Payless and Nine West
This fall Payless will be debuting designer shoes from Laura Poretzky to the drooling, snarling hordes of shoe-addicts who have been dying for designer in their price range.The Abaete for Payless runway shoes includes four styles—the "Sky" boot, "Casey" flat, "Oliver" pump and the "Luke" evening sandal. Each silhouette features a range of colors, fabrics and details such as stitching, polka dots and bows. The shoes will be available in September.
Also, Payless is launching something they call the "fashion lab" which will focus on offering high-end designed shoes for bargain prices. Prices are going to be from $20 to $40, which is a little higher than the normal $14.99 price. Right now there are only six of these "lab" locations open, but by the end of the year they hope to have at least 10. In addition to this, there will be revamping of 240 stores into "hot zone" stores, which will be a mix of the old Payless format and the new "fashion lab".
In other (not so cheap) shoe news, the struggling Nine West line has also signed on Vivienne Westwood, Thakoon and Sophia Kokosalaki for three limited-edition collections that will be available from Macy's. When I get more news, I will let you know!
Thanks to the Houston Chronicle, About.com, Retailnet and Just Style for the info!
