🤑 Why Gucci sells dirty sneakers for $1,175 a pair

Because they will out-sell to whoever things this is cool and not stupid or arrogant etc. Also because according to this US Vogue feature

According to a 2012 study by the Journal of Research and Personality, it turns out shoes are considered a “thin slice” of perceptions of a person, and can be an indicator of a wearer’s wealth and social status. (Fun fact: Liberal hippie students love a good sandal moment.)

But where does the dirty shoe fall on the spectrum—a deliberately dirty shoe, nonetheless? Wellesley College assistant professor of psychology Angela Bahns—one of the authors of the paper “Shoes as a Source of First Impressions”—notes that a less-than-spotless look doesn’t imply mere slovenliness.

“Our research found that having neat and tidy shoes tends to correlate with the person being anxious, conscientious, or politically conservative,” she writes in an email. “So the choice to use dirty shoes on the runway might be an effort to portray an image of being calm, not uptight, or politically liberal.”

Image via Gucci