My wife, Noelle, loves shoes. As a performer with some degree of visibility (she’s a very active professional violinist), how she looks is part of her job. As a former dancer, her feet are very important to her. Combine that with her unique sense of style and you can see why shoes bring her great joy.
She’s also a master at finding bargains at consignment shops, so her total outlay when it comes to buying clothes is actually quite small. I happily support her shoe fetish because it makes her so happy. Me? I see shoes as something you need to cover your feet. I used to run a lot, so I do appreciate a good pair of training shoes and I always had some nice black dress shoes when I was performing more. But my “everyday shoes” have never been much to show off and having narrow feet always made shoe buying less than enjoyable.
Our distinctly different outlook on feet came to a head recently while visiting her favorite shoe store in the world. Fluevog shoes are the brainchild of Canadian entrepreneur and designer John Fleuvog. They’re funky, outrageous, stylish, and not cheap. But Noelle doesn’t buy dozens of pairs, she buys one pair a year and they last forever.
I never thought I would see myself in a pair of Fluevogs, but Noelle was lamenting she still hadn’t found a good present for my 60th birthday. I told her the lovely day we spent together was more than enough, but she wasn’t having it. I could see that buying me a pair of shoes that we both loved would be fun. I had to admit, this pair caught my eye and they fit more snugly than any shoe I could remember.
They say clothes make a statement. Our feet eventually take us where we want to go. With ChopSaver and the larger brand, Gosling’s Original, I still plan to go where all well-known brands eventually arrive – a place of financial success, positive influence, and the ability to help millions of people live better lives. So, when I look at these shoes, I see taking new steps in that direction.