High Heel Shoe blog

Happy New Year!! We hope everyone is having a safe and happy holiday season! 2010 is just hours away!

A study was recently done to find out how memorable a woman’s first kiss was in comparison to remembering the first pair of shoes purchased with their own money. The results were over 92% of women could remember the first pair of shoes, with more than one in three women polled could not recall their first kiss.

In a different survey, over 1,000 women were questioned about their relationship with footwear in contrast to their romantic history, which was posted on a shoe accessory website, and the results were really surprising. While 96% of these ladies regretted throwing away a pair of shoes, only 15% of them felt badly about dumping a boyfriend. These results may be a bit biased based on ‘who’ performed the questionnaire, so readers comments are welcomed.

Below are a few ‘reported’ facts about women and their footwear:

* The average woman has 19 pairs of shoes.
* Four of these pairs are worn regularly, one-fourth of them have only been worn once.
* One in six women owns over 30 pairs.
* Women purchase four new pairs every year.
* One in seven have hidden a new pair of shoes from their partner.
* Six in ten women regret at least one shoe purchase.

Where do you fall? Are you average, above or below average? What is the most you have ever spent on a pair of high heels?

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.

It is said that sagging or drooping of breasts is a natural, inevitable process that happens to all women at some point in their life, except those with fairly small breasts. It is also believed that pregnancy and losing weight are additional reasons. Thousands of women every year undergo plastic surgery to have breast lifts done, but surgery results are not permanent since the skin and ligaments will stretch again eventually.

Constant or prolonged sitting, which most of us do, causes the muscles on the fronts of the hips to become short and tight. Also the glutes — or butt muscles — actually forget how to contract. The combination of tight muscles on the front of the hips and weak muscles on the backside causes the pelvis to tilt forward. This pushes the lower abdomen outward, making the belly pooch out. Another belly pooch culprit: high heels. “High-fashion shoes not only contribute to your pooch, but again, leave you less perky up top as well”, according to Rachel Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., fitness advisor for Women’s Health. “wearing high heels can result in saggy breasts. Heels make your ankle muscles tight. This leads to tighter muscles all the way up your legs to your lower back. And a tight lower back causes you to compensate by hunching forward even more, so your sag worsens”.

So should you throw out your heels? Many women ‘have’ to wear them for work and therefore cannot get away from them. But there are a few things you can do to help. Always sit as tall as you can, exercise daily, eat healthy and stretch your chest. You can also try to minimize the amount of time wearing heels. Wear a pair of flats to work, change out into heels at work, and change back into flats for the commute home. Women also just wear them to try and look more appealing, but in the long run can they be doing more harm than good?

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.

Another week has gone by and Halloween is getting closer and closer and the weather is getting colder and colder. I hope everyone is ready for the holiday, I know I’m looking forward to it as it is time I can spend with the kids.

I’m sure you all may have seen the news articles on the Botox treatment that is geared towards women who wear high heels to prevent what is being called “stilettotarsal”. Now I have searched medical terms and cannot find that anywhere, but for those that do not know what it means it is the newly derived term for the pain of the soft tissue on the ball of your foot. The treatment consists of a series of shots into the ball of the foot creating a Botox padding.
This padding allows that person to wear high heels for a longer period of time without the pain. The treatment is rather new and finding doctors that know how and where to give the shots are slim depending on where you live. Prices for this treatment is approximately $500 for those who can find a doctor that can and will administer the treatment. Please also note that Botox was not made for this reason and was originally released to combat frown lines and brow furrows in our ever growing quest for long term beauty and perfect looking skin. Now I’m not a doctor and I’m not going to go in to whether this treatment is good or bad for I feel we can make up our own minds on that one. But I do want to provide a list of alternative ideas to this treatment that woman can do now and maybe save them some time, money and yes, pain.

1: If you work in an office setting, take a pair of flats with you to work and leave your higher heels under your desk. The flats should be a pump style of shoe with a maximum of a 2 inch heel. These shoes still look stylish enough for the office while giving your feet a break. Save your higher heels for meetings and other events. Also while sitting at your desk take off your shoes and sit at your desk barefoot, leaving your flats where you can quickly put them on if you have to run.

2: Leave your heels at work or in your car. Driving in heels is not a good idea to begin with as it wears a hole in your floor mats and also wears on the heels themselves. While driving wear tennis shoes or flats and change into your heels once you get to work or get to your desk. I work with alot of women who do this. Some of them even put back on their tennis shoes and walk during lunch trying to keep their figure. Although tennis shoes do not give any type of sexy or flattering look, it does say here is someone who cares about what they look like. In this day and age it has become commonplace to see women in short skirts and tennis shoes before work, after work and during lunch.

3. Try and find heels with padding. Most single sole shoes do not have this or have very little, but mini platforms on the other hand tend to have more. The more padding the better for your feet as long as your foot does not slide causing a blister on the ball of your foot. I have even seen women take shoe inserts and stick them on their shoes with double sided tape. Some say it helps while others say that it tends to slide or fall out. If you are able to find a shoe that is well padded, no other padding should be needed.

4. Lastly, change what height of heel you wear. This is also important to give your feet a break from time to time. You do not always have to wear 5 inch heels, and changing to a 3 inch heel will give your feet a break, especially if you follow the rules above.

Although Botox can help for a short time with the pain I would rather see women, especially our customers, save themselves some money and pain and try some of the tips above. People are saying that Botox works for the short term, but no one knows what long term effect it will have or if you will do more harm than good over time. Yes we sell high heels and yes we have a passion for these shoes. And if you feel this treatment is right for you, then by all means try it. But you may want to consider trying some of the tips listed above and put that money in the bank, or better yet buy another pair of heels.