Searching for a specific pair of shoes

January 22, 2013 9:48 AM

I have had my eye on these shoes for months and despite the price tag, I'm tempted to bite the bullet. Can you help me find some comparable shoes at a lower price point?

I like these shoes because I like the gold heel. Otherwise, it's a pretty boring shoe but that's a little something different. Also, the heel is definitely there but it's low and thick so I don't think I will fall down when I wear them. It occupies a weird space between heel and flat so it's been hard to search for comparable shoes. And I can't really find a way to describe them - "gold heel" obviously brings up heels that are all gold, multicolored brings up shoes that are a zillion colors, etc.

I'm thinking of buying them now for a few reasons. I have a big work thing coming up and it would be cool to have a pair of new, snazzy comfortable shoes - plus if I have a few weeks to try them out, I could see if they're actually comfortable. I think I could wear them pretty often at work with black tights because I wear a lot of skirts and dresses but I think I could even wear them with dress pants. Also, most of my shoes come from Target or Payless. I rarely find shoes that I'm excited about so I'm inclined to go for it when I do.

A friend of mine found these and I might get them because they're close but 1/2 the price of the other shoes and on sale. I've also seen these but the reviews are bad and they just look clunky. And I don't like the buckle on these - it makes me think of the Pilgrims.

Have you seen any comparable or similar shoes out there? Thanks in advance for your help - and hopefully, for saving me some money :)

posted by kat518 to Shopping (14 answers total)

Have you rung Zappos and asked? Just give them the URL of your J. Crew shoes. They'll search their inventory for you, they're super nice.
posted by DarlingBri at 9:57 AM on January 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

I can't talk you out of the J. Crew shoes. They are one of the few big companies still making shoes in Italy, and the quality shows. You might wait for them to go on sale though, or for J. Crew to release a coupon code off full price items, which they do occasionally. J. Crew Aficionada always has codes, notice of "secret" sales in stores, etc.
posted by payoto at 9:57 AM on January 22, 2013 [5 favorites]

What's your size? Ebay may be able to save you some money...
posted by Mchelly at 10:09 AM on January 22, 2013

If you don't feel like being on the phone with a Zappos salesperson, you can chat with them too! Try it, they're really good at fulfilling strange requests. On the other hand, it's somewhat unlikely that you'll find something like that at a much lower price point at Zappos (which tends to be expensive). The nice thing though is that you can return things easily if you don't like it which tends to make the prices worth it for me.
posted by peacheater at 10:09 AM on January 22, 2013

Following on from Mchelly's link to Ebay, I see a pair at quite a high Buy It Now price with an alternate "Best offer" - I've had great luck putting in cheeky offers (e.g. $101 here) and been successful so it's always worth a try.
posted by humph at 10:20 AM on January 22, 2013

These are similar, but very cheap (though maybe not any worse than your usual Target shoes). I don't know if you'll be able to order them for shipment to the U.S.

These are a very different color.
posted by drlith at 10:51 AM on January 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

Do they have to be blue? I found some nice ones in Yellow. Perhaps Pink? Jessica Simpson actually makes affordable and good quality shoes. I remember a line of ballet flats. You might try Macy's or Lord & Taylor's.
posted by Yellow at 10:52 AM on January 22, 2013

For that price, I would buy a cheap pair of flats, scuff the sides of the heel with sandpaper, tape it off and hit it with Krylon Premium metallic Gold Plate spray paint.
posted by vitabellosi at 11:07 AM on January 22, 2013 [5 favorites]

That style of heel is the new ballet flat so they should be popping up all over shortly. Having said that J Crew shoes are really nice and hard wearing.
posted by fshgrl at 11:13 AM on January 22, 2013

Response by poster: Hi all, thanks for the suggestions - great ideas so far! To clarify, I was interested in getting the J. Crew shoes in black. I chatted with someone from Zappos and she didn't have much to offer. I found the Nine West shoes on 6pm.com for a little cheaper than they were on Zappos.

drlith, thanks for finding those! I like the Matalan shoes but I'm not into bows on shoes in general, though I can compromise :) Asos was the only place I had seen similar shoes before my friend found the Nine West pair.

Thanks for reminding me to consider eBay and for confirming that J. Crew shoes are pricey but good shoes. Still open to other ideas if anyone has any!
posted by kat518 at 12:20 PM on January 22, 2013

I think fshgrl may be on to something.
DSW has a similar show but the toe not heel is gold, then Nine west has something, and there are some more with metallic accents which may be per this report a new thing for spring.

Do you have access to a DSW or other big honkin' discount shoe place?
posted by pointystick at 1:39 PM on January 22, 2013

Response by poster: I do have a DSW nearby. I guess I can wander around there if I absolutely have to :)
posted by kat518 at 2:19 PM on January 22, 2013

I know this is a little different, but did you see that the same shoe in gold is on sale for $99?
posted by LittleMissCranky at 3:56 PM on January 22, 2013 [2 favorites]

Check a jcrew store, I was in the other day and may of the flats were very very on sale, more so than on the website. I think I saw one of these but am not sure.
posted by sepviva at 5:07 PM on January 22, 2013