Common foot problems may be prevented with new customizable shoe technology

Jonny Lim for redOrbit.com – @jayohenenwhy

Good news, ladies. Shoe shopping has just become easier, that is if you are in a location that will be carrying these lovely bad boys.

The European Union’s DemoShopInstantShoe project has come to the beckoned calls of all the women who have bought shoes that just don’t fit them right. Despite the really weird long name, this project has created a way to make new adjustable female shoes based on a new memory shape composite of leather and Nitinol material.

There will be a new tool called the InstantShop is compact, lightweight, and easy to set up in a shoe store. The InstantShop consists of “the shaping system, an original designed machine with three different lasts to cover all the size range, the intuitive configuration software and the foot scanner DOME, developed by the Biomechanics Institute of Valencia”, according to a statement.

All you have to do is locate a store that has one of these devices, pick out a shoe that uses the technology, stick your foot one at a time in the scanner called the DOME, and another machine called the Shoptool will take these measurements and create a mold that will go into the shoe so that it fits perfectly.

However, there are times when you see a shoe you like, you try them on, and you’re like, “These are perfect,” then you go through this process and then you’re like, “Actually, I hate these.” Well, there is no need to worry because the Shoptool will return the customized shoe to its neutral form and it’ll be like it never happened.

What exactly is Nitinol?

The whole shape memory is composed of Nitinol, an alloy of Nickel and Titanium, and it is inserted in the textile structure with a particular patented pattern. Textile including this material is placed between the shoe’s outer leather and inside lining during the gluing process.

Not only will this project solve the problem of never being able to find the shoes that fit just right but it can also solve foot disorders that come from wearing shoes that don’t fit such as bunions, hammertoes, or ingrown toenails. Fashionable and good for your feet, what more can you ask for?

Six European partners have taken part in DemoShopInstantShoe: two from Spain; Biomechanics Institute of Valencia (IBV) and Calzamedi; two from France, Texinov (Lyon) and Nimesis (Strasbourg); one from Switzerland, Technoboots; and one from Portugal Ortopedias Twins.

They are planning on releasing this system commercially later this year, according to Gizmag.

This project is bound to have Cinderella’s fairy godmother a run for her money.

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