Fixed it.
One can buy a pair of shoes made entirely of simulated leather. A shopper can get several pairs of these plastic shoes for the price of a single pair of high quality leather shoes. The plastic shoes require no polishing. Wipe 'em clean with a damp rag. They look perhaps 90% like real leather shoes. They certainly operate as shoes, and goodness knows they're easy on the wallet.
Lots of folks will walk around in those ersatz leather shoes, and say, and believe, that they're indistinguishable from real leather shoes. Some will go further and say that people who still buy leather shoes are fools or dinosaurs.
A few people will notice that they're not leather. Most won't notice the difference.
One can also buy a Dacron-blend suit that looks very similar to wool and costs a tenth the price of a good wool suit.
Far be it from me to tell the plastic shoe or Dacron suit believer that they're somehow making the wrong choice. These things are personal!