These Sneakers Covered in Dirt Can Cost You Up to $600

Published

February 21, 2018

Christine Giordano is an editor and reporter for Credit.com who covers a variety of personal finance topics. Prior to joining us, Christine wrote for The New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, Harper’s Bazaar, Newsday and many other publications. A former staff writer for the New York Times Company, she is an award-winning journalist. You can follow her on Twitter @chrisgiordano.

Are your sneakers an expression of your life’s travels and your personal tastes? Do they have all the signs of a life well lived? Scars and scuffs, a little mud here, a bit of sand from the beach there?

If your life tends more toward the mundane where wear-and-tear on your shoes is concerned, there’s now an easy fix available that doesn’t require you to actually go out and live a little more. Instead, you can now just buy your sneakers with added scuffs and “nature.” Of course, it’s going to cost you — a not-so-subtle $500 to $600.

There’s apparently a market for these distressed sneakers, so artisans for the Golden Goose brand are now adding scuff marks and dirt to denim and suede lace ups. The calf-leather sneakers pictured above with the “nature” effect cost $515, according to the company’s public relations team.

The reason for the lofty price tag, according to company spokesperson Flaminia D’Onofrio, is because they’re from a design collection and many of them are made from “the best” leather in Italy. Plus, the distressing and well-placed wear is all done by hand by craftsmen in Venice. You can find Golden Goose sneakers at Barneys.

We know there is a whole culture around sneakers, but the average American can’t afford a $400 emergency bill, according to a survey conducted by the Federal Reserve in 2014 which found that 47% of Americans wouldn’t have the reserves to cover such an expense. So you may want to think twice about getting this new footwear.

That said, before you reach for your credit card, it’s a good idea to consider what your wardrobe budget is. If these are sneakers you feel you absolutely must have, and you can afford the new scuffs, er, sneakers, then go ahead and buy them. But keep in mind that taking on too much debt can affect your credit scores, which can impact your ability to get loans when you need them in the future.

If you’ve had an oops-impulse buying moment that boosted your credit card debt, and you’re curious to see how it affected your credit, you can view two of your credit scores, updated every 30 days, for free on Credit.com. If you discover your credit is in lackluster shape, you may be able to improve your scores by paying down high credit card balances, disputing any errors with the credit reporting agencies and limiting new credit inquiries. After all, if you get buried in debt, it’ll take more than cool new sneaks to put a bounce back in your step.

Image: Golden Goose