Exotic Mens Shoes are Kicking Things Up a Notch
The men’s shoe market has rarely been celebrated as the backbone of the shoe industry. It has always been, and continues to be, overshadowed by the women’s shoe market. In fact, men’s shoes don’t make much of a dent in the shoe market on the whole, accounting for just about 6% of it.
Sarah Jessica Parker’s character Carrie Bradshaw from HBO’s “Sex and the City” showed the obsession some women can have with shoes of all kinds. By the looks of the show, women can sometimes need an entire closet just for their shoes alone. Typically, men do not tend to have that kind of shoe obsession.
What men normally want is good quality leather shoes that will last for a good while. Once they find those shoes that fit just right and are comfortable in all the right places, they might try to find them in several different colors or variations. Most men don’t need an exceptional amount of variety. But, they do want that quality, and they will spend a good deal for it if they know they are going to get it.
Exotic mens shoes are nothing new to the market, but they have been seeing a resurgence lately. Recently, the current retail sales growth for exotic mens shoes was 39% from 2009 to 2014. In addition to artisan shoes, men are accessorizing as well, with luxury leather belts to match their leather dress shoes.
This resurgence in the exotic mens shoes arena is in no small part due to the way Millennial men are spending their money. There are roughly 75 million people who are classified as Millennials. This refers to men and women who are roughly between the ages of 18 to 34. The men who fall into this category are a key demographic in identifying the consumer base for personal accessories and even exotic mens shoes.
What these young men have picked up on, that perhaps their Generation X parents didn’t always buy into, is the old adage that the clothes make the man. Well, according to the buying habits of many Millennial men, it is not only the clothes that make the man but the accessories as well.
Carrie Bradshaw definitely had a penchant for shoe buying and not just any old shoe. She wanted the designer shoes and as many as she could get her hands on. At the same time, she appreciated a very sharply dressed man. I’m sure that if she saw how the younger generation of gentlemen was spending not only its money but also its time in choosing the best quality menswear, she would feel that the ladies of the millennial generation will be able to get on just fine.
