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BY JACK BROWN, Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services
The sun is shining, the weather is hotting up, the birds are singing and the flowers are blooming and already it seems like July! Everyone is feeling much more upbeat, looking forward to long summer evenings, lazy weekends and holidays abroad.
What better reason to treat onself to a new pair of strappy sandals, or comfort casuals, or wooden flip flops, or toe post flatties, or pastel coloured pumps or indeed anything summery to put on the end of the feet to show the world that summer is here. But alas, closer inspection of the summer stock brings both retailer and consumer crashing back to reality. Those comfy casuals that were all the rage three years ago and were cluttering up the stock room are now back on display but unfortunately three years of hydrolysis attack on the polyurethane sole has rendered them totally unsellable. Those new ladies sandals which are selling like hot cakes in your competitors don't even fit the most perfect of feet and they remain fading in the summer sunshine in the outside basket. And those winning styles which you thought would at least pay this month's business rates are all being returned with breaking straps, heels detaching, colour tranfers and trims dropping off left , right and centre. Well at least no one has found a lasting tack in the insole yet!
Summer styles are no excuse for anyone to take their eye off the quality ball. Sandals with all of the buckle holes in the wrong place simply won't sell. Toe posts incorrectly located or too thick will cause discomfort. And visually, if the right foot is of a different shade to the left, or is covered in adhesive, or has scratches and blemishes will stay snug in their boxes until significantly discounted. Mettalic prints that wear away within a matter of days or beautiful floral prints which run and stain the carpet when wet certainly won't create loyal customers. It is not an argument to say that summer shoes only need to last 3 months or so as they will be discarded as soon as the temperature drops one degree. Any customer paying any amount of money is not only entitled to a safe, quality product, but expects a fit for purpose, merchantable quality item which should last them a fair and reasonable amount of time. Three months certainly isn't this. So even the lighter weight, more colourful, fashionable footwear that tends to be sold and worn through the summer months require a careful, close-up technical vetting early in the development cycle to avoid masses of either unsold summer stock or even worse, masses of worn and returned summer stock.
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