Since Justin FitzPatrick took his company and moved from Europe to the US, all EU citizens have had to pay customs and VAT on their orders. Now there’s no need for that anymore, as J. FitzPatrick Footwear has a new EU site, with a pre-order setup with rather fast deliveries for all new styles – also now available at up to 20% off.

From the perspective of an EU citizen, the current setup between EU and the US don’t make any sense, it’s very skewed. Americans’ can deduct the VAT of around 20% that all European countries have, plus don’t have to pay any customs for orders below $800. So for Americans, it’s cheaper to buy from the EU than it is for us living here. The other way around, when we in the EU buy from the US, we are charged with customs plus VAT, so we pay way more than what those living there do (I know about the sales tax in some states, but not even the highest sales tax is close to the lowest VAT rate). That’s why direct import from the EU to USA is rather high, but import to EU from the US is way lower.

Burgundy plain cap toe oxfords.

For a company like J. FitzPatrick Footwear, this skewness if very evident, given that the company started in the EU (in the UK, when that was still part of the EU) and run it here for a number of years, then a few years ago when Justin FitzPatrick moved home to USA he also moved the company, the stock and all. The sales to Europe is much lower today than it was back then, obviously for the higher costs for customers that I mention above.

For this reason, Justin has now managed to set-up an EU specific solution, with a separate website, jfitzpatrickfootwear.eu. Since the factory for the brand is located in Spain, he has managed to sort so for EU citizens, shoes can be shipped from there. To not be in need of two separate stocks (at least not now initially), he offers a pre-order service, where orders of the latest collection are delivered within three weeks. Extra nice, is that it’s 10-20% off these now, so a good price. And yes, the price EU-folks see on this page, that is what you’ll actually pay.

One of many models that one can have delivered in July, at a discount. Pictures: J. FitzPatrick