Glam Slam: Shoes! Shoes! Shoes!

How many pairs of shoes does the average US woman own? If you had to guess how many would you say? Ten? Twenty? Fifty?

A new poll about women’s shoe shopping habits came up at work yesterday and our boss asked people in the room to guess how many pairs of shoes they thought the average woman owns. A person guessed 6. Another guessed 20. I guessed 100, only half jokingly.

A new national ShopSmart magazine poll reveals that women own an average of 17 pairs of shoes (down from 19 four years ago).
Seventeen pairs of shoes! Are you kidding me? I was stunned. I thought it would be way more than that. Yeah, I know, 100 is an excessive guess. My boss said to me – “Are you crazy? In this economy people don’t own that many shoes.” “They don’t have to be expensive shoes,” I replied! “You can get cute affordable shoes at Target!”

I guess I really outed myself as the shoe-obsessed gal that I am. I easily own 100 pairs of shoes. And according to the poll, I am in the minority. The poll found that only 13 percent of women have over 30 pairs (not including athletic shoes).

In my defense, I rarely, if ever get rid of any shoes… so I have shoes that are 8, 10, 12-years-old. I also have quite a few pairs of inexpensive shoes that I’ve picked up, while traveling as well as vintage shoes and shoes I’ve bought on eBay.

With designer shoe prices costing hundreds and even thousands of dollars these days, I was shocked to learn what women spend on a pair of shoes… $49 on average, with one-third having ever spent more than $100. That average seems low to me, because even at accessible mainstream mall chains like Aldo and Steve Madden, shoe prices have increased and often cost more than 100 bucks.

A couple of other things I found interesting:

Although the majority of women (86 percent) are up front with their spouse or significant other about their shoe purchase, 14percent admit to hiding at least one purchase. (Hmmm, I have no idea what they are talking about!)

Over one quarter (28 percent) feel shoes are an important part of their outfit indicating that they put a lot of thought into selecting them each day.

Over half of women (51percent) typically notice shoes other people are wearing. (It’s always the FIRST thing I notice!)

Buying shoes online is a new national obsession. Almost a third (29 percent) of American women are doing it, a significant increase from four years ago when only 14 percent were buying shoes online.

“Shoes never make your butt look big, you don’t have to worry about squeezing into them if you’ve put on a couple of pounds, and they can instantly make you feel sexier. Maybe that’s why, despite the economy, we’re still buying shoes,” ShopSmart editor-in-chief Lisa Lee Freeman said.

Amen! Couldn’t agree more! Ladies… here’s to buying more shoes!