High heels may be making a comeback as COVID-19 restrictions lift
- In 2003, 62% American women said they wore shoes with a 2-inch heel or higher on a regular basis.
- But with the rise of sneakers, sales of high-heels dropped in 2017, while sneaker sales rose.
- COVID seemed to have killed them off for good, but as restrictions get lifted, heels are on the rise.
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It took hundreds of years for heels to rise to the top of the fashion world.
But then the pandemic caused sales of high heels to drop by 65% year-over-year during the second quarter of 2020, according to data from market research firm NPD Group. Now though, it looks like heels may be back.
Searches for high heels on the global fashion shopping platform Lyst rose by 177% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2021.
"The higher heels have actually recovered a little bit better because of the fact that people have events, and they have places to go, and they want to dress up," Beth Goldstein, footwear industry analyst at NPD Group, told Insider.
Manolo Blahnik announced in June the footwear brand is bringing back 5-inch heels — something it hasn't done in years. Meanwhile, designer Marina Larroudé said her brand of platforms and heeled boots are in high demand, something she attributes to "revenge shopping."
When Larroudé launched a year ago, the factory where the shoes are made received an order for about 3,000 shoes. Now, Larroudé sends orders of more than 20,000.
"I was expecting the business to be picking up slowly and not fast and furious as it has happened to us," Larroudé said.
Men's heels are also on the rise. Jimmy Choo is now selling heels that also come in larger sizes, and Louboutin is selling genderless boots.
We look back at the history of heels, and how the rise of sneakers and sandals seemed to have killed them off for good. That is, until the pandemic.
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