Shoes More, Suits Less!

Suits don't make you look good if you are wearing bad shoes!!! In my retail experience I always encountered men who weren't willing to spend $300 on a pair of shoes but willing to drop $1000 on some average suit. It really boggled my mind considering it should be the other way around. But you get countless men who are just like this. Why?

I ask myself this question all the time and since I don't think like these men it's hard to come up with a conclusion. In part, I don't think that these men think that the value added from a shoe that is $400 versus a shoe that is $150-$200 is as good as the value added from a suit that is $1000 versus a suit that is $500-$600. WRONG!!! What most men don't know is we live in a fashion world where factories are the all powerful suppliers, retailers are the middle ground customers and we, the people are the tiny little consumers who get fooled. Most factories will make a line of suits and slap their house label on it while at the same time slapping some famous brand on it and selling it to them. That famous label then turns around and sells it to a high end retailer at a mark up and we the consumer see a suit that costs $1000 by famous label X while that same suit is being sold somewhere else in the world for $500-$600 by generic factory label Y. In this case your added value literally just lies in a label and not in the extra quality that you thought you were getting.

Now, while this does occur in shoes as well, it is far less so. To the average eye, it is much easier to tell the difference in quality between two different shoes than it is two different suits. And let me tell you that the difference in quality between a $150-$200 shoe versus a $400-$500 shoe is substantial. Not only in comfort and quality but also just in looks alone. Like I said before, cheap shoes can be seen a mile away. And a person who wears nice suits with crap shoes because he can't imagine spending $400 on shoes is cheap and that quality can be seen a mile away as well. That being said, there is a rule that I believe to be quite true stating that a man would look better with a bad suit and nice shoes then he would wearing a nice suit with bad shoes. Now I have never personally tested this rule but I can tell you that I wear a lot of H & M suits with my nice bespoke shoes and get lots of compliments and yet I just don't feel that if I was to wear a bespoke suit with a pair of Ecco's or Steve Madden's that I would get the same kind of complimentary treatment.

Moral of the story: Don't be cheap on your shoes!!! It looks bad for your character, your personality and most of all, your looks! People can see these things and will judge you on them. If you have enough money to spend $1000 on a suit you can definitely invest in nice pair of $400-$500 shoes.