27%
Boot season is here
Boots take 27% of weighted slots, up from 19% three weeks ago. STAUD's Wally is the #1 style, with nine slots on two lists at $395–595.
The White Space · by Dershaw & Co.
Edition 03 · US women's shoes · Wednesday, October 21, 2026
The White Space
The low-hanging fruit in luxury, every week. This week: the Sell-Through List for US women's shoes, ranked across four retailers' best-seller lists, and the heel she still can't find.
141best-seller slots read
4US retailers
15styles ranked
Bloomingdale's
Neiman Marcus
Saks Fifth Avenue
Shopbop
From my merchant's eye
She walks out in flats
Andrew Dershaw · Founder, Dershaw & Co. · 25 years in luxury retail and wholesale
What I've watched for yearsI've watched her try on a hundred heels and walk out in flats. She hasn't stopped caring about shoes. She's stopped putting up with ones that don't work for her life. She's commuting, traveling and running around the city, and she wants the name without the blister.
What she's buyingFlat shoes. 63% of weighted slots are flat. Heels over 85mm are 8%. When she does buy a heel, it's one she can stay in: the Kate, Miss Sab and Hot Chick at 55 to 85mm.
What changed in three weeksBoots arrived. They're now 27% of the list, up from 19% on October 3, and a $395 STAUD bootie is the #1 style.
What's missingWhen she wants something dressier, at a price she can say yes to, there's still nothing there.
The List
The 15 shoes moving now
Louboutin places four styles in the top 15, all at Neiman Marcus. Tap any style to see it where it's selling.
Dots show which best-seller lists carry the style:
Bloomingdale's
Neiman Marcus
Saks
Shopbop
Illustrations are generic drawings, not the products. Links go straight to each retailer.
This week in six calls
Boot season is here, and the heel gap hasn't moved
0 slots
The heel gap hasn't moved
Not one heeled pump, mule or sandal sells at full price between $400 and $749. The only two heels in that range are Valentino Rockstuds at Saks, marked down 40%.
13 slots
Contemporary owns the boot middle
Boots fill 13 slots at $400–749, led by STAUD, Reformation, Veronica Beard and ANINE BING. When it's a boot, the middle works.
4 over $1,700
Saks is the statement-boot store
Tom Ford's $3,290 Vertigo boot is now #2 at Saks, up from #5. Four of its boots sell at $1,790 to $3,290, including Louboutin's Miss Z Botta and Gianvito Rossi's Spencer.
$1,450
Cozy goes luxury
Prada's suede and shearling mule is on two lists, and Gucci's shearling Casanova mule is new at Saks. UGG and Birkenstock still hold six Bloomingdale's slots.
63%
She still walks in flats
63% of weighted slots are flat, steady from 64%. Sam Edelman's $120 Alie ballet flat is #1 at Bloomingdale's.
This week's white space
A dressy heel she can wear all day, at $400–750
Three weeks on, the gap is still there. She's buying the low Louboutins at $945, and she's buying contemporary at $395–660 in boots, loafers and flats. The only heels that land in between got there by markdown.
Luxury houseContemporary brandLuxury, at markdown priceEach dot is one heeled pump, mule or sandal slot
For brandsA 55–70mm pump or slingback in your best leather under $700. Then buy the search placement for it. The shelf is still empty.
For buyersPut a contemporary low heel next to the boots that are already selling in the middle. Holiday parties start in six weeks.
For retailersThe markdowns prove it: when a luxury heel drops to $588–714, it sells. Own that price at full margin.
Where she shops
Each store sells something different
Same customer, four different shoe closets. Where she shops tells you which version of her you're meeting.
Saks Fifth Avenue$1,100medianStatement boots and luxury mules. Boots and mules take 13 of 21 slots.
Neiman Marcus$945medianPumps, sandals and sneakers. Louboutin takes 13 of the top 40.
Bloomingdale's$273medianBoots and comfort. 12 boot slots, plus six UGG and Birkenstock clogs and slippers.
Shopbop$423medianContemporary boots and flats. STAUD alone has seven slots.
What's selling, by attribute
Boots lead, and two in three shoes are flat
Share of all 141 slots, weighted so a #1 counts more than a #30.
By type
By heelFlat = 63%
Flat, under 1"Low, to 55mmMid, 60–85mmHigh, over 85mm
By materialSuede 11%
Smooth leatherSuedeFabric and meshPatent, canvas, shearling, other
By priceWeighted share
Under $400$400–749$750+
The $400–749 tier is boots, loafers and sneakers. No full-price heel sits there.
Three weeks on
What moved since October 3
Up
- STAUD Wally: from #5 to #1 overall
- Boots: from 19% to 27% of weighted slots
- Tom Ford Vertigo: from #5 to #2 at Saks
- Shearling mules: Gucci's Casanova joins Prada at Saks
Holding
- Jamie Haller's penny loafer, #2 then, #3 now
- The low Louboutins (Kate, Miss Sab, Hot Chick), still in Neiman Marcus's top 15
- 12 of Bloomingdale's top 20 still sponsored
Down
- Prada America's Cup: from #1 to #8, though it's now on three lists
- Louboutin's share: from 16% to 13%
- Louboutin Zependris: off the Saks list
The trade calls
Buy, watch, ease off
Draft calls from two reads, three weeks apart.
Buy into
- Contemporary boots at $395–700, before the cold
- Low heels at 55–70mm
- Shearling and cozy for the holiday reorder
Watch
- Valentino Rockstud markdowns at Saks: they rank at 40% off
- Golden Goose Super-Star: four versions at Neiman Marcus
- Whether the Prada America's Cup holds on three lists
Ease off
- Heels over 100mm, outside the statement boot
- Summer slides as the season turns
For brands: she's proving every week that she'll buy the middle in a boot. Give her a heel there too.
Channel watch
Who's buying the top of the page
Each square is one of the top 20 slots on Bloomingdale's best-seller list. Red squares were sponsored placements. Neiman Marcus, Saks and Shopbop showed no sponsored labels on their shoe lists.
In my last role, sponsored product ads on Nordstrom were one of our best investments, returning around 10X on every dollar. When she searches "brown suede loafer," a brand can pay to put its shoe first. Most brands I talk to either don't know these programs exist or don't know how to use them.
At Bloomingdale's, 12 of the top 20 shoes are still sponsored, the same as three weeks ago, and 8 of those 12 also wear the store's own Best Seller badge. Still, nobody is buying placement for a dressy heel between $400 and $750. If she's searching for one, she isn't finding it.
A sponsored rank reflects both her demand and the brand's investment. We want to measure her, so on the Sell-Through List it counts half.
Over to you
Which boot are your clients buying right now, and what heel are they asking for that you can't give them? Tell me in the comments, or reply to the email.
Andrew
How the list is built
- Each retailer's public women's shoe best-seller list, read on October 21, 2026 (US sites). Rank, price and sponsored or sale tags recorded.
- Each shoe tagged for type, heel height, material and price. Colorways and versions of one shoe grouped as one style.
- Score: a style earns 1.0 for #1 on a list, falling evenly to near zero at the bottom. Extra versions on one list add a quarter each, up to two. Sponsored slots count half.
- Neiman Marcus is now read with its "Best Seller" sort, which ranks year-round sellers, so summer sandals still show. Saks sorts by dollar sales. Marked-down styles use regular prices for the price analysis.
- We publish ranks and our own analysis only. Illustrations are generic drawings, not the products.
Sources
- Bloomingdale's, Best-Selling Shoes for Women · 40 slots
- Neiman Marcus, Best Selling Designer Shoes · 40 slots
- Saks Fifth Avenue, Shoes by Best Sellers · 21 slots
- Shopbop, Top Sellers: Shoes · 40 slots