Actual conversation between myself and a customer (last Friday):
Customer: Hi, do you have any vegan TOMS shoes?
Me: Yes, they’re right over here.
Customer (visibly upset): Are these ALL the colors you have?
Me: This is what was available to us, yes.
Customer (agitated): Don’t they make ANY vegan slip-ons in plain black?
Me: Not at the moment. The only vegan TOMS shoe that comes in black is the wrap boot.
Customer: What about next season? I really want a black slip-on. The boots are way too hot.
Me: Not next season either. We’ve spoken to them about that several times, actually.
Customer: Why don’t they do it?
Me: We’ve asked, but they never answer the question. We could probably sell ten pairs a day if they’d do a solid black vegan slip-on.
Customer: When will some new colors be coming in?
Me: Not until spring, unfortunately.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that if she didn’t like the khaki and charcoal shoes that were in stock, she probably wasn’t going to like the spring line either. I do not fear color one bit (I own the world’s one and only pair of burnt-orange ahneemähl Taxi demi-clogs), and my inner five-year-old heartily approves of the blue and purple batik-inspired prints TOMS has chosen for their spring vegan collection, but my outer practical adult is well aware that my customers overwhelmingly prefer black shoes.
As a shoe color, black has every connotation under the sun – saint or sinner, scary rocker or strict schoolmarm, scruffy beatnik or polished fashion editor. It hides dirt, it can be worn with any other color, and a shoe that looks outrageous in red or purple just might be conservative enough for work/traffic court/dinner with Grandma if it is available in black. Simply put, it works for virtually everyone in virtually every situation.
My customers are a highly eclectic lot. They are flight attendants, dental hygienists, math teachers, artist’s models, grandmothers, skater kids, and divorce lawyers. Some of them can get away with wearing colorful footwear whenever they feel like it, but the fact of the matter is, most people need at least one pair of black shoes, and many prefer to have several (i.e. black patent peep-toes for hot dates, matte black ballet flats for the office, and black canvas slip-ons for going to the farmer’s market).
This is especially important to remember when designing with the veg*n community in mind. Many of us don’t make very much money, so when we can only invest in a few good pairs of shoes, we tend to buy basic black.
I’ve written to TOMS about this issue, but ultimately most suppliers make what they want to make. I can only hope they’ll eventually realize the importance of fully understanding a target market’s unique wants and needs.
Lest anyone think I’m trying to pick on TOMS (believe me, I am trying to help them), they are not the only company that hasn’t heeded my advice and most likely won’t be the last.
I told one of my handbag-and-wallet suppliers that my customers disliked the re-designed wallets and wanted the classic versions back. They decided not to take my advice, and I ultimately had to drop their line because they were no longer willing to make what my clientele wanted.
I begged and begged another bag-and-wallet supplier to make some smaller handbags after they only made huge bags for one solid year. At the time, they didn’t respond. They have since realized I was right (along with a large number of other retailers who had the same complaint). Still, it would have been so much easier on my customers and more profitable for the supplier if they had just listened in the first place.
I find that some companies are only responsive when they hear from the consumers directly. Maybe it’ll work with a certain shoe supplier. In any case, it certainly couldn’t hurt to drop TOMS a line if you want them to make a plain black vegan slip-on at some point in the future.
