Clarks Shoes Available in India: Go Buy! November 13, 2014

I mentioned Clarks entering into a Joint Venture with Future Group India in October 2009. Well, finally we can see the results of it!

I recently bought FOUR pairs of Clarks shoes from the Future Group outlet in Mumbai. I am a happy woman! 🙂

Brand Factory regularly stores Clarks shoes for men, and now it has finally started storing shoes for women as well. Such a relief!!  I never understood why a store would not keep stuff for women, when it is a known fact that women shop for themselves as well, and shoes are a definite soft corner for women.
On the other hand, it is difficult to understand this pairing. Brand Factory is an outlet for discount clothes and shoes, and these shoes are not at discounts usually. Perhaps I missed out – maybe they do have small discount values attached.

I have also seen Clarks shoes at other retail outlets. This is a VERY good sign. I saw them at Lifestyle Stores and Pantaloons as well. Pantaloons being a Future Group store, this makes immense sense.

As I mentioned before, Clarks continues to be available at Metro shoes and Central outlets.

However, the best part is their availability on the Clarks website. There is now a dedicated India website from where one can order shoes, that too at a discount offer running at the moment. So run!

I like Clarks shoes as I have written earlier. I find them sturdy and very well balanced. Their designs however can be a little clunky. The biggest barrier to purchase of a Clarks shoe is its price.

I recommend you go ahead and check out a  pair! I will post about my purchases on the blog 🙂

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This post is not sponsored in any way. The views represented here are purely my own, through delight of owning the shoes.

High Heels Hurt Feet: How to Avoid Shoe Pain August 13, 2013

I am a self professed shoe lover. Especially when it comes to heels, my knees go weak. (that rhymed!!)

However, I try and mix up my heel heights all the time. This is primarily because wearing shoes of only one height often damage your feet.

We all have heard about the impact of high heels on your feet. I mean, there are women across the world submitting to surgery because of the ill effects of high heels on their feet. The only exception is Russian women. I dont know how they do it, but I have not heard of Russian Women undergoing foot surgery due to their awesome yet continuous wear of high heels. Look at them! They hold an Annual Stilletto Race! They are just…Awesome!

For everyone else, going with only one heel height (especially ‘high’) means long term damage to your tendons and bones.

More recently Sarah Jessica Parker (Carrie Bradshaw) from Sex and the City fame proclaimed her foot injury due to high heels worn over years:

“For ten or so years, I literally ran in heels,” the star admits to Net-a-Porter’s digital fashion magazine. “I worked 18-hour days and never took them off. I wore beautiful shoes, some better made than others, and never complained.”

I can totally understand and envy that. But then, after years of wearing beautiful high heels, this is what she says:

“I went to a foot doctor and he said, ‘Your foot does things it shouldn’t be able to do. That bone there… You’ve created that bone. It doesn’t belong there.’ The moral of the story is, the chickens are coming home to roost. It’s sad, because my feet took me all over the world, but eventually they were like, ‘You know what, we are really tired, can you just stop – and don’t put cheap shoes on us?’”

Of course, do NOT wear cheap ill made shoes, but being in India I have seen some very good brands make shoes that may not be compatible with your feet.

 

Rule #1: BUY COMFORTABLE SHOES: Do not buy shoes that feel wobbly when you are still in the showroom. They may look pretty, but really, wearing shoes that are not stable doesn’t make sense. Everyone has a different center of gravity. Just try walking in your pair, they should not wobble and the shoe heel should come at the correct point beneath your actual foot heel to make you feel comfortable. The toe of the shoe should not pinch.

Don’t Wear Wobbly Shoes

Rule #2: BUY DIFFERENT TYPE OF SHOES: Many women I see are comfortable with a certain ‘type’ of shoe. Wedges, stilettos, flats, ballerinas. I would say that mix up the type you own. Especially keep two varieties for daily wear. Even a wedge and a stiletto mixed over a week is good enough. Just make it different, there is a huge world of choice out there!

Wear Different Type of Shoes

Rule #3: CHANGE YOUR HEEL HEIGHT: This may not be everyday, but on weekends wear sneakers, or ballerinas. This helps tremendously in exercising all aspects of your leg and toe, and not allowing your foot to get into trouble because any one part feels continual strain.

Very Heel Height over a Week

Rule #4: WALK BAREFOOT: Whenever possible, give your feet a rest! Walk barefoot, preferably on grass, sand or mud. There is nothing quite as relaxing for your feet! (And it really relaxes and benefits all your muscles)

Walk Barefoot on Grass

That’s it! Just try following these four simple rules, and you will be spared of the most painful, long term impacts of your high heels.

Related articles

• Strappy Black Sandals – my go-to party shoes! (indiashoes.wordpress.com)
• Don’t Go Back for that Slipper (thefashionfoot.com)
• High Heels and Foot Pain (bullrunfootclinicblog.wordpress.com)
• What high heels may be doing to your feet (myfox8.com)
• Starlettos Launches Wynbox Facebook Campaign in Time for Spring Racing… (prweb.com)

Reader Feature: Showcase your Shoes! November 11, 2011

Show me your Shoes!

I know a lot of women out there (and a lot of men, too) who own lovely shoes. Though I love shoes, it is physically and financially impossible for me to own and store all varieties. It is also mentally impossible for me to know all varieties.

I invite you, reader, to now come forth and send me a picture or two of your favorite pair. And tell me a story of why it is your favorite. And I will put it up on this site!

Show Me Your Shoes!!

You can contact me by a comment on the blog (any post will do), and I will direct you to the email address where you can send your pictures and write up. If you have a blog, I will provide the link to it.

Your shoe-story can be about your latest purchase or your oldest hand-me-down pair. It can be about a solitary shoe, or a complete shoe closet. It just has to be about shoes and the shoes in your life!

I love a good story, and I just simply LOVE good shoes! So give me either, or give me both – and I will be more than happy to showcase you

The price does not matter, the make does not matter, the age does not matter. What matters is what matter the most to you – why you like that shoe!

What I will need (The Requisites):

1. A good picture of the shoe. It can be with you in it, it can be the shoe alone. It should be well lit so that the shoe can be seen clearly. The image should be of at least 4MP clarity (not too difficult in todays age). If you have multiple pictures, please highlight at least one picture. I will put up as many as I can, but not at the cost of the text.

You can also send me multiple shoes’ pictures. If you have a closet of shoes you want showcased, send me a picture of the complete shoe closet if you want.

2. A Story. Text of around 300 words or more centering around your photograph. I may or may not edit it a little

3. Your details. I am sure you as a person will be crucial to the reason the shoe/s are important! So please send me a two-liner about yourself, as well as the following details:

Preferred public name (will be displayed)
real name (for my records)
email address (let me know if you want it public, else it will be private)
age, gender, location (will be displayed) and
blog address or contact detail you would want to put up on this blog (if at all. Its ok if you don’t)

Anything additional is a bonus! This can be your own picture, your neighbours picture or your pet’s picture! To put up the additional information will be my discretion, based upon your sidenote/story on it!

It’s really that simple! So I will await your feedback, and perhaps make this a regular feature here?

NOTE: The postings will be ad-hoc as of now, and on first-come first-serve basis as far as possible. I have no prejudices, and will have no reason to reject an entry if it fulfills the requisites.

My Walking Shoes October 12, 2009

The Shoes

I bought this pair of pretty looking heels from TresMode early last year, and have worn them on a number of occasions. However, what stands out the most in my mind is the fact that whenever I have worn them, I have not usually planned a day filled with walking around. Quite the reverse.

Since these pumps have a decent amount of heel height and are pointed towards to toes, I usually reserve them for occasions which involve more sitting and less walking. Like going for dinner or a movie rather than going shopping.

But, every time I have worn these shoes, my quiet outing has been converted into one where I have ended up walking around a lot!

So I call them my walking shoes.

With Pink Dress

With Multicoloured skirt

A pair of pretty cmfortable pumps, they are well balanced and a colour unusual enough to match grey, blue and green pretty well, as well as compliment colours like pink with which I have worn them as well.

I especially like the small bow made in front with the faux leather, with rivets at the ends, which gives it its unique look.  The detailing on the front and sides are thread-work in a clever design which gives the shoe the look of a cowboy accessory, yet be feminine and anything but thanks to its one and half inch heel and pointed toe. The sole is also very pretty, black with the same  intricate design etched onto the hard material. I often have the urge to walk over sand or soft soil, just to see how the imprint of the shoe sole looks!

Let me give a few distinct examples of the shoe’s effect. There was this wonderful day when I was supposed to meet someone for a movie, and then that person would drop me back home after dinner. Not a chance of walking more than the required few steps in the theater and the adjoining diner. However, as luck would have it, we found the diner closed, and then proceeded to walk all the way around the area, chatting and having a good time, and yes, we ate something for dinner. But we walked kilometers!

Then there was the time I went on vacation. This particular day we were supposed to go on a cruise, so I expected a relaxed day on a boat, and really, no walking. So I wore the heels. And then we landed in Evian-les-Baines, and had to walk around that delightful town, through its uphill mountainous roads. Good fun, but walking for more than 10 hours is something this shoe was not designed for!

Yesterday, I was supposed to meet someone for breakfast, and I did not anticipate anything more than an hour in a restaurant. It ended up being a three hour walk through an extensive mall with cobblestones after the meal!

Walking Around Evian-les-Bains

However, though every time I have worn these shoes anticipating a quiet time, I end up having a lot of wandering around and meandering through all types of streets. But it has always been good fun and I have enjoyed every moment of it. So, in a way I also look at them as the shoes I have fun with.

I must say, after all the walking I have put this pair through, they look very well, without a scratch or any other complaint. The only complaint that comes is from my feet by having to walking in heels over terrain definitely not meant for them (hilly areas etc) – so its not their fault at all. However, to that my shoes have a response. Recently I went to a mall and got a free foot massage the day I was wearing these shoes!

Walking Shoes

I must say, Tresmode has made a very pretty and sturdy pair of shoes, but they hold special mention in my shoe closet because of the special connection they have with me. They always give me a good time, lots of walking around with friends and even free foot massages!

They are indeed, my favourite walking shoes now 🙂

PS – I would like to thank Tresmode once again for the great quality, fit and endurability of their shoes which has enabled me to complete all my impromptu treks!

Buying the Regular Daily Wear Shoe May 5, 2009

I own shoes. Correction. I own quite a lot of shoes – at least by standards of most Indian women. Where most of the ladies I am acquainted with own four, five or even six pairs of shoes, I, well I, have not counted how many I own. There definitely are more than that can fit into my shoe cupboard. I keep the others in almirah, or in the box bed…or somewhere.

Those privileged few who have seen all my shoes in one go usually ask – ‘Do you wear them?’ Of course I do. Each and every one of them. Though not regularly, but I have a diverse selection with different kinds of footwear. As a result, I can change my shoes with outfits and occasions and that too without qualms. I do not have two similar looking strappy numbers of different colours. What I do have is a strappy shoe and another boot. A kitten heel as well as wedge. A peep toe as well as a pointy toe. Flat, jute made shoes to shiny black leather ones. So, while choosing what to wear, its more about what mood Im in, what I want to wear, and be. Than the colour.

However, there is in my shoe closet, a special place for my regular shoes. Shoes I don on an almost-daily basis for office. These are unobtrusive yet classic. They can match almost any outfit I own, they are great. They have to be great. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to wear them daily.

Thus, when I speak to someone about lack of shoes, they laugh on my face. No one realises my shoes wear out really quickly and the ones I wear regularly are usually irreplaceable. Hence, I wear them really often and they wear quickly out as well. When I go buying shoes, I like something different – and so usually they are not shoes I can wear regularly to office – not in India. I buy exotic, interesting, not-yet-in-my-closet shoes.

So it is that I have to go shoe shopping for my regular pair, notwithstanding my peers scorns. However, guess what. I really do not enjoy shopping, and that does include shoe shopping. I like shoes, but to go and hunt for the right pair is difficult. Unlike the accidental buys – when I am out, and I see a pair that I have to have! To buy shoes for regular wear, one has to keep in mind a certain design and then hunt all over for that perfect pair. The pair does not beckon you, you look for it. Meanwhile, many others will call out for your attention, making you want to own them as well. And, then, to crown it all, one has to look for the right fitting by trying on oh-so-many pairs of shoes!

Ah well, I guess its time I went shoe shopping again. To get that pair which I can wear to office, regularly, without thinking. That one pair that will match with most of my formal wear, that one ubiquitous pair that will be classy, modern, demure, stylish and comfortable enough to be worn daily, hour upon hour.