This is not to say that Prada and cinema – or even the Duchess of Cambridge's beloved nude LK Bennett shoes - are mindless commodities per se.
In this kind of coverage, the clothes, the stars and the shoes are all brands, commodities that are used in both ads and editorial to move product.
"These shoes were highly prized commodities".
Transnational business is increasingly the rule rather than the exception, especially in the production of shoes, clothing, automobiles, and other commodity goods.
In a town where a woman can be held up at gunpoint for her Gucci loafers, as happened in downtown Manhattan a few years ago, shoes are more than mere commodities.
"So," he explains, "our shoes have moved from being mass-commodity items to being specialist and different".In that sort of market, argues Mr Loake, the only way to go is to make shoes better rather than cheaper.
Rock 'n' roll and hip-hop used to be about protest; now they're the soundtrack of commodity capitalism, pushing cars, clothes, computers, vodka and running shoes.
In some cases, producers assign one single article number to a group of articles, especially for commodities with fast-changing collections such as clothes or shoes.
The small gesture was unknown: when her niece had a school dance, Ms. Lipari, a commodities trader for Carr Futures, bought a half-dozen pairs of shoes for the teenager to select from.
When a pair of shoes or an iPhone is sold, it is exchanged for another commodity (money for instance).
