not indicators that you're getting good quality, unfortunately. but there are

several details you can easily pay attention to when you're shopping for

shoes, that will save you a lot of trouble slash pain slash regrets. I'm

gonna show you shoes from my own collection, which you've seen in the

previous video a few weeks ago about my shoes and you will see the materials as

well as the construction, both things matter tremendously at the end of this

video you also get some shoe shopping tips that you might or might not know,

it's not always obvious, let's go, first, the material is really important

shoes are usually made of fabric or suede, which is a little bit brushed

leather, or flat regular leather or plastic, most shoes fit into those four

categories. the shoe will tell you. for example: on those ballerinas

it says here (I still have a label underneath) that this is suede leather,

the inside is leather but you see it's not suede, it's not hairy, it is regular flat leather

and the sole is plastic. on this shoe here which is a made in France,

handcrafted shoe, you can see inside on this label it says the upper is in

leather, the inside here, everything is in leather and the sole also, here you see

a plastic element, I'll get back to that in a minute,

but basically the shoe will tell you, each material can be good or bad

depending on how you see it, leather is made from animal skin so that's an

obvious argument against leather if you're vegan or a vegetarian, it is

sensitive to water and sun. it is a very noble material so it needs to be

prepared before it's used on shoes. that makes it more expensive, more premium. and

it is soft and flexible because it's it's skin so it gets more and more

comfortable over time when you wear the shoes. it's also quite breathable and it

is biodegradable. plastic on the other side. or the official name is

polyurethane. the scientifical term it P.U., it's

plastic, is a lot cheaper which is the main reason why many cheaper brands will

use that in their shoe production. it's very durable more. durable than leather

but it's so durablel that it is not biodegradable. leather needs roughly 50

years to biodegrade. PU needs 500 years. it is less breathable than leather. it is

in fact not breathable. it's plastic. it is also a bit sensitive to UV rays and it

might lose or change its color if you leave the shoes in the sun. and when you

hear that shoes are made of vegan leather, so-called "vegan leather", it's in

fact PU that is prepared to make it look like it's leather, but it is PU, it is

plastic, coming back to leather, for one second. I forgot something.

not all leathers are good quality. there is leather and leather. depending on where

and how its produced. for instance if the leather is very thin flexible and supple.

it's probably higher quality. also if you see a little scratch on a shoe when you

try the shoes on in store. and the scratch has the same color as the

surface of the leather. that's a very good sign, it means that the skin has

been prepared properly. it has been tanned well so that's higher quality. if

you have a scratch on your shoes later, it would be really easy to just fix it

with shoe cream that is transparent, instead of having to look for a tinted

cream that has exactly the color of your shoes. to finish on the materials let's

talk very quickly about ribbons and embellishments and stuff that's usually

shown as decorative elements on top of the shoe. the throat,

this part here, the front upper part, let's say that's leather and on top of

that you have ribbons or beads sewn into the into the leather, the leather is

flexible so it's stretching and it's supposed to bounce back into place but

the beading on top is stiffly sewn onto it: this is gonna make the holes of the

sewing grow with time, you can end up with holes in your leather or and the

wool stuff that is sewn on top stiff ends everything so your shoes are going

to be a lot less comfortable, I am not a fan

of embellishments and stuff on top of shoes... you see that in fancy shoe stores.

cheap stores or also on super high-end designer shoes: I don't think that's a

sign of quality and durability... let's move on to the construction of the shoe

the next super important part. example: that's the upper here outside and inside,

both matter, that is the sole, the heel - where it is placed

matters a lot - and then the arch here is especially important. the higher the

heels the more that is important. let's dig deeper into each of those elements.

usually the upper and the sole are produced separately and then they are

attached together either with glue or with stitches. both methods can be good

if they're done properly. here's how. if you see stitches like on this shoe here.

all around. then the thread of the stitches should be waxed. that's

extremely important. you can know that if you scratch a little bit with your nail,

or here, and you don't see little hairs coming out, that's a good sign if the

threat remains compact and flat, so to speak.

wax makes the thread more durable because it protects it and it also makes

the seam waterproof. very important. if the sole is glued instead of being

stitched like on those ones then take the time before buying the shoes to look

at all the edges. here you should see glue nowhere. if you see visible glue

somewhere. it's a sign of very cheap production. so take the time look at both

shoes from all angles. the salesperson is going to think that you weird but

that's okay because you know what you're doing :-) all the edges should be impeccable.

that's actually a good shoe and if you have edge paint like here, the leather here

is this color but they painted the edges to match the color of the heel and the

rubber sole, which is good, then this edge paint should also look impeccable, which

is the case. then under the sole what do you see? this is just leather: you see

it's absorbing a lot of things I stepped onto, it's dirty and it's starting to be

eaten up by all the little sand pieces, glass pieces, little stones I stepped onto.

the sole is starting to deteriorate here. that's why I prefer a rubber sole.

it's less slippery than that, huge factor for me. and you could technically just

replace this rubber sole when it gets used up. without that leather part

starting to get damaged. if you buy shoes like that and you want to add a rubber

sole. any shoe repair shop around the corner of your house can do that. and you

can just replace the rubber sole every now and then. when it needs it. the next

point is the placement of the heel under the shoe: here are 2 examples. on this one,

you can tell that the entire heel is really in the middle of this part of

your foot. that's proper heel placement. that's another good example: you see the

heel starts more at the back but it's going that way, so the part that is

supported on the floor is really under your heel, where it needs to be.

sometimes you see shoes, especially ankle boots: if they're cheap and poorly

constructed, the heel goes down here completely vertically. that can't be, the

food doesn't work like that, that's poor construction. then the

arch is essential, especially on high heels. you see this curve here? it should

follow the natural curve of your foot. if you wear those shoes and you feel that

you are like crrrrr in them, that's terrible. the food should naturally lie on it and

feel comfortable, and have if possible the full surface as a contact point. now you

might think ballerinas have no arch... they are completely flat, so by definition

they cannot be comfortable. you have to wear them with an insole inside, that

compensates for the flatness of the shoe itself, otherwise it will never work with

the natural arch of your foot. ballerinas are not a comfortable type of shoe. then

inside the shoe you should be able to see a full lining. here it's in a darker

color so it's easy to see it, it's stitched here all around. if you put your fingers

inside, up to the tip, up to the toes, or you look inside, you see that the lining goes

up to the end: it's a full lining. this one is not good: when you see it from the

top, you don't notice anything, it looks like it's lined. but look to the front,

can you see? it stops right here. so all the front part of the foot is on

the hot ground every time you make a step... cheap. they save money on the

corners. there are two main points that get shocked every time you make a step

because we. humans. are not meant to walk just on 2 feet, there is the heel here, and

there's the front part where you have the balls of the foot, where it carries

most. those two part get shocked with every step so you need, in good shoes, to

have a cushion. here you can see the little cushion under the heel but

we're missing one here inside. so half of the work done... last but not least, some

useful tips that I think not everyone knows; first, always try on shoes to see

the true size when your feet are swollen. that means at the end of the day or on

hot days. this way you see the maximum expansion of your foot. feet are compact

in the morning and they expand during the day, by up to half the size, so that

really matters. another thing to test before you buy is to press on the sides

of the shoe to see if the shoe is also flexible sideways. that's an indicator of

comfort and that's especially important if the shoe is a light shoe or a flat. do protect your shoes with a waterproof spray thing, it's not a marketing trick,

it's really useful I think. do it right after you bought the shoes, before you

wear them for the first time, do it a couple of times during the year every

now and then just so you don't forget and every time they got wet. it protects

the surface, it makes it easier to clean and it makes it last longer. when you

store your shoes, you know those little hangers with papers that you have inside

the shoes when you buy them? that's really good, you should keep that. put

those hangers, put the paper, especially in leather shoes or in boots - shoes that

have a shape that's supposed to stay the same (so not fabric, harder materials).

you'll really preserve the shape a lot longer. thumbs up if you learned

something new, something useful, thank you so much! I also did a similar video on

how to recognize good versus bad quality in clothing, so if you're interested in

that, I'll link it here and in the description below, have a look there. many

of you found it useful and even shared further tips in the comments, so I find

the comment section of that video extremely helpful. I do

fashion videos twice a week, every Wednesday and Sunday so if you want more,

subscribe to this channel right here. I'll see you soon again and until then you

can go analyze the shoes in your closet :-) take care, bye bye!