Catalogue footwear is faster and cheaper per pair. Made to order is slower and gives you your colours, your materials and your size run. Both are defensible; they answer different questions.
The comparison that matters is not unit price but cost over the life of the uniform programme, including replacements, repeat orders and the pairs nobody wears.
Where made to order pays for itself
When the shoe has to match a fabric exactly, when the same model has to serve several departments in different materials, or when the property will reorder for new starters for years.
It also means nothing is produced before it is ordered, which is the part that ends up in an ESG report.