High Heel Shoe blog

Back in November of 2008 we first brought you the story Lower Shoe Prices for Who? We have been following this headline for over a year and are once again bringing you an update.

On December 16th, two members of the House of Representatives, Representatives Joseph Crowley (D-NY), and Kevin Brady (R-TX) reintroduced the Affordable Footwear Act (H.R. 4316). as a last minute push before Congress adjourns for the holidays.

According to the AAFA, the American Apparel and Footwear Association, “99 percent of all footwear sold in the United States is being imported with a whopping 80 percent being imported from China. The Affordable Footwear Act seeks to end the shoe tax, to ultimately lower the price of shoes.”

The shoe tax was originally introduced during the Great Depression in 1930. This tax had the original intentions to keep U.S. factories open while maintaining employment for Americans during these hard times. It did this by levying and import tax on items such as footwear and agricultural products.

Today the US economy is in trouble. The government is deeper in debt than it has ever been, with most of our debt being bought up by China. A lot of automotive manufacturers have moved their facilities to cheaper regions of the world. Our textile plants and steel mills have long been shut down and abandoned. The U.S. has become a consumer, and one of the largest consumers in the world.

Don’t we need to bring manufacturing and business back to the U.S.?? With the unemployment rate as high as 13% in some areas of the country, why don’t we try and rely less on China and worry about making more products here in the U.S.? By lowering or eliminating the duties we are promoting the economy of overseas industries and giving them right of passage, while also taking money away from our government and slamming the door in the faces of the few manufactures that still produce shoes here in the USA. It is impossible for domestic industries to survive unprotected trade with inferior nations that have lower wages and relaxed EPA and government standards without compromising themselves or their product. As of right now, the average tax payer in America owes the U.S. government right around 10 to 15 thousand dollars. Don’t take us wrong please. Nobody enjoys paying taxes and we agree that the middle and lower classes bear much of the burden that taxes impose. We just find it hard to swallow that the importers that would benefit on the decrease or elimination of the tax, are going to pass these savings along to the retailers that purchase from them. With fuel costs back on the rise, this could be one of the largest excuses heard of why the prices do not drop. Between the costs of the fuel to have them brought overseas from China and the fuel costs to transport the merchandise across the United States, it would be surprising if retailers see any savings. If we do see any savings, we will pass it along to our customers.

We hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween and Thanksgiving. We apologize for the lack of any recent posts. As you can see we have been busy with redesigning our blog to make it more appealing and easier for our readers to enjoy and navigate. We hope you enjoy our new look and encourage your comments and feedback on our posts. We are also currently doing a face lift on The High Heel Shoe Store to make the shopping experience more enjoyable and to give it a much warmer look and feel. We expect to have this ready within the next couple of months. Although we are actively and currently updating the sites in efforts to provide a better shopping experience for our customers, please rest assured that this in no way will affect our customer service or order fulfillment. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to send us an email at any time or call us during business hours (Monday through Friday, 9 am – 6 pm CST).

As we get ready for Christmas and New Year’s, we will be posting several new posts, some of which will be updates to some older stories we have featured.

We would like to post another update to a previous post, Can’t Do Community Service Wearing Heels.

Deborah Stallard, from Torquay, UK, was charged in February with two counts of damaging a vehicle and failing to provide a breath specimen. She had collided with another car and left the scene. At that time the court banned her from driving for three years and ordered her to do community service. After she showed up to do her community service in a pair of 4 inch high heel boots, she was sent home as it was seen as a safety hazard.

Ms. Stallard returned to court last month for re-sentencing. She was hoping that since her footwear was unacceptable to do the manual labor they originally had imposed, that she would be able to serve her time working in a charity shop. Apparently the court did not feel that this was acceptable and her community service was replaced by a six-month electronic tag curfew between the hours of midnight and seven a.m.

Outside the courtroom, Stallard stated that the sentence was “unfair” and she was considering an appeal. “It’s a bit harsh – I can’t believe I’m going to be electronically tagged,” she said.

Does anybody else think this new sentence is a bit harsh? This will not interfere in any way with her working or having a normal life. She just has to be at home every night by midnight. Yes a 47 year old woman may feel a bit put off by having a curfew, but if she wants to keep fighting this, may the court feel that this is a waste of their time and just put her in jail? Maybe she should just accept the punishment, serve the sentence, and move on with life.

Happy Father’s Day!!

First we would like to post an update to a post we made back in November titled Lower Shoe Prices for Who. Earlier this year the Affordable Footwear Act was hoped to become part of the economic stimulus package that went before Congress. Unfortunately it was not included. The AAFA intends to continue to push approval of this act by Congress. Because this bill (H.R. 3934) was introduced in a previous session of Congress, no more action can occur on it. Sessions of Congress last two years, and at the end of each session all proposed bills and resolutions that haven’t passed are cleared from the books. This bill has been reintroduced as S. 730: Affordable Footwear Act of 2009. The latest action was on March 26, 2009 in which it was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.The majority of bills and resolutions never make it out of committee, according to govtrack.us.

We have also come upon another interesting bit of news. Back in early February 2009, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced that the VAT export rebate for apparel and textiles was being increased from 14% to 15%. It is unknown if this affects the footwear industry, but one would think that it should. The export tax rebate refers to the money the tax authority returns to exporting enterprises for the indirect tax they pay in the production and distribution process. Even if it does not affect footwear, one would think it should affect the price of apparel that is being imported from China. Since the manufacturers are seeing some sort of break in the costs they are incurring to export their goods, couldn’t they possibly pass along a discount to the importers who are purchasing their merchandise? If they could pass along a discount, the retailers should be able to offer some sort of lower price along to the consumers. Rather than seeing any decrease in cost of the merchandise we offer, unfortunately we have seen an increase. We have not passed any of these increase in costs along to our customers at this time, and hope that we do not
have to.

A 47 year old woman in the UK was recently sentenced to 80 hours of community service after she was convicted on two counts of damaging a vehicle and one on failing to provide a breath specimen. She showed up to do her community service in a pair of four inch high heel boots and was told that they were unsuitable for doing the she was to do, such as cleaning graffiti and mending fences. She now has to return back to court later this month for re-sentencing since she refused to wear the protective footwear they felt she needed to wear.

People with certain foot conditions, especially those with high arches, usually find some comfort in wearing shoes with a heel. Depending on how bad the condition is, how high of a heel they need to be comfortable. The woman in question stated that she has “always walked on the balls of my feet. My heels don’t naturally hit the ground. My slippers have a two-and-a-half inch heel. Apparently there are ways to correct the problem but I don’t want to go through that now.”

Many people feel that this woman is making excuses not to serve her sentence and feel that they should just throw her in jail. In her last job she had to sign a disclaimer so she could wear high heels to work. Why can’t they do the same for this? If she is unwilling to sign now so she can do her ‘time’, then they should lock her up. Your thoughts are welcome!

Happy 2009 everyone!! I hope everyone got what they wanted and had a safe holiday and New Year. I took the week off to spend time with family and friends. It was nice, but it is now time to get back to work.

Most people will agree that high heels are very sexy and some would go as far to say they are just as sexy as any piece of lingerie a woman can put on. But although these shoes are sexy and have the power to instantly turn on most men, they can also improve your sex life in other ways. Dr. Maria Cerruto, an Italian urologist, discovered that wearing high heels can improve a woman’s pelvic floor muscles. His findings were based on 66 women, all under the age of 50, who after wearing 3 inch heels were found to have elevated electrical activity in their pelvic muscles by as much as 15 percent on average. The women were also noted to have better posture as compared to women who wore flat shoes. This finding disproves the assumption that the spine will curve forward from the wearing of high heels. Professor Ki Kyung-Do, a professor at Kyung Hee University, states “Wearing reasonably high heels can tighten the thigh muscles and affect the pelvic muscles connected to the leg muscles. Since pelvic muscles are not used often, wearing high heels can provide them with a form of exercise. Although more negative studies show that wearing high heels can shift one’s body weight forward and put pressure on the knees and spine, there is no real danger for young women in wearing 1 3/4 to 2 inch high heels.” He goes on to say that if a woman wears heels that are 3 inches or higher that they should not wear them for more than six hours at a time and not more than four times a week.

Hello friends! Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. I myself had friends and family in and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing them, but to be honest I was kind of happy when they left. Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone, and for some retailers they are not just calculating the revenue, but they are also trying to calculate the injuries. It seems every year it is getting worse and worse. This is one reason to be honest that I do my shopping on Monday. I haven’t gotten trampled by my keyboard yet, unless you count the time that my wife threw it at me, but that is a different story. For those that are looking for a little bit of rest and relaxation before the arrival of the jolly old fat man, a trip to Devon might be in order for you. Devon is well known for stag and hen parties, and could be a great escape. You can also get a free pair of shoes while you are there. Inspector Adrian Leisk has announced that police officers in Torbay, Devon will start handing out flip flops to people who have had too much to drink. This program is geared towards women in high heels in fear that they will injure themselves walking home. They will be offered a pair of flip flops for them to wear home instead of walking barefoot and possibly falling or twisting their ankle. This comes on top of past programs already in place that allow Police to hand out condoms, sexual advice and to also have drunken men who urinate in the street to mop up their mess. The flip flops will be paid for with £30,000 of funding that has been secured from the Home Office by Safer Communities Torbay. Inspector Leisk also stated that they have spoken with many people about this program including street pastors and community wardens. One person said: “I go out clubbing at the harbourside most weekends and I usually walk home bare footed because my heels hurt.” Okay I have to ask here, is this only for drunk people or for anyone whose feet hurt at the end on the night? I mean come on. I’m all for trying to protect people from injury and helping them out, but in this fallen economy this is what they want to spend their money on? No one told them to wear high heels and to be honest if you know you’re going to be drinking and then walking home maybe they should save the money and just make people also bring a pair of flats or flip flops, or have them take a taxi or the Safe Bus. This would keep money flowing in their economy and also save their taxpayers money that the government could spend elsewhere on better things.

The AAFA “American Apparel & Footwear Association” has spearheaded many efforts over the past eight years since it was formed in August of 2000 to eliminate taxes and duties on virtually every type of footwear sold in the U.S.A. They were victorious in getting a reduction or elimination of duties on many different types of footwear through the Miscellaneous Trade Bill process. They now are leading the way to the elimination of a bill that has been in place since the 1930′s. This bill was passed during the Great Depression that resulted from the stock market crash in 1929 and ran until 1941 when the U.S.A. entered World War II. The purpose of this bill was to levy a tax on footwear that was not made in the U.S.A. in hopes that it would lower the cost of US made shoes while also protecting the American workers’ jobs. Today most footwear sold in the U.S.A. is not made here, but is manufactured overseas in countries such as China, Hong Kong, Thailand and India. So as we can see, although the bill may have helped in the short run of lowering prices, the 1930′s bill was unable to protect the American jobs by keeping the shoe factories here in the U.S.A. open. For this reason the Affordable Footwear Act (H.R. 3934/S. 2372) is on the table in Congress. If Congress passes this bill when they return for a lame duck session to also vote on the stimulus package, this would mean the elimination of the old 1930 bill. So what does all this mean to you? The hope is by dropping the duties being collected on footwear that is no longer being manufactured in the U.S., but is still being imported into the United States, that it would convert to lower prices on such footwear for the consumer. But is this going happen? Although this sounds good and it looks real good on paper, we do not believe the consumer is ever going to see this price drop, and if they do it will be small in comparison to what it should be. Although we here at The High Heel Store are very proactive on providing the lowest prices, the truth is we are not the manufacturer of the products we sell. Many manufacturers of footwear that is sold here in the U.S. are not actual manufacturers either, but are more of an importer. They purchase their products from actual manufacturing plants from around the world, have their label put on the product, and import the product to the U.S. Many “importers” do not own the plants where their product is being made and the plants make products for many U.S. importers. One plant may make products for several U.S. importers / manufacturers. So who is making out with this bill? Since the importers will no longer pay duties on products that are made outside the U.S., the U.S. importers will be the ones making out. The only way the consumer will ever see this price drop is if the importer passes it on to the retailer, and only if the retailer passes it on to the consumer. We do not feel this is going to happen and feel that the tax break is only going to help the big money in this industry and not the middle and lower income people who actually need it. Maybe this is why over a dozen CEO’s of footwear companies have jumped on this bandwagon. Now through all this if your wondering where we stand here at The High Heel Store, we would like to go on record and say we are all for any bill that helps with the financial burden of the working class men and women here in the U.S. We would also like to add that we are against putting more money into big business’ pockets on the promise of lower prices for U.S. consumers. We will have to wait and see how all this unfolds and see where the savings really stop, but rest assured if we see the savings we will pass it on to you. And I’m sure most reputable retailers will also do the same.

Edit:
There are many web sites and blogs buzzing about the possible lowering of prices on shoes. We would like to take this time and inform our visitors that this bill is NOT targeting most of the types of products we sell. The AFA is predominately geared towards low-cost rubber-soled fabric upper shoes and children’s shoes and not high heels. Only a very small portion of our products like our children’s costume footwear and also some of our Gothic line may be affected. This bill also ONLY affects footwear that is not made by ANY manufacturer here in the U.S. But please rest assured that if we do see any savings on our products, we will pass it on to you.