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Stiletto Heels


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I remember reading an artical from the cutting edge magazine telling us that stiletto heels where finished and the good times where over!

 

Well I have done 10 pairs this morning so far and just had a look at how many stiletto's I have been ordering and it seems to be up on this time last year.

 

Are other people finding this or am I just been lucky so far.

 

Or maybe someone was talking out of his arse

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Stilleto Heels are a sbusy as ever , and whats more the mainsream shops are full of nice new Shiny Boots fitted with poor quailty Plastic Toppieces, so it looks like we will keep busy for the forseeable future.

Whilst sad for the UK based manufacturing trade , many of these shoes are made in Cambodia , Vietnam and India , great for us because they are not interested in using the correct grade of Polyurethane for the toppieces , and seem to be using just one pin head size ( Small Basket Head) on all sizes , even 15mm to 20mm Tips, Customers only need to walk on uneven ground and they flip off.

We are also seeing lots of shoes where the toppiece has collapsed over the heel , leaving just the pin head showing , this takes the heel cover with it and looks absolutley awful , however with a little gentle coaxing and a spot of glue the covers slide back to where they should be ready for a new tip . customers look amazed when they collect the shoes which look as good as new again .

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Another busy day for us on Stilletoes, but whilst 120 pins still seem to be popular we are finding some this years offerings from good old M&S have been made with 101 tubes , whilst our friends at Tesco seem to prefer 125 pins , this could be the time to make sure you have sufficeint stocks of 101 , 115 and 125 pinned toppieces in stock to run alongside the 120 pin heels you already have ! looks like being a busy winter

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The ones we have problems with are the Karen Millen shoes.

They use a 3/16" top piece that fits flush. As soon as you try to trim a standard heel it goes through to the pin. They are so tight that you can't even taper a standard heel.

We have to scrounge them from their customer services dept. and have now been told that spare sets of heels are kept in their shops for customers to ask for.

 

219_Karen_Millen_1.jpg

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Richard Earl who will be attending the Exhibition (welting demo) and his friends at Thames Valley, deal with a supplier in Belgium called Colemans. They have no problem obtaining a very comprehensive range from this Company. I'm sure if you ask him he'll offer up some more info. Pricing is very good too!! :D

 

I hope he'll thank me for making this public :?

 

Keith

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I remember reading an artical from the cutting edge magazine telling us that stiletto heels where finished and the good times where over!

 

Well I have done 10 pairs this morning so far and just had a look at how many stiletto's I have been ordering and it seems to be up on this time last year.

 

Are other people finding this or am I just been lucky so far.

 

Or maybe someone was talking out of his arse

 

There are quite a number of trades folk who are called upon to estimate the life of paticular services and most of the articles are an estimated guess calling on many years of experience in past styles.

not all projections will be correct to within a year or two but nevertheless they will be proven to be right in their analogy.

Most readers of the magazine are only capable of going by what comes through their front doors on a weekly basis, some of those readers, like a few members of the forum past and present, are very capable of critisism and are quick to admonish those who make a valid effort to contribute to the trade while making no effort to climb onto the pedestal themelves.

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Whilst sad for the UK based manufacturing trade , many of these shoes are made in Cambodia , Vietnam and India , great for us because they are not interested in using the correct grade of Polyurethane for the toppieces ,

 

Many of these Top-Pieces are manufactured in the UK for use in China and its provences

.

We are also seeing lots of shoes where the toppiece has collapsed over the heel , leaving just the pin head showing , this takes the heel cover with it and looks absolutley awful , however with a little gentle coaxing and a spot of glue the covers slide back to where they should be ready for a new tip . customers look amazed when they collect the shoes which look as good as new again .

 

This is not a manufacturing fault but a user one where the heel has been forced into a gap (usually between paving slabs or escalator treads) the wider tops stay bridging the gap and allowing the heel to go down into the void. Big money spinner that one for those with skills to invisibly mend them.

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I think someone was trying to scare alot of people in the trade.

 

I was only asking what other people was finding come thru there doors. I have just looked at our worksheets for the shops and they are up on stiletto's.

 

Also was shopping with my teenage daughter the other week for shoes and seems to be alot of stiletto's still about.

 

Yes this trend will come to end at somepoint but lets not scaremonger about it. We don't need negative comments coming from what some people say are the leaders in this trade.

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Very true Danny, only this last few weeks I have been looking at trends in shoe shops and there are still many Stilettos about, but as smmultiservices said(god I wish he's shorten that name) :lol: most are from the far east and are cheap. This falls smack into line with the trends of yesteryear that the so called experts rely on to do their predictions ~(me included).Dont think of it as scaremongering Danny, Think of it as a crystal ball that is giving an insight as to what MAY be around the corner. That way it gives to plenty of time to make alternate arrangements for replacing some of the lost profit from the heel trade.

While the fashion may change in a very quick space of time there will still be the volume of collectables in footballers wives closets + Imelda Marcos's collection, now there's a thought, where's she living out her time these days? :lol:

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That's the way to do it Danny, get it all mastered now for when the cruch comes. Surprising how much help you get from the Watch parts suppliers as they try to build their business up, pity we never had as much help from Shoe repair material suppliers in the past.

 

I feel there is an untapped market in engraving but it needs someone with a salesperson visiting larger companies to show them what you can d, rather than waiting for them to find a need when it is almost to late (as in H&S) I was looking around P&O ferries last week and noticed how many signs they could make use of. They employed 1 guy to stand there telling every one to "queue here" for the breakfasts, a multilanguage sign would have cost a lot less.

 

Do you all have the capability of making signs in Polish etc for the new wave of workers to have made and sent back home?

Polish engraving notice in the windows for Xmas gifts?????

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