Right from top left: Christian Laboutin Vieirissima 2 Orlato flats ($ 895), Jimmy Choo Diamond low top trains ($ 3,995), Hermès Avantage sneaker ($ 810), Balenciaga Triple S sneakers ($ 975).
Do you want to stay rich? Sign up here for our newsletter featuring the best of Bloomberg Pursuits, delivered weekly.
On a cold, gray evening, buyers in the Jimmy Choo store on rue Saint-Honoré in Paris are not the Avril stiletto shoes with Swarovski crystals that sell for € 3,495 ($ 4,250), but the black diamond pair with crystal sneakers which is € 100 more expensive.
The sneaker was launched two years ago, but is gaining new relevance for a brand best known for its 10-centimeter-high (3.9-inch) heels.
A film festival of No Cannes, or Met Gala, with no nights out, canceled wedding receptions, and non-stop work from home meant that the times for showcasing elegant stilettos would be rare in 2020 (but if you Emily find out about life in Paris in a Netflix show).
Source: Jimmy Choo
“The high heel of evening heels suffers much more than other shoe categories,” says Hortense Demay, accessories purchasing director at the Paris department store Galeries Lafayette. “This crisis only exacerbates some of the trends that have already taken place. ”
Demand for designer shoes last year fell by 21% globally compared to a 19% decline for the wider shoe market, according to data collected Euromonitor International. Market share was also growing at a slower pace in the five years before the spread of coronavirus pandemic.
Although Lyst, the world’s largest fashion research platform, saw online searches for “heels” rise by 33% in the fourth quarter of 2020 from the previous year, producers believe it had more to do for the desire for shorter mules, which saw a 47% increase, and the general shift to online shopping at the time of the pandemic. Stilettos were down 12% and heel boots were down 9% from the previous year; sandal heels went up 21%. Searches for slippers went up 242%, and within that category searches for clogs were up 110%.
Even love-to-hate it Crocs has seen a new life, with Revenue 2020 climbed more than 12%, to $ 1.4 billion, the highest for the company.
A pair of Stuart Weitzman pumps at the carpet office in New York.
Photographer: Evan Ortiz / Bloomberg
“A brand like Louboutin, Sergio Rossi, Jimmy Choo, Stuart Weitzman saw their sales for elegant shoes decline” in 2020, said Stephanie Clairet, regional product manager for fashion accessories and shoes at the Paris department store Printemps, via e-mail. “They need to embrace the market and develop sneakers and lower heels. ”
Creative director Jimmy Choo has admitted that her own habits have changed during the pandemic. “Recently my entire shoe line is trainers,” Sandra Choi said during a speech on luxury business with the Financial Times before the holidays. She expects shoes to focus more on functionality going forward: “I think I want everything to be even more comfortable. I don’t think glamor has to be just heels. ”
Departmental sources are changing. Galeries Lafayette’s main store on Haussmann’s boulevard is updating its shoe division and will make more room for sneakers this year, Demay says.
Sneakers are now “something like denim jeans, which will speak to every generation and every style,” he said. Jennifer Cuvillier, style creative director at LVMH Le Bon Marche’s top department store in Paris. “They’re part of the classic wardrobe.”
The changes that have taken place in the shoe world that began before the epidemic with athletic traction and foot wear have only accelerated. Some luxury fashion brands have caught on to this wave with the incredible success of Balenciaga’s $ 976 Triple S sneakers and $ 700-plus Speed Trainer model socks-meet-shoe that are ubiquitous on the high fashion streets the world.
Source: Farfetch
And it’s not just sneakers. Jimmy Choo – love with Princess Diana and Carrie Bradshaw in the Feis and the City series of the 2000s (soon to be relaunched) – they started collaboratively with the Timberland outdoor brand. The all-out pair of Swarovski crystal shoes, which sell for more than $ 5,000, was “sold out immediately.” John Idol, chief executive officer Capri Holdings Ltd., the parent company, said in a call with analysts. The Hawaii sneaker is also the company’s favorite, he said on Dec. 3 at a Morgan Stanley consumer and retail conference.
Tha Capri Holdings Ltd. – a company listed by Versace and Michael Kors in their portfolio – as one of the few companies with a luxury footwear brand that reports quarterly results. “He has had some challenges with the apparel industry, and that was before Covid. In fact, the taste of many customers is changing, and it’s much more casual, ”said Idol at the Morgan Stanley conference. Going after the luxury footwear market will allow Jimmy Choo to go from about $ 550 million in annual revenue to $ 1 billion, Idol expected not to clarify when it would arrive that target.
“The biggest advantage of the sneaker is that it makes the wearer look younger,” he says. Pierre Hardy, the shoe designer at Hermes International. “You can wear the most traditional outfit like a fur coat and mix it with sneakers, and you will look 10 or 15 years younger. It’s unconscious, but that’s their strength. “
Source: Hermes
But some glamorous brands are still emerging despite the pandemic. Amina Muaddi, the eponymous brand of Jordanian-Romanian designer, is hot right now thanks to a strong social media strategy, according to Galeries Lafayette’s Demay. Searches for Lyst for Muaddi rose 386% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, which the company attributes to its specialty in mills.
Kim Kardashian and Rihanna have backed up her stilettos which are known for their wide base. Brand Rihanna at Fenty LVMH – struck a design partnership with Muaddi, revealing that it’s not gloomy and sad for flexible shoes. While Muaddi is gaining popularity, his sales volume cannot be compared to the size of other well-known and established designers, Demay adds. Muaddi did not respond when asked to comment on the plans for the evening’s women’s shoe division.
Edgardo Osorio is the co-founder and creative director of Aquazzura, Meghan Markle’s favorite Italian brand known for its pine-embossed stilettos on their soles. He says revenues in 2020 have been hit by locks but their favorites are still heels, even though Aquazzura’s offerings range from sandals to cozy slippers. He says he is optimistic for 2021. “There are two directions for fashion: There are things you need and things that make you dream. And we have a business – especially right now – of things that make you dream and make you happy. ”
Hardy, who has been designing shoes for Hermès for three decades, anticipates a craving for stilettos once “production” opportunities such as carpet events return. But the wave is behind the appeal for deep sneakers, he says. So the future is expected to be hybrid, between steep and more formal traditional foot styles. “Fashion is linked to the history of luxury but also to streetwear now,” he said.