Why dont we start our line heels and boots

[DGMurdock]

If they wont make high heels or platform shoes for men why dont we start ore own line of heels and boots for men

[Dr. Shoe]

If you have about a million pounds to spare then we can...

[Tosca]

Hi all, I spend enough keeping myself in heels, without taking on the responsibility for heeling the world, as it were. (sorry! Awful pun.....) All best wishes, Tosca

[DGMurdock]

why dont we start a fund

[JNR]

why dont we start a fund

Need someone to organize it under the laws of the UK and then sell shares. However, I think it's difficult enough for our administrator even to collect enough contributions to make this a self-paying website.

[Tech]

Need someone to organize it under the laws of the UK and then sell shares. However, I think it's difficult enough for our administrator even to collect enough contributions to make this a self-paying website.

Thanks JNR, your spot on! Still, its worth it when you see how much others enjoy the "website" (Not just a forum )

[sendra45]

Hey, lets not forget to visit the sponsors on the front page once in a while. It helps pay the bills! Nigel.

[crotchboots-m]

the way my investments and 401 k are doing,i will pass on that...anyone wanna buy some prime tigris river frontage?

[seattleshoes]

Lets take it as a given that we don't have enough to start our own company to make these designs. What we do have is a vocal group and a market that can be exploited.

What I'm thinking is that once a month we target a shoe company and collectively come up with a letter addressing our desires that we can send on an organized basis. Many companies will not respond to us, but there will be some who will see an opportunity.

Sample talking points:

1) Large community of male heel wearers, many of whom would like some more attention.

2) Big problems currently - design choices and sizing. Sizing is fairly obvious.

3) Design choices - making some styles slightly more masculine would open up a market that nobody is going after. For instance, Tsubo makes the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn - they are basically sneakers with a 3" heel:

http://www.tsubo.com/women.php?collection=current_collection&style=all&id=AD2-01&details=yes, but the Mary Jane style makes it too obvious that they are not guy shoes - put a tongue on those babies so that the sock wasn't showing, and you woud sell a pile of them to us.

Other design choices - rounded toes are not only more comfortable for the majority of us, but more masculine-looking as well. We don't want to take over the whole line, but just a little nod in our direction would be appreciated.

(Yes, I do think that Tsubo should be our first target). I love my current shoes, but the addition of the tongue, plus an extra inch of lift, would be fantastic.

Any thoughts?

[Dr. Shoe]

Firstly, most of the retailers don't actually make their own shoes they buy them in from a factory somewhere and they have little influence over the sizes that their supplier supplies. The most they can do is say "we want 2,000 pairs in 9+ (uk)," the most likely response will be: "we don't do those sizes." They aren't going to bother for 2000 pairs when they make 2 million pairs a year, they'd rather turn the work away because it's too much hassle for little reward. The retailer is not going to bother to put too much pressure on them. The retailers who are also manufacturers will also consider the few people that are going to buy these sizes not worth the tooling costs, it can cost thousands per size to launch a new style and they are going to want a return on the investment. This is why large size specialists are so expensive, they have to spread the costs over a much smaller run.

[gwl1]

I agree with the good Doctor's post above. If anyone did a business plan, he or she would find it prohibitively expen$ive to get into this business. Just offering one or two styles would never be successful. All of us here have vastly different tastes, and we wear different sizes and prefer different colors. The investor would have to put a LOT of money into inventory, perhaps 10-20 styles, in many sizes and colors, for a fairly limited market - IF he or she could even find a supplier to make shoes in small affordable quantities. Plus they would be very expensive for us to buy, so not many would get sold. It's way too risky for too little reward. Nice idea, though. GWL

[JNR]

Reading all of these comments, I realize that most of the newer members aren't aware that we already have our "own" place to buy heels. Peachie's Shoes. Perhaps one of the other members can elaborate on the Mel, Peachie's store and website? (Haven't heard a word from her in quite a while.)