This week, The New York Times confirmed what we all know to be true: shoes have been getting progressively more expensive over the past decade, and not in the slow, creeping way that milk and bread have been getting more expensive, but in an astronomical, 100-per-cent-increase, similar-to-London-house-prices way.

The price of designer shoes, from Jimmy Choo, from Christian Louboutin and from designers like Céline, Valentino and Prada, have been escalating and Christian Louboutin tells the NYT that it’s because production costs have risen. 

‘It is more expensive to make shoes now,’ he says, ‘and it’s for a very boring reason.’ The strength of the euro against the dollar and Asian factories using European raw materials are blamed for the price hikes, with Louboutin saying his costs have doubled in five years.

If we look back to 2001, when a ‘recession’ was a quaint concept that you heard your parents reminisce about, and Sex and the City was your favourite TV show, designer shoes cost a few hundred pounds. For instance, when Carrie Bradshaw, the woman who brought Manolos to the mainstream, totted up the cost of her 100 pairs of shoes, she wagered that they cost $400 each. That’s £259! Try buy a pair of shoes for £259 today and you will end up shopping in the middle market. 

Manolo Blahnik has, according to the NYT, been absorbing some of those production cost increases so his shoe prices haven’t jumped the way others have, but most designer shoes now cost more than 100 per cent more than they did in 2001. Wages meanwhile have risen by just 29 per cent since 2001 so if you’re wondering why you have fewer pairs of shoes than Carrie Bradshaw, there’s your reason.  

There is always sales though. See the gallery for shoes from the spring/summer 2013 sales you *might* be able to afford.