You may remember I reviewed
Cheeky Shoes back before the summer - they prided themselves on offering vibrant quirky colours and their shoes were perfect for packing in the suitcase for the summer holidays because they are totally flat - they even fit through the letterbox when they're delivered ! - so they take up very little space.
Then after the summer, they totally renewed their stock. The vivid, flashy colours were replaced by slightly more muted ones (black, grey, burgundy, blue ...) and they sent me through a pair to try out.
Going back to school was so hectic that I didn't get a chance to write my review straight away and the next time I looked, they'd totally reinvented themselves again !
Their brand new collection focused on being "the ultimate run-around" and they swapped from slip-ons to lace-ups made from soft supple leather with a suede lining. Interesting Cheeky Shoes factoid : they're made in a London workshop by some of the last remaining shoe makers in England and take 2 hours 18 minutes to make. That's the same time it took Paula Radcliffe to run the London Marathon in 2002! The vibrant colours were back, but you also had the choice of more toned-down colours that would be good for work.
And just this morning, an email plopped into my inbox with news of their latest addition, Snowy - designed for the winter with a real sheepskin lining.
The original Cheeky Shoes (the brightly coloured ones) retailed at £19.99 and Cheeky Shoes explained how they managed to keep their prices down, by giving a fascinating insight into the shoe industry : "When you pop down the high street to buy some nice shoes, you may not realise it, but you’re actually getting a pretty bad deal. That’s because most of the price you pay goes into the pockets of middlemen. Imagine you’re popping down to your favourite shoe shop to buy a pair of leather boots for the winter. They cost around £180, which seems a fair price as they’re made from real leather and they’ll last you more than one season.Well, it seems fair until you think about this - that pair probably only cost about £10 to make. What?! £180 for a pair of £10 shoes?! Here’s how it works: Those boots were most likely produced in China, so had to be hauled over here on a big container ship. Add a few pounds for transport. Then HMRC steps in and takes all sorts of taxes. Depending on the materials, this can be anything up to 500% of the value of the shoes. Add quite a few extra pounds for taxes. The brand you’re buying then needs to sell them for a profit, so the shoe shop picks them up for around £70. But before they get onto the shelves of the high street shop, they’ll sit in a distribution centre for a while. Add a few pounds for that too. High street shops have a lot of costs themselves, from renting the building they sell from, to maintaining their fancy window displays. They need to sell those shoes at £180 to make ends meet.It’s all very complicated and gave the guys over at CheekyShoes HQ a headache.So, they decided to cut out the middlemen and pass on the savings to you - which can be anything between 40%-65% compared with brands sold on the high street. Because their shoes are made in England, there’s no money spent on transport, import taxes or distribution centres. Nor do they need to pay for expensive retail space. The shoes are made in their East London workshop and are sent straight to you."
The new designs use more expensive raw materials so the prices are higher (£110 for Snowy, £60-£70 for the Ultimate Run-Arounds) but they're still using local suppliers and a London workshop to offer the lowest price possible. They get a bonus Brownie point from me too because they sent 1,200 pairs of Cheekyshoes to the Philippines to help women who lost everything they had during the recent typhoon.
for more information : http://www.cheekyshoes.co.uk
Disclosure : This is not a sponsored post. I'm just catching up on all things Cheeky Shoes because I never got round to reviewing the old collection shoes that they so kindly sent me a few months ago !
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