Business of Fashion

Let’s get real – the folks over at Business of Fashion are reporting a new trend. Imagine, for a moment, that expensive shoes are now selling faster than handbags in the same category. The article, based on numbers crunched by TheRealReal, reports that “shoes priced over $500 are selling 11% faster than comparable handbags.”

But wait a minute. Before you run out to your fave shoe store for those Chanel “investment” sneakers, we want you to consider a few salient points:

• The numbers are based solely on the TheRealReal findings, and there is a plethora of sites selling high-end handbags. There are just a few that resell shoes.
• The selection is rather limited. We looked at the site and found they have a smaller number of shoes; in most cases, just one size per style.
• It’s hard to compare shoes with handbags. Shoes come in sizes; handbags do not.
• Discounts were not considered in this study, and the fee the TheRealReal charges was not mentioned.
• The fact is, high-end shoes just sell faster – but that doesn’t mean they are more profitable should you want to resell them

In the end, we think this information is helpful to know high-end shoes sell faster, but we also think the information could be misunderstood by a lot of consumers. So sorry, it is unlikely that you can purchase a pair of shoes, wear them a couple times, and resell them for a profit.