Cheap stilettos comparison
Women prefer mid-price shoes over costly designer ones
Anyone who's watched an episode of Sex and the City knows a woman will often go to great lengths to nab a hot pair of shoes -- including charging a purchase on a near-maxed out credit card. Consumer Reports recently conducted a cheap stilettos comparison involving one of Carrie Bradshaw's favorite brands, Manolo Blahnik, and found that women actually prefer the feel and look of high heels priced in the mid-range.
The shoes involved in the study were a $30-pair from Target, a $69-pair from Nine West and a $575-pair from Manolo Blahnik. Overall, women liked the design of the Nine West and designer shoes best -- they discarded the Target ones -- but favored Nine West for their comfort.
It's difficult to tell from just one cheap stilettos comparison what most women would choose, but research shows that wearing high heels contributes to foot problems. And it doesn't matter how well-made they are, because it is the heel height above any other shoe factor that detrimentally affects the wearer's feet. High heels can change the way you walk, create knee problems, and cause inflamed foot tissue.
The good news is that more and more companies are putting out adorable low-heel, or better, flat shoes suitable for work and formal functions. Even if a woman wears high heels, wearing flat shoes even occasionally will decrease risk for some foot problems.
"When it comes to high heels, many women seem to lose all sense of reality. A just-released Consumer Reports ShopSmart survey reveals that 60 percent are willing to tolerate painful shoes for fashion's sake. And if you're paying top dollar for those high heels, do you need to?..."
