Payless opened a pop-up boutique, where it put out its footwear in a different setting, with fancy backlit displays and a dramatic angel statue greeting customers. Several shoppers, who were duped into thinking ‘Palessi’ (get it?) was a new luxury brand, were willing to spend up to $600 on Payless shoes.

I have a shoe story of my own. I had bought a pair of pumps (between $200 and $300) by L.K. Bennett, best known for Duchess Kate’s Sledge pump. Nordstrom​ sent me Prada by mistake. They were UGLY. I called customer service and told them had the Prada shoes worked for me, it would be a steal.  The customer service rep laughed and said that “And we wouldn’t have known the difference.”