Steve Madden is a maddening copycat.

I am sure this will not come as a shocker, as Steve Madden makes a bulk of his dinero [post paying back all of the embezzlement and fraud that he was in jail for of course] by sending his workers into the showrooms and retailers of the high end shoe DESIGNERS and buying up their samples so he can turn them around super quick, likely by slave labor, and get them on his crusty little shelves.

I know, I worked there. Yes, friends, unfortunately for a short time I was an Assistant Manager at a Steve Madden store in Texas. I spoke regularly to the NYC "buyers" who would send me boxes of shoes that didn't even have Steve Madden labels on them. Quick knockoffs that they were 'testing' in key markets.

Apparently Austinites are early adopters.

Anyhow, a new Steven store opened up in my hood [yawn] so I went to check out what was going on in SM land and I was not surprised to find some pretty bad copycats on the shelves.

I noticed in particular a knock-off of Miu Miu's Mocassin Boot, which retails for a cool $750 [aka way out of my price range even on a super good day]. I have been stalking this boot all season and found Steven's MADLY boot strikingly similar at a very reasonable $149.95 [don't you love the .95, way to keep it classy SM]. I bet you can't even tell which one is which, can you?

Of course Steven's come in a variety of colors. Ding Dang ya'll.

Equally as spooky is this other Miu Miu copycat.

Check out their Venice Pop Pump [top pic, cute name, even cuter shoe!] which is currently selling at Sak's in the shoe zipcode for a reasonable $525. In exhibit b check out Steven's Specs Gold Foil, which like MADLY comes in a multitude of colors, all earily similar to Ms. Prada's with an equally shitty, cheap name.

He keeps EVERYTHING EXACTLY THE SAME. Toe. Shaft. Heel. Arch. At least he's got the details down. I guess that is the easy part when you don't design your own shit.

So I ask you--which is worse? The nasty tourists who flock in droves to Canal St. to buy knock off Vuitton, Coach, Spade + Prado or the retailers who make a LEGITIMATE or in the case of SM, SEMI-LEGITIMATE living selling knock-offs and passing them off as not?