Shoe of the Month: THE gift for the shoe obsessed

I am sure most of you who received J.Crew's 2007 gift catalog, noticed something very special in the pages... Touted as "a gift for the shoe obsessed," J.Crew was offering customers (for the low price of $1,800!) to have their designers handpick their favorite shoes to be sent to members each month. (Also known as a "shoe of the month" club.)

Although I love the idea of being a member of this exclusive offering, it was (read as: still is) waaaaay out of my price range.

Despite not being able to participate, I am still curious about how the gift works. Luckily for us, a visitor to this site is a member and shared her experience in the June 4th "Darlings, is it time for a J.Crew coupon code?" post. I felt her comments needed its own dedicated post, in the hopes of sharing that valuable insight with others.

A big special "thank you!" goes to "Anonymous from June 6, 2008 at 11:07AM," also known as "sf to ny",who shared with us her impressions of J.Crew's Shoe of the month experience. The following italicized text is a direct quote of her comment:

The shoe of the month club....I have mixed reviews. I think (not exactly sure since it was a gift) that it was about $2,000 or so to join, so I was expecting some great shoes. You have the option of choosing between either flats or heels or alternating your selection. I chose heels only. Here is a list of what I have received:

1st shoe - Linen peep-toe Maryjanes in yellow
2nd shoe - Martine satin heel in Royal Purple
3rd shoe - Patent leather Maryjane in black*
4th shoe - Liza peeptoe heel in Cherry Blossom
5th shoe - Lucia heel in yellow/purple
6th shoe - (June Shoe) Bateleur printed calf-hair heels
7th shoe - (July Shoe) Lulu Leather Ballet Flats in Burnt Sienna
8th shoe - (Aug Shoe) Long Glenbrae leather high heel boots in Maple*
9th shoe - (Sept Shoe) Crystal-lollipop patterned peep-toe heels in Saffron Embers*

*I returned this heel because I think Patent Leather Maryjanes are ugly, and I was disappointed that I had received 2 of the same style shoe within 3 months of each other. This was very problematic because you are not allowed to return any shoes from the shoe-of-the-month club. Luckily, I was finally able to cajole them into allowing it, and I ended up getting the GORGEOUS Becky jewelled heel in its place.

Overall, the shoe club has been fun...it's nice to receive a surprise box of shoes every month, but the membership was definitely marketed as a more exclusive club, i.e., members would be getting shoes that may not be available to regular customers, or designer selected shoes, etc. That is not really the case. It seems that the most popular shoe, chosen by the marketing team in NY, and priced around $150 is sent. When my husband bought my membership, they told him that he was 1 of only about 150 people who had signed up. I don't know if that is still the case but I would figure that if the membership was a small number, then the shoes would be mainly from the J.Crew Collection line, rather than the everyday ones.

I will let you know what I receive for June!

If you are a member of J.Crew's Shoe of the Month, please share with us your experiences. We would love to know more about it. And again: thank you to "sf to ny" for sharing with us your experience! :)

*updated on 9/26/08