No more Multinationals: DON'T LET MULTINATIONALS RUIN YOUR FEET!

I share the passion for shoes with many of my fellow humans, Imelda Marcos, for one! So I thought I would have a look at shoe shops as my next topic.

Most of my shoes were bought in Clark’s¹ but they no longer manufacture their shoes in the UK and they also have shops in the US, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Spain, so they are a MNC and I can’t use them for the duration of this experiment.

Russell and Bromley ^2&3 is a family firm only operating in the UK. So I can buy shoes there if the 35 pairs in my wardrobe wear out suddenly!

Schuh⁴seems to carry very trendy shoes and have very trendy prices to go with them but I can’t shop there as they have four stores in Eire, making them multinational.

Shoezone⁵operates at the cheaper end of the market but it has shops in Eire too.

Just for fun I tried looking up Manolo Blanik⁶, I didn’t realise he is Spanish but he does not have a shop in the UK but I could buy his shoes for as little as £150 in Liberty’s of London or Harvey Nichols if I want to shatter all my anti-multinational principles. Christian Louboutin⁷, the designer whose shoes have red soles, is French so I cannot buy these either. I like nice shoes but have always thought that if I was trying to impress I would take red nail varnish to the soles of my shoes rather than pay his prices. I once took red spray paint and glitter to a pair of shoes so as I could go to a fancy dress party as Dorothy, I didn’t do the soles though, and it made the shoes painful to wear as they were so stiff.

I didn’t realise Kurt Geiger⁸ is a UK company which sells designer shoes. It is also a multinational; it has 170 stores globally, so I won’t be shopping there any time soon.

I have a few pairs of shoes from Office⁹, but Office too is a multinational, they have stores in the US, Eire and Germany.

Ted and Muffy^10&11, is a shoe shop I have never heard of but appears to have changed its name from Duo. It operates internationally on its website but all its physical stores are in the UK. I think that means that by the definition given in the first post it is NOT a multinational.

Ecco¹² is by its very nature a multinational as it was started by Karl Toosbury, in Denmark and is now a global company.

Jones the Bootmaker ¹³, really has been making boots since 1857 but is now owned by the Macintosh Retail Group which has many outlets in France, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Belgium.

Dr Marten’s¹⁴ has recently opened a store on Princes St and as I suspected is a multinational. It makes most of its shoes and boots in Asia and has stores on every continent in the World.

Now for some shops specific to Edinburgh:-

Ooh Ruby Shoes¹⁵ in Brunstfield, only sells women’s shoes. It opened in 2008 and appears to be unique.

Barnets Shoes¹⁶ on the High Street is another shoe shop which doesn’t look as if it is a multinational but it doesn’t say on its website. I will let you know, when I find out for certain!

Just to recap if you are avoiding multinationals stick to Russell and Bromley², Ted and Muffy,^10&11Ooh Ruby Shoes¹⁵ and Barnets Shoes¹⁶if you have a shoecrisis.

I just realised I omitted to mention Shuropody which is a UK only company it provides podiatry services and sells shoes for people with foot problems, they all look really comfy!

A friend also pointed out there is a shoe shop called Charles Clinkard which has three shops in Scotland. In Kirkcaldy, Glasgow and Sterling Mills plus many more in the rest of the UK!

References

No more Multinationals

Wednesday, 30 September 2015

DON'T LET MULTINATIONALS RUIN YOUR FEET!

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