by Alexi Weasel

Created on: April 04, 2010

Used shoes are no different to any other used article you would pick up in the charity shop, such as jumpers, blouses and trousers. If you think about it logically many people will buy celebrities used shoes in auctions and pay fortunes for them and people will buy brand name shoes off of eBay so that they can wear the latest designer shoes that someone has brought worn a few times and forgotten about as they are over run with shoes.

Women stereotypically have a reputation for loving shoes and for having a ridiculously large amount of shoes for work, going out, special occasions, parties, meals... Some women have to have shoes that match their outfits too which if we look at the middle class high flying career woman probably does not even wear the same outfit more than twice, which is a real shame for the clothes and shoes to go to waste, especially when someone else could be enjoying them and getting some true wear out of them.

Buying used shoes shouldn't be something that people look down their noses at, if everyone tried to buy a couple of used pairs of shoes, not only would it help calm down the carbon footprint because we would not be purchasing so many pairs of shoes from foreign countries which are imported by air or ocean, also the other plus side to this is that we would not be supporting child labour and poor working conditions in third world countries where this is the only work people can get as there are no other jobs.

People do not really take into consideration what other people have gone through to produce the latest shoes for their feet, unless they are active in trying to improve working conditions for the less fortunate in third world countries.

Also if you bought a pair of used shoes, would it not be more worth while for the person that did make the shoes as more than one person has had use out of them?

Also shoe factories and clothes factories are something of a myth in Britain now and most of the clothes on our backs, shoes and other items we purchase everyday are from another country and the person who made the product is not always paid a fair wage, which we should all take into consideration when purchasing items from day to day.

Another issue to take into consideration beofre I conclude my argument is that in some third world countries their infamous runners who compete in the olympics turn to their village for donations from each member to give a donation towards one pair of running shoes and do most of their training bare foot or in shoes that are not really up to the job, so next time your thinking about new shoes think of the issues that I have raised in this debate. Or maybe even donate a pair or two of your own to a charity for someone less fortunate than yourself.

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