Watch out! This article not only answers the question of why we constantly buy new shoes despite already having more than enough, it also offers hope! It contains information that might deprive shoe lovers of any and all justification for their overflowing shoe closet, and for that reason probably shouldn't have been written at all….

One shoe, endless variations: Selve jodphur-ankle boot

© Selve

We all know the problem. The shoe looks great on the shelf, but as soon as you get it in your hand, you recognize that the heel wreaks havoc with its proportions. The boot that would be perfect in suede, is only "kind of nice" when it's only available in smooth leather. Wedges that have the perfect shape, but soles that just aren't quite right. Finding the perfect shoe is difficult, but not impossible: rumor has it that some have been successful, and thus we continue searching for our golden calf, holy grail, the "open sesame" into the promised land of perfect shoes.

The perfect shoe

It could be that the search has come to an end. We could just design our own perfect shoes. For example, at Selve. The Munich-based company offers shoes that are a mixture of made-to-measure refinement, and confection. There's a choice of base models that can be personalized according to preference, and a highly refined sizing/foot shape system that takes any and all guesswork out of the equation. Selve is a kind of hybrid manufacturer (somewhat like German fashion label Regent) that helps to close the gap between custom and retail shoes.

Selve has also started releasing a series of collaborations with designers. The Ayzit Bostan chelsea boot is now available, and models from Berlin label "Mongrels in Common" are already pacing runways with the rest of the collection, which will hit shelves as of the official launch.

So. There is an end to the search. Now you know where to find your perfect shoe, and really, there shouldn't be any reason to go on buying "almosts" and justifying unnecessary shoe purchases by saying that the last one wasn't quite right. But actually, now that you can get exactly what you want, maybe it's hard to get ENOUGH of it. So maybe the search WILL continue. Maybe just a little bit….