Red Hel.

Today I would like to talk about shoes.
Non leather shoes have advantages, and disadvantages. The advantages being that they are usually cheap and plentiful. The disadvantages being that they are usually boring and don't last long. It's hard to find interesting non-leather shoes. There are some higher end options coming in here and there now, however, and I am hopeful that it will keep gathering steam.
For the gentlemen we have April 77, who never use real leather and word on the street has it that they are phasing wool out of their line too, which is always good news for the wooly among us.
They do not, as far as I know, make women's shoes yet, but my people remain hopeful.




For the ladies, we have Cri De Couer, which are definitely heading in a direction that I like, but have never quite engaged me enough to make a purchase.





We also have Olsen Haus, which I like in a similar way to Cri De Couer, but not enough to pay the $2-300 they go for.





And let us not forget Brazilian brand, Melissa who have had collaborations with designers like Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier and Alexandre Herchovitch and whose shoes are all made of plastic.






There are of course a million shoe companies who, by default use faux leathers for the purpose of keeping them affordable, and this is where I usually end up. I ordered three pairs last night, and yes, I know that the first two are similar but I need to try them on to decide if I will go with the brighter red of the first pair, or with the more toned down bloody brown-red of the second. The third pair are there because I have wanted a pair of cowboy boots for a long time, but I find mid calf length unflattering on me, and until now all the ankle height ones I've seen have been on the dumpy side, these ones look like good basics.





I suppose what I have mostly learned through my years of leatherless shoe shopping is that you can go to any given shoe site, and set a price window between $0 and $100 and almost everything under $70 is going to be man-made, about 50% between $70 and $100 will be safe... after that, well you're pretty much on your own my friend.