear our heels in normal life as an diversified fashion. The only way to do that is JUST DO IT. Long hair, earrings etc also became acceptable because guys just did it, the media had no positive inputs on that. Have guts, wear what you like.

_________________

Be youself, enjoy any footwear you like and don't care about what others think about it, it's your life, not theirs. Greetings from Highluc on http://walk.to/highluc

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Highluc on 2002-05-12 09:53 ]</font>

[Gizmo]

The only hope is fashion industry ------ FASHION SHOWS but not excentric , bizarre

[Jeff]

I think the biggest hope would be the music industry. Mostly new trends are set by popular artists. Long hair, earrings, piercings, the baggy pants and cap.. All things at first seen with artists in video's which then became more or less mainstream fashion.

[JeffB]

I agree. We still live in a tabloid driven culture. More than likely, we would be treated like the sort of abberations you'd see on Jerry Springer. Normalcy doesn't sell, sensationalism does, and that's why we'd be treated like freaks. Plain and simple.

[Firefox]

You have to go out there and do it yourself. Dress respectfully and behave graciously in heels and you will be the best walking advert there is for the (probably) 5-10% of your fellow males who would wear heels if they saw a few others doing the same.

I've contacted a few shoe manufacturers and the reply is generally "Thanks for your suggestion, we will pass it on to our buyers." Put yourself in a buyers postion. Will you lay your job on the line, investing in stock or incurring tooling costs for a line which you can only sell to 5-10% of the market. That's the real problem you face, one of economics.

Forget approaching the media, this thing is driven by something deeper. It will happen, but it will happen very slowly. David Beckham was wearing silver nail varnish the other day. I'm just waiting for him to do heels. He's already done a sarong. I wonder if Posh will let him borrow some boots. They might be a bit small though!

_________________

<font size=1>

Click For Freestyle Fashions </font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Firefox on 2002-05-12 13:17 ]</font>

[terayon]

desptie the spice girls lame music, you could always count on them to wear a nice short skirt with really sexy boots...especially baby spice :wink:he is pretty fine

[Francis]

but Beckham can't play football in stilettos It's true that he's helping to break down some of the mental barriers that most have concerning men's fashions, but I still doubt that he'll do any heels higher than 2". Mind you, even that would be a start. We are still a fair way off from full acceptance, but the more people are exposed to it, the more will accept it and treat it as normal. Definition of normal : something that everybody does. Well in this case, I don't want to be the same as everybody. I want to stand out from the crowd as an individual and not be a monotonous sheep following the flock. If I didn't want any choices in my life I may as well kill myself. But even that is a choice, drat! The media will always overdramatise a story as it wishes to shock or outrage in order to sell more copies or get more viewers. In the states they have it slightly easier with media as there are open access channels which pander to anyone with a camera. If only such a thing existed this side of the pond I know that between us we could put something together that would informative and lighthearted. This is one possible solution to gaining more credance as people and not as a weirdo group.

[Jeff]

On 2002-05-12 13:16, Firefox wrote:

I've contacted a few shoe manufacturers and the reply is generally "Thanks for your suggestion, we will pass it on to our buyers." Put yourself in a buyers postion. Will you lay your job on the line, investing in stock or incurring tooling costs for a line which you can only sell to 5-10% of the market. That's the real problem you face, one of economics.

Hmmm, I'd say that 5-10% of the market is not that bad (if it's really that much..). I think if you look at the complete picture the number for the women highheel-market is probably not so very much higher.

Some shoeshops here you actualy have to look very hard to even find some highheels (>6cm). Most women shoes are lower.

Also looking in the streets here in my surroundings I'd say about 3 out of 10 women wear somewhat higher heels (>8cm).

[Firefox]

I think the market is somewhat bigger in the UK, perhaps 50-60% of women wear heels 2"+ Thus a lot more women wear heels here than in the NL. Also that 5-10% of men is only is what might develop if people had a free run. The market is uncertain, so it's a chicken and egg situation. I really don't think 1 in 20 is that much. <font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Firefox on 2002-05-12 22:36 ]</font>

[azraelle]

(my opinion only) It will have to be someone famous worldwide that embraces it. Ex-1: In 18th century it was accepted atire for men to wear fuschia or purple silk waistcoats, breeches, moderately high heels, lace blouses, etc. Then in early 19th century, the crown prince of England started wearing black...and then everyone else started wearing black. Ex-2: Up until when Ronald Reagan was elected President, it was the published opinion of all the "Dress for Success" experts that you should NEVER wear brown if you wanted to attain upper management in your career. Then Ronald Reagan started wearing brown suits, and suddenly it was now alright to wear brown and be successful. _________________ Hi-Heels and Back-Zipper Pants Forever... <font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: azraelle on 2002-05-14 13:14 ]</font>

[terayon]

tonight i contacted Elissa, a fashion PR girl from steve madden shoes, hope to hear a reply soon! the only way companies will change is if there is demand to do so...so call, email, fax..whatever, but get peoples attention, and be sure to re-enforce that men who like to wear heels are not all wierdo crossdressers, if you have a girlfriend or wife, say so...tell about experiences you have had, what styles you like...if enough people write to them, changes will happen!

[Arctic]

I think here the circle closes: you say that there must be demand. Faxing and calling to shoe distributors won't help that much, as most guys are cowards and will not buy a high heel shoe even from a big retail chain in the men's section, before it's common on the streets. So I think we just must wear heels in public as much as possible to create a real demand, not one fueled by supply. For the die-hards like us, there is a certain supply already even now, at a price of course. The trend must be set before people start buying regardless of what the shoe stores try to push. Bert

[Mickey S.]

I think the biggest hope would be the music industry. Mostly new trends are set by popular artists.

Long hair, earrings, piercings, the baggy pants and cap.. All things at first seen with artists in video's which then became more or less mainstream fashion.

Your post's been done a while ago already but I just read it. If artists in music-videos would have really triggered that kind of fashion then high heels would be in fashion for men NOW! Do you remember 'Sigue Sigue Sputnik' or some pics of 'Mötley Crüe'? They wore heels - but that didn't make it into the regular guy's fashion back then. Obvioulsy, we need some other drivers (maybe just ourselves?)...

CU!

-Mike

[genebujold]

That's interesting T. Aldo DID sell platform shoes for men about 2 to 3 years ago, but sadly, with little success. Of course, all of the styles were the BIG look. Maybe if they had some more streamlined looks.......

This is precisely why I started shopping on the women's side.

Charlie

You hit the nail on the head.

If fashion designers want to know how to hit their target markets with respect to higher heels for men, they need to poll them, instead of just guessing and living with the dismal results.

This board could very well be the locus for such a poll.

As a statistician, I would be more than happy to assist in any effort towards designing such a poll.

Please let me know.

[Bubba136]

Do you believe any manufacturer would believe the statistics emanating from a poll taken from this crowd? Polling this crowd would be like asking if a bear likes honey.

[micha]

Hi Firefox, I presume, that 5 to 10 % are too much. In Germany we have 40 millions male inhabitants. In German Ebay I see regurarly 300 offers for high heels in male sizes (>= EU 44 ~ >=UK 10). Typically lasting one week. Multiplied with 52 makes 15.000 buyers per year. But not all offers are sold. Otherwise there are a lot of guys with smaller sizes. I don't know how many girls with big feet are among them, but they are a minority. Besides Ebay exist a lot of local stores and internet companies (may be 100 in my country) selling heels in men's sizes. I guess that these shops are selling much more male heels than Ebay. My estimation: 100000 male buyers in Germany per year. But how many shoes buys a male high heel fan per year? For me 3 pairs may be correct. Other crazier guys may purchase 10 per year. Shy guys (not the Shy Guy of our forum *grin*) are buying only one pair per decade. My conjecture: At the moment there are maximal 400000 male Germans wearing high heels. Not bad! That's more than the male population of my hometown Frankfurt and nearly Muniche (1.2 Mio inhabitants) but in spite of this only 1 % of the German population! In public you will find a very, very small minority within this minority. The outdoor wearers may be only 0.1 promille. For Frankfurt with 600000 inhabitants I calculate 30 guys. I know personally 3. Oh shit, naturally 4 - I'm still alive. But Frankfurt is not "in the country" - 300 may be the truth. If high heels should become super stylish for men, the absolute upper limit would be definitely 20000. Because the big majority of older people never would care for such a 'crazy feminine' fashion. micha (*your oracle for high heels statistics*)

[genebujold]

Do you believe any manufacturer would believe the statistics emanating from a poll taken from this crowd? Polling this crowd would be like asking if a bear likes honey.

The point isn't to find out how many men like the idea of wearing high heels. On this site, that idea is pretty much a given.

The point is to help the manufacturers design heels that we like.

I strongly suspect that the reason the fashion designers have met with dismal results every time they've tried to launch a heels for men concept is because they're off the mark!

This isn't that hard to believe - just look at how much crap walks down the runways yet never hits the streets, because the buyers (who're far more astute at what will actually sell than the designers) don't buy.

The problem is that the buyers aren't designers, and until they tell the designers what they want, the designers will continue to miss the mark.

Therefore, I propose the following:

1. Each month, pick one shoe you've seen online.

2. The shoe has to be something that's available in a smaller size (between 7 and 9, US women's or other equivalent).

3. The shoe has to be something that's NOT available in your size.

4. Send a copy of the URL to at least three of your favorite online retailers.

5. Send a copy of this post to at least three of your friends who you know support the concept of men wearing heels or are men who wear heels themselves.

6. Keep at it, and don't let up!

Result - If you choose to do this and don't let up, the numbers will steadily climb until first the buyers, then the designers, will realize they've got a fashion trend on their hands, and will respond appropriately, by making the kinds of heels we like in larger sizes.

The good news is that they'll be styles that are already in existance, which will keep costs to a minimum.

I've been doing just this for the last year, and Nordstroms has responded by asking their buyers to make larger sizes. I've also noticed a three-fold increase in the size 13 selection on Designer Shoes (http://www.designershoes.com) since this time last year.

So, folks, this does work.

It will work far, far better if even 10% of the 4,000+ members of this board were to do the same.

And just think of the results - you'd have a far, far greater selection of heels than you do now.

Good luck!

And go get 'em!