Men appear to be closing the gap with women on owning a wide variety of footwear -- and the shoe industry would like you to do some "sole searching" when it comes to picking out dad's Father's Day gift.
A survey by Thom McAn gauging the foot-wearing habits of both men and women says perhaps a new pair of shoes is the best "fit" for dad's special day. Tom McAn spokeswoman Rosemary Dinah says the results show "men have significantly closed the perceived 'Imelda gap'" that refers to the stereotype of women as insatiable shoe collectors, best personified -- and perpetuated -- by Imelda Marcos of the Philippines and her legendary 3,000 pairs of shoes.
On average, the survey says, men own 12 pairs of shoes; women, 17 pairs. And while men wear four pairs of shoes on a weekly regular basis, women wear five. And men annually outspend women on shoe purchases, $137 to $99.
Contrary to the myth of the style-impaired male, two thirds of the men surveyed say they want to present themselves as well as possible and more than 25 percent say they like to browse shoe departments to see what's new.
