To be shocked that you can buy a pair if shoes for £4

[Bemyclementine]

In primark? I saw someone post on a Facebook group, lots of people raving about them. A couple if people questioning ut.

I kniw good shoes can be expensive, and I know the saying (not exactly...)that a poor man pays £10 for boots that last 6 months, a rich man pays £50 and they last 10 years.

But still, they must be crap, they can't be comfortable or good fir your feet, not to mention the conditions if the people making them?

I know there's a cost if living crisis, I am struggling very much myself. I'm lucky that in years gone by I bought decent shoes that I can still wear.

I have their £6 fake converse in 4 colours - I love them, wear them a lot and they wash well - why would I pay more?

I always wonder this.

If primark sells the shoes for £4, say they cost 50p to make.... Their profit margin works on people buying lots, no one buys one item from primark, they want you to buy basket gulls.

How do you know when Reiss sell the shoes for £65 that they didn't also pay 50p they just have a big mark up.

I would love to know.

I want to see the shoes! Can you show them please 😊

I dont think £4 shoes will last any length of time, particularly if you walk a lot so I think its often a case of buy cheap buy twice ( or more!) Of course some people genuinely can't afford to spend more and they definitely need to be able to buy shoes but tbh I get the impression it's a fast fashion fix of quantity over quality in most cases. Or people loving a bargain and wanting cheap shoes and clothes to prioritise spending on other things.
But yes I think working conditions in factories must be awful can't see how you could possibly make shoes for £4 with materials and labour. However no doubt not all more expensive or mid range brands are completely ethical either. It's a minefield but anything too cheap to be true must come with strings.

I'm not a fan of fast fashion, and I haven't seen these particular shoes, however, I bought a pair of pumps from Asda about 10 years ago for around £4. I wore them most days that summer and the next, probably for around 3 or 4 years. They were great.

Obviously the working conditions of the people making them are a concern, but the cost of the shoe to the buyer doesn't have much correlation with this. They can be sold for £4 partly due to economy of scale, but the point is that they may be treated just the same as the workers who made £100 shoes.

I didn't know that about dm's, they'd last a lifetime years ago. Same as cat boots the quality has really gone downhill.

@JustFrustrated the big hole in your argument is that poor people have money to save.

£50 spent on a decent pair of shoes means something else can't be bought that month, or bills can't be paid. The something else might be food.

It would be absolutely daft to spend that £50.

The £4 shoes.

they look pretty! Perhaps suitable as shoes to tuck into your bag when your heels get too uncomfortable...

I've been wearing the £4 shoes to black tie events for years. Indeed, my current pair I've had for several years as haven't gone out much due to Covid the last couple...

They were originally an emergency buy as I needed black shoes to go with a dress (can't wear heels for any length of time due to knee issues). They were so comfy I kept wearing them.

I have a £4 pair of ballet flats from Primark that are around 4 years old that I wear to Ascot every year. Double reason to be flamed I'm sure.

With proper insoles they can last ages. I have just replaced my 10 year old converse for the £6 pair in primark. They seem like they should last me at least year until I have to money to buy converse again. It's only wasteful if it doesn't last. Some primark things dont and some do. It's a gamble but theres not much choice if you cant afford more.

I saw the same post OP. I knew that Prinark sold these shoes and have bought them in the past when needed but I did find it a bit off that all these women were posting saying they have many many pairs of these cheap shoes in all colours to match their many many printed dresses. I can’t imagine reading the comments about how poorly the people who made them must be paid and then decide to comment that they buy them anyway, not because they need to buy cheap shoes but because they want every colour, it’s just greed but I find that particular group encourages greed anyway with people ordering 15-16 dresses in one go.

And? ,,, that's great you still have shoes you can wear from before the cost of living crisis.

What if you just paid your extortionate food and power bills and your work shoes have got ruined? Skint but need to wear a certain shoe to work.... Primark is a lifesaver so much when the pennies don't stretch

The Terry Pratchett 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness is brilliant, and it's true that there are many people very hard up who might need the £4 shoes, but I would be interested to know the proportion of people buying them because they have no choice vs those buying them just because they want them to add to their haul of throwaway fashion.

My instinct is that it's mainly fast-fashion consumerism driving sales of these; not necessity.

We need to strike a balance between fair pricing and discouraging the kind of behaviour that sends tonnes of perfectly serviceable shoes and clothing to landfill every year.

Buying £4 shoes is perpetuating slavery. If you want slavers & slave owners to make profits, go ahead and buy them. If all you have is £4 for shoes, get some second hand from a charity shop. You don’t have to have money to have ethics.

I used to be so poor I wore £3 plimsoles from ebay. My entire wardrobe consisted of 5 items of clothing. Even primark prices were beyond me. Good for you having the luxury of looking down your nose at 4 quid shoes.

@Bubblebubblebah

Confortablness is last of the issue when it comes to ahoes for less than a fiver...

The word you're looking for is comfort.

If this post was in the fb group I think it was, I think the bigger issue is how many people there have lost the ability to recognise the difference between want and need. I don't begrudge anyone buying shoes at £4 if that is their budget, but buying shoes (or dresses or tights or bags) weekly for the sake of it is a terrible habit for anyone (and especially the planet).

Popsy? Spend a fortune buying masses of glorified children's dresses and then pair them with your primarni flats.

But surely the reason that shops can afford to sell shoes for £4 is precisely because they are selling them in vast quantities to the people who have the money to buy them in every colour and throw them away after a few weeks. If these consumers didn’t exist, the shoes would cost £40 and people who can only afford them at £4 have to do without.

I’m not trying to justify it. No idea what the solution is.

I was more shocked to see this advertised on MN for a mere £1,358.

www.mytheresa.com/en-gb/balenciaga-destroyed-hooded-sweatshirt-1929256.html?utm_source=display&utm_campaign=gb_criteo_en&utm_medium=retargeting&slink=1

This

Wow, you really didn't know this? Have you been living under a rock?! Yeah you can get shoes for under a fiver in primark....shit loads of people buy them. The shoe section is always rammed when I go shopping there. I buy them.

Judgmental mumsnet once again.

Yes, some shoes being sold for a reasonable price given labour, materials and shipping are being made by slaves. There’s a small risk that is the case when spending £65 for new shoes.

But when buying new shoes for £4, when it is literally impossible to make and sell shoes at that price without slave labour, you’re no longer risking a small chance, you’re knowingly complicit in and benefiting from slave labour

You can tell yourself a fairy story that you are just as ethical as people who conscientiously do not buy new shoes below the reasonable price threshold, but you’re lying to yourself.