Sutori - Stories Tagged With 'shoes'

leaning towards Li Nings

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:38:17 -0700

Yo i picked up a pair of Li Nings. They iz hot. Good price, good material. It was in China so couldn't speak with staff all that well but they was very helpful. I are thrilled with them so far. Will see how long they last.

Peace

Barefoot and Bitter

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 17:21:00 -0700

I haven't purchased a pair of shoes from Sterling in about 2 years. I'm boycotting. The last purchase attempt was so frusterating I can't bring myself to do it no matter how many pairs I admire in the front window when I walk by.

I was a bridesmaid 2 years ago, shopping for 3 pairs of identical shoes for all of us to wear The bride bought the dresses, we had the (what appeared to be) simple task of buying a pair of shoes to match that met some basic guidelines.

I found the perfect pair at Sterling Shoes, with about 1 1/2 months to go before the big day. However, as my luck would have it, no sizes. Here's how it went:

1. At store #1 - Me: "These shoes are just what I'm looking for. Can you call some other locations to check for size?" Clerk: "Sure I can only call these couple locations nearby." Result: no sizes.

2. At store #2 - Me: "I'm having a hard time getting 3 pairs of this shoe. Since you don't have any either, can you call other locations?" Clerk: "I can call a few other locations, but not outside of the province." Result: no sizes. Me: "Can you contact the head office somehow to find out where in the country I can purchase these shoes and have them shipped? I know the sizes I need and am ready to buy." Clerk: "No, I have no way of doing that."

<insert sarcasm here> At this point, I am overwhelmed by the level of service I am receiving. I know a lot is not required to get a job at a shoe store, but SOMEONE must know how to track down some more stock!

3. On the web - Me, via email to generic contactus@ email address: "I would like to purchase the following shoe, model # blah, blah, 3 pairs, will pay to ship, who do I contact, blah, blah?"

And we wait. 2 weeks to the wedding.

4. On the web - Me, to the same generic email cause that's all that's on the site: "I emailed previously, got no response, looking to buy shoes, would be nice to get some kind of response." Result: still no response.

5. On the web - Me, last time, to the email: "This is my last attempt to buy from you. I'm appalled at no response online and no assistance in store."

You get the picture. I bought a pair elsewhere the day before the wedding that while fit the basic guidelines, KILLED my feet. End of the night dancing was barefoot. Never again Sterling. Who knew it was so difficult to send a quick reply or call to a customer begging to buy?

I love adidas, but . . .

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 21:18:36 -0700

I love Adidas . . . but this is not a love story.

Ever since I was a kid, the three stripes have made me happy. They have a certain iconic appeal that is seared into my consciousness. A sort of timeless beauty.

Because I fell under the Adidas spell as a kid in the seventies and eighties, I especially love retro-style Adidas. These days I think they call them “Adidas originals”.

So you can imagine how pleased I was when they opened a store in Vancouver (where I live) dedicated entirely to Adidas Originals. I discovered the store while walking past one day and a half hour later I walked out with a pair of shoes. A beautifully ugly pair of tennis shoes call Forest Hills.

I was a happy man.

But a few weeks later, I was less happy. The first problem was the holes. Turns out that when they were released in the early eighties Forest Hills were considered very innovative. First, they are extremely light. Sounds great so far. But they were also designed so that the feet of the tennis player wearing them woudl be cool and ventilated. To accomplish this, they basically put holes in the bottom of the shoes.

This makes perfect sense if you are playing tennis on a hot day. But a little less sense if you are walking around very rainy city like Vancouver. No one at the store told me about these holes when I bought the shoes.

Not a great start.

But I was still happy. A little duct tape inside the toes and voila! No more soggy socks.

But then came the matter of the glue. There is a strip of suede across each toe of the shoe. And within 2 weeks of my purchase these strips started to come loose as the apparently cheap glue holding them on lost its stickiness.

That’s when my adventures in shoe repair began. A few months, a few experiments and a new glue collection later, I’ve finally arrived at a workable method to patch them up when the glue starts to give out. It involves a tube of crazy glue, a roll of packing tape and, most importantly, a whole lot of forgiveness for the “mark of the three stripes”.

So why should Adidas care?

After decades of loyalty, I tried on a pair of Pumas just last week.