Shoe Shopping Rant

During one of my fiance's ritualistic shopping sprees, me of course being dragged along to pretend i'm enjoying myself I came to a realization, there are atleast 10 new shoe shops that have sprung up in the last two weeks. Now normally I wouldnt mind, I usually have a "good for them :mile::* attitude towards poeple opening shops. I myself have tried to open up a shop but due to RL issues have been having problems putting out new items.

These shops, however, realllly annoy me. I cant stress how much. Today for example i was in a new mall. "Top Designers" it says in the description, and im standing infront of a couple vendors that sell shoes. These shoes are badly designed, are badly made, and badly textured. They even use the base WOOD texture for 60% of the shoe! FOR OVER 300$!! HOLY HELL! How in the WORLD does this person make money!? Surely nobody buys them. As we move through the stalls I notice 4 more identical shoes "stores", all just as highly priced, and just as badly made. Now my anger is rising, how the hell do these poeple get away with such garbage? After going through mall, after mall, after mall, I find these same names in each one, some have main store landmarks. Which means, someone, somewhere is actually paying over 400$ for 10minute shoes. I dont mean to seem so cold hearted, maybe thats the best that person can do. If thats the case, take some classes, and drop your prices.

I suppose I shouldnt be aggrivated that poeple are dumb enough to pay for very low quality items, not my money right?. But I cant help being getting agrivated at seeing a store excel so well from products that are so aimlessly thrown together. The real world has inevitably seeped into our little second life. For the poeple who are selling low quality high priced work, knowing it's low quality high priced work, and making no effort to make it any better, I ask you begginly, please go away.

Anyone else having a problem with this, or am i actually just a bad person? lol

PS: On the upside, not ALL the new accessory stores ive seen are low quality. Sanity Kuruna (a name that i havent seen before) sells "Spiked Buckle Boots" that look very well made. Best of luck to those that that try.

glad i got that off my chest, ty for letting me rant. c(:
It occured to me that in my frustation I forgot that SOME of the poeple selling low quality items have no idea they are low quality, and no idea how to make them better. If you think your items could be better contact me and I will glady give you some helpful hints ive picked up. I myself am not the best builder (by far), so if you'd rather get some tips from someone who's a real pro, I can also throw you their way.

I would suggest checking out Fallingwater Cellardoor's store, Shiny Things. Her shoes will last a lifetime - with any outfit. If you're going for quality, check this store out. If I were less lazy, I'd insert the coordinates here...but, hey, I'm lazy!

Fallingwater makes incredible shoes! My personal favorites are Heart's Desires. Joe's accesories and shoes have been a long time standard of quality that I try to live up to.

It took me half a year!! to find decent shoes. I agree that the quality of most of the items in SL went down and the prices seem to go up.
One really needs to spend a lot of time and energy to find something worth the money.
Heart's Desires is one of them.

As far as who would buy low quality work, when I was a newbie, I bought what I now know to be low quality. The reason I did so is because I didn't know where the good stuff is.

I have a space there. I really hope you're not talking about me. I spend a long time designing a pair of shoes, and I assure you it takes more than 10 minutes, sometimes it even takes me days to get them how I want. I don't think my shoes are badly made, and I hope nobody thinks otherwise. :/ I also think my prices are pretty fair, I price them on the time and effort I put into them. I also sell my shoes in packs or with a color changing script so the buyers don't have to purchase each color. I don't think any of the vendors there are new (Maybe a couple), Maybe it's because the side you were on is a shoe section only, and that's why it looked like shoes 'R' Us. I know there are tons of shoe stores out there, but if making shoes(or anything for that matter) is something that someone enjoys doing, then I say go for it. I'm not accusing you of accusing me at all, but this is how I feel. :/

(Sorry if there's any typos or mistakes, I'm kind of drained.)

Your shoes and slippers ROCK <3, as do fatal's, sure there are some bad shoes out there, but we all have to start making things somehow, and practise makes perfect!

I agree, Fallingwater has some great looking shoes. And honestly I love Aimee Weber's shoes too (PREEN). Aimee's clothing styles are not me, but her shoes always go well with what I'm wearing whether I"m being weird or classy. hehe

Another thing to do is check out the New Products section here on the forums. I am amazed daily at some of the creations I find there. A lot of talent and some beautiful products! And you can find what you want (and usually the price too) here before heading to that shop in world!

I hope a thread like this doesn't discourage people from creating new content, especially shoes. Creating prim shoes in SL is not easy, there is no good step by step tutorial available (although I plan on offering a class soon). The pricing on shoes is already way out of line, people charge some insane prices. I am sure that many people when creating items ask their friends what the price should be and the friends suggest prices that are near what other shoes cost. I know when my business partner started making shoes and setting prices everyone told her that the prices were too low, but she was unwilling to gouge people.


Overall, I really hate these rants people post in general forums. 9 times out of 10 the person posting them ends up looking like an insensitive asshat.

Maybe you should IM these creators personally instead of slandering them on the forums. Personally, I have in the past refused to buy from certain creators (no matter how cute I think their stuff is) by how they publically insult others trying to make a SL living.

I'm not saying that I haven't seen bad products for outrageous prices. However, I will not slander them on the forums. Just makes the ranter look bad, imho.

MJ

I have to agree with Mj here i have a lot of shoes i mean a lot and i admire the work that goes into each shoe. I wear Kimberly's shoes everyday and violets, Fallingwaters shoes i wear at those special occasions we all have to start somewhere in SL

Quality goes up, price goes down.

Well, not really, but SL pricing is on much crack, fact of (second) life.

Unfortunately I think that threads like this do discourage people. I think we need to lift up and encourage all content creators, ESPECIALLY those just learning their trade. New players will alway make a few purchases that they regret later - no biggie - that is part of the learning process. But new players that have their dreams and aspirations crushed by rants like this may never develop themselves to the point where they are able to create on the level of the "top designers."

I do not know who's shoes were the target of this thread ... but I am going to find them and buy a pair tonight ... because there is no better way to inspire the passion of a new creator than to purchase their product, give them a postive rating, and a send a word of encouragement.

Ok, but do they look good?

Why don't you let the market decide what they like instead of going on a rant in a public forum about what your personal preferences may be. Who are you to decide what is and what is not good quality? What is wrong with wood? Are you even aware that shoes with wood platforms are actually sold in real life? Wood is wood. It is obvious to me that you are either jealous, are attempting to criticize competition in an effort to bolster your own product, or you have it in for somebody.

Oh, and btw, I think this quote of yours is very telling since your are in essence insulting a great many people who are supporting stores that you, matter of factly admit, are "excelling so well from their products."



Perhaps people should read between the lines of this post and boycott your product, or the products you so generously plugged or endorsed. (Provided it is proven you are associated with them of course. I wouldn't want to see any innocent designers hurt by what appears to be a jealous fit on your part).

In any case, I think I will go to this place and purchase a few of these shoes that you so gleefully criticize. Thanks for telling me where to find them.

Great post, Persephone! I have two things to add.

1. The market is a far better indicator of "quality" (at a given price) than the posted opinions of a few. If somebody comdemns your shoes, but they sell very well, I would pay closer attention to the silent complement people are expressing with their Linden Dollars. If you are new to the biz, and your shoes aren't selling very well, perhaps you should lower your price to make them a bargain, then keep practicing until you make the killer shoes people are thrilled about.

2. Techical ability is important but it's not everything. Many new designers come into SL with some wonderful, unique ideas that were previously unseen in SL. The implementation may not be highly polished compared to the big name designers, but the "cool" factor can go a long way. Think of them as some great garage band...they don't have an expensive studio, their instruments suck, and nobody has ever heard of them...but the spark is there and YOU will be able to say you were a fan BEFORE they became the biggest name in town

Shoes are picky little things to make! So I sympathize with people who are just starting out and having a go at them.

I tried to make shoes once. I cursed a lot and gave up after about 30 minutes. I couldn't even manage to make bad shoes.

All I can say is look at the real world. The uglier an shoes is , the more expensive it seems to be. Also when the right designer makes a shoes that is a heel, a sole and two 1/8" silk straps, well thats $500 USD there. Look at Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo to name a few. I don't think anyone ever lost money selling shoes to women. go to a real wolrd mall and see how many women's shoe stores there are, compared to any other sort of store.

Its like shoes are the mainline into any woman's sense of self identity. She can take anything as long she has the proper footwear.

I myself shake my head at those that charge so much for something low quality made.
In the year that I have been making shoes, I have never changed the price. $L200 - only one shoe I did, because I added Matching jewelery, the necklace alone is over 150 prims.

I take pride in my work. I take the time and effort to texture properly. Rl and in SL .. I am " anal" and a perfectionist. Granted.. the last month I have not come out with any new product. I have them in my inventory.. just to busy building my new sim, launching my own station, working on a website and dealing with company at home and a huge work load in RL.

I personally will not place something for sale, unless I wear it constantly. If I dont like wearing it after a few weeks, you wont find it in my store. Others may like it, but I need to be completely happy with it first.

~Tya

the secondhalf of that "uglier =pricer" in womens shoes is of course the more uncomfortable the cuter.

But yeah Shoes are F'n hard, I've been trying for a week and have soem black cubic clogs... heh

As a new shoemaker/cobbler in the SL clothing market. I expect feedback on the shoes i make, how else am i going to know when a product is acceptable or not to the consumer besides from my own personal tastes? What i hope is that the consumer don't pass judgement just by window shopping at a "select" few malls without seeing non-mainstream names.

Many fantastic products are found in small 512m stores because new players don't have the lindens (which is hard enough to earn) to rent vendor stalls in the big name malls or near telehubs. There are alot of new content creators who have alot of innovative design ideas for the world, all we ask is give us a chance than to turn us away just because we aren't known.

I have to thank Blayze Raine of Sophistications Mall and Misbehaving Neva of ~Image Reflections Designs~ for giving this new shoemaker/cobbler "a chance".

Feedback is a good thing - even critical feedback - when it is done constructively and with an encouraging spirit. I think it's important to remember that we are all pioneer's here ... we are all doing things we have never done before, we will all do things poorly at first and get better over time, and we all could use a few words of encouragement to push us to the next level.

Take, for example, this thread where a certain new and aspiring shoe designer had his "engines fueled" by the positive feedback he received on the forums.

Fatal, I love your shoes and I am going to buy a pair of yours tonight as well! I know you really didn't any mean harm by what you wrote here. I wish you great success in your endeavors here and I only hope that I can become half the designer that you are.