As a businesswomen myself, I love that the "The Business Journals" offer a "bizwomen" daily newsletter in my in box. Usually I just scan them, but this one caught my interest. Especially since I'm a flat's girl myself. Going in and out of the warehouse heels are just dangerous.
When I attend business meetings so many women are in heels, and the longer they stand the more uncomfortable they feel. At conferences it seems everyone is in heels the first day then are changing to flats. I even have several Jordan Essentials customers who believe heels are must, but they admit that their feet hurt and they can not live without the peppermint magnesium lotion or the dead sea salts soak.
So when I saw the great article from Caitlin Mullen this week, I just had to share.
High heels might be losing ground to chic flats and fashionable sneakers in increasingly casual offices, but they still have a place in business wear, at least for now.
In recent years, sales of flats and women’s sneakers have risen, while sales of high heels have fallen. In the $33.9 billion U.S. women’s footwear market, heels aren’t selling, retailers say, while shoes focused on comfort are.
Plus, office dress codes have become more casual, meaning fewer women need to switch from practical commuter shoes to work pumps. Instead, they’re opting for shoes that can multitask.
However, as The Wall Street Journal says more professional women favor power dresses over pantsuits or blazers — think Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Ivanka Trump and “Shark Tank” investor Barbara Corcoran — they’re still pairing them with heels, which have a formality some feel flats don't.
Maybe not surprising, since work wardrobes often grow more formal as promotions occur, and most workers say dressing up for work boosts confidence and performance.
And although podiatrists don’t love them because heels can lead to hip, knee and a number of foot problems, many proponents believe heels convey professionalism.
“I think on some level, it’s the idea that heels are associated with making an effort. I think if we’re putting ourselves in a position where we’re in some degree of pain, it’s almost, you know, I guess the old adage, ‘no pain, no gain.’ [It’s] this idea that if we’re slightly uncomfortable, then perhaps we are somehow performing better,” author Lauren Bravo told NPR.
Bravo argues current fashion trends, like consumers’ growing interest in comfort, are challenging that mindset, however.
Rothy’s, Allbirds, Everlane and Tieks have made the comfortable flat chic — even sustainable and washable, in some cases — and women working in medicine, education and tech, among other professions, are fans, per Vox.
“When high heels come back on trend, which I’m sure they will, we’ll have higher expectations of how we should feel in them,” footwear consultant Susannah Davda told Bravo, per Refinery29. “The future of women’s footwear is comfortable.”
Luxury shoe designers Sarah Flint and Marion Parke are blending comfort and style; Cole Haan worked with the biomechanics lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to develop a collection of heels that are engineered to relieve some of the pressure on the ball of the wearer’s foot, reports Fast Company.
Comfort aside, many U.S. workers have a choice when it comes to work footwear. In Japan, a lack of choice has prompted backlash. Women behind the #KuToo campaign — a play on the Japanese words “kutsu” (shoes) and “kutsuu” (pain) — are lobbying the Japanese government to keep employers from requiring women wear heels, which many do, per Quartz.
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