Deals to Keep Your Toes Fantastic

Oh my goodness do these FantasticToe geniuses work hard to get you into awesome shoes at great prices. Every week they have new deals! Here’s what’s going on this week:

* United Nude: Receive a 20% discount on the very cool shoes from United Nude. Use the code UNLOVESFT when you check out. Valid through 11/28/08. I’m kinda digging these shoes. Might even make me rethink my Frye lusting.
*Nooshooz: Take $25 off your order. Deal expires 11/21/08. Mention Fantastic Toe when you order.
* TOMS Shoes: Enjoy a 10% discount with coupon coe fantastictoe. Deal expires 12/31/08. I think these are great Holiday gifts, especially since each shoe purchase means that a pair of shoes goes to a child in need.
* Terra Plana: Enjoy a 20% discount with coupon code TPLOVESFT. Deal expires 11/28/08.

And a deal find of my own from Shoes.com: Save $10 on Shoe and Boot Orders of $50+ at Shoes.com. This is in addition to free shipping and current sales. Offer expires November 30th.

What about knockoffs? Fashionista has a feature that I have a love/hate relationship with: Adventures in Copyrights. In it, the editors display a disdain for knockoffs and claim them to be copyright infringement. While as a writer I feel pretty strongly about people copying my work without permission or credit, I often wonder about fashion.

Would, for instance, runway ready gladiator sandals enjoy as much popularity if it had not been for knockoffs? Would open toed boots have even made it to the mainstream if Nine West hadn’t deemed them a trend to follow?

As an individual who can rarely afford shoes over $100, I feel as if the monopoly that overpriced designers have over fashion is a bit, to put it in Marxist terms, bourgeois. The thing is, other copyrighted items like literature or art are readily available to the public. You can check out a book, or visit a gallery, but when it comes to designer shoes, the only way to enjoy them is to buy them.

So what bothers me about Fashionista’s complaint against knockoffs is not the copyright part, but the fact that the shoes they so adore are only available to the very wealthy when other copyrighted items can be enjoyed easily regardless of income.

And I suppose that copyright infringement of fashion has always existed. People with sewing skills can copy a dress. And I’m sure cobblers have created look-a-likes of more high end shoes for centuries. Does it make it right? I don’t know, but the fact that “Adventures in Copyrights” only allows the expensive to win is certainly something to think about for us deal finders.