I love fashion, but I have some serious gaps in my closet that I’m incredibly bad about filling. Why? Because despite being the type of person that won’t blink an eye when laying out the cash for Margiela boots, I cheap out. Cheaping out happens when you refuse to pay money for something that you think no one should charge more than $20 for. For example, decent leather flat sandals that are nice and wearable but not the Steven Madden-y t-strap sandal that literally every girl in the Western hemisphere owns. Sandals are the bane of my existence because they all look the same to me below the $300 price point and even then they’re at least $40. Even more absurd is the fact that a $300+ price point exists for sandals, period. Well, it’s absurd that they ever cost above $20. They’re like the g strings of the shoe world. It takes like 4 inches of material. WHY?
(Why more than $10?)
Until consumers collectively decide to take a stance against the price gouging on little bits of leather thinner than waxing strips stapled to a plastic sole, I’ll make do with my one pair of sandals purchased from a Zero Maria Cornejo sample sale 3 years ago and my old Navy flip flops. Should the former decide to ever fall apart, don’t invite me out because I will refuse on principle to replace them until something else comes along, magically, at a sample sale. Unfortunately since I no longer work in the garment district it appears that I’ll be doomed to shoelessness from May to September.
Also on my cheap out list (and as a result, I either don’t have or wear something I bought 10 years ago): shorts, a wallet, tank tops, sunglasses*. What’s on your cheap list?
*I am happy to report that the Gap currently has perfectly Chloe shades for $24.
