Jury is still out on interchangeable heels by Tanya Heath

There is this news item saying Tanya Heath has introduced shoes on which you can change between a 3.5 inch heel and a 1.5 inch heel in a click of a button.
I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I myself had been wondering from my shoe technology class days why we can’t have shoes on which we can change heels easily. This has been tried by many, with varied success. I also worked on it taking a clue from a 50 year old pair that was there in our little museum! I introduced strong metal stubs with screws which you could fit on a specially crafted shoe with a screw-hole. But it was neither elegant nor easy. 

Changing heels, that too in a click, is superb. And having heels that mix and match with a variety of shoes is wonderful.

Then why am I skeptical? Because while changing between two different printed / different shaped heels is great, changing the heel height without changing the sole is not. I fear that if we keep the sole too flexible, it will not support the feet when the heel height is more, and if we keep it too hard, it will disturb gait. In both the cases, the shoe as well as the foot are the sufferers.

In an interview that I read on the web, Heather says, she worked on the design for three years. That is a solace: she might have done something marvelous and innovative with not only the shoe’s design but also its physics and chemistry.

10 tips to avoid toes coming out of peep toe shoes

Peep toe shoes look great, especially when one has shapely toes. However, after a few months of wear, many women find their toes coming out of the shoe, giving an ugly sight and leading to discomfort and injury.

Toes slipping out of shoes can be due to many factors.  Read on, and take care of the points given here. Enjoy your lovely peep toe high heels for a long time.

In this case, the heel case and ankle straps are there,
yet the foot slips forward as there was no firm upper
to hold the toes in..

1. If toes coming out of the shoe is regular in your case, carefully examine: 
Is it due to your feet’s shape? Do your feet sweat too much? Do you have big or thick toes? Are you unusually over-weight? Is the heel too high? Have you been buying low-quality shoes?

2. If the problem started after you wore these shoes for a long time one day, do get the shoes repaired immediately, whatever the reason.

3. Try shoes in the later part of the day when they are slightly swollen due to blood pressure because of sitting and standing through the day. It will help when the toes come out due to slightly small size of shoes.    

4. On the other hand, having shoes of half size smaller than the fitting size serves the purpose if the toes come out because the shoes are of a bigger size and feet are not properly clamped and move inside the shoe. 

5. Go for slender shoe styles if you have thin feet.

6. Stick anti-slip insoles (these are available with big shoe and accessory makers, also online) so that feet do not slip forward due to body weight or slipperiness caused by sweat etc.

7. Avoid puffing too much talcum powder inside shoes (many ladies do that so as to keep feet dry and mask bad odour) or the feet will slip. That may also cause shaky gait.

This figure shows how the weight of the foot moves forward
when the shoe slips out of the toe box, and the arch
of the foot gets mis-aligned with shoe's arch.

8. If the upper of the shoe has loosened or given way, get it repaired. Think of giving it an extra stitch.

9. Buy shoes with firmly clamping upper or wide straps and also a strap holding the ankle fastened to the heel of the shoe.

10. Remember that when shoes fit perfectly fine when bought but the foot pushes itself out of the toe box, the heel of the foot goes in and it also looks ugly. It can, in fact, lead to many more problems: further push forward, risk of falling (due to disturbed balance at the heel), injury (as the body weight now falls on the arch and not on the heel of the shoe).

When high-heels pain...

I was looking for some great shoe designs and went to an online store selling shoes by top international brands. I found this one looking good. But when I looked at the comments, I felt aghast. In trying to sell style, some top brands seem to be ignoring comfort, thus giving a bad name to high heels.

Look at the shoe on the left. It looks fantastic. For proper foot support, it has heel-back with zip, a wide ankle strap and nicely shaped upper. The soothing 'blush' color and great looking stiletto heels add to its style content. These great features, however, hide the lack of proper support at the heel, which is a must for steep heels (the heel is 4.5 inch tall). Do have a look at the two comments that tell the story. I have not edited the comments. Maybe, these come up if you search for the text on Google.
1. I love shoes and I know the pain us girls go through to sport a cute pair of eye catching heels but my goodness these puppies are impossible. I wanted these so bad and loved the cute buckle detail, I imagined all the outfits I would pair them with before they arrived. I took them out of the box when they arrived and buckled them on took ten steps and couldn't wait to take them off. Why? Well here's the thing ladies... the back of the heel on the top is extremely stiff, so every time you step it jabs you into submission. I couldn't imagine all the chaffing and pain I would have to endure if I couldn't even make it off the carpet in my room. These sadly had to go back.
2. I ordered these heels in black. These heels are definitely super hot! I loved them. The leather was good quality. I have larger ankles and short legs, so styles like this sometimes look funny on me but these looked great! You can't adjust the ankle strap, but I think if you have thick ankles like me, or skinny ankles, they'll still look good. The only thing bad about these is they're kind of painful and difficult to walk in since they're so high in the back, yet low in the front.

Mixing shoes? Do you do this!

If you thought you are a great high heel shoe lover, the following might come as a dampener.

According to a recent study, if you are an ardent lover of stilettos and other fashion shoes, you are likely to have at least once in life put on different shoes on your feet!

The study on women shoes further clarifies that there are very high chances of your mixing shoes if you have more than a hundred pairs of shoes and you change shoes three times a day [for office, parties, other visits]. With over that number of shoes in your closet, the odds are that when you are in a hurry, wear shoes absent-mindedly or have low light on your shoe rack, you will wear similar colored and sized shoes once in 10,000 times. That comes to about 10 years. But once you did that, the chances of repeating the same mistake diminish greatly. So, your chances of mixing shoes twice in this life are very remote.

Of course, this does not apply to ladies who are always in a hurry or are too forgetful and absent-minded.They may wear mixed shoes more often!

Femmes like me, with sharp memory and only a few pairs of shoes are lucky, isn't it?

High heels without injury: body weight on feet

While I am a die-hard high heel lover, I take care to use my understanding of the mechanics behind Human walk and the engineering behind good shoes.

Let me share some of this stuff with your in a series of posts. I will make it as jargon free as possible.

This one is on the weight distribution in the foot and high heel wear. The next one will be on walking.

All our body weight  is held by our feet and when we stand and walk, it comes concentrated at the ankle joint. Consider it like a rod constantly pressing this point from above with over 50 kg load, about 4-5 thousand times a day for many years.

foot's weight distribution changes
with high heel shoes

pressure points on foot

Nature has devised a way so that the pressure does not crush the tissues and bones below the joint and still we have sufficient flexibility to walk. So, this pressure is distributed to the entire foot through a complex chain of bones. In normal standing, about half of the weight goes to the heel while the rest half goes to the balls behind the toes. An arch, with lining of tough ligaments etc helps further in this distribution..

Look at the second figure. It shows the points where the pressure is the highest when we stand. When we wear high heeled shoes, the weight distribution goes awry. About 90% of the pressure now is directed towards the balls while heels bear 10%. Our feet are not made to bear this huge pressure at the small joints that transfer the weight from the ankle joint  and the balls. The joint itself bears the load in an unnatural way, leading to unusual wear and tear if we do not take care to walk properly.

heel deforms alignment of bones surrounding the arch

and at ankle joints

The distortion in the anatomy and load distribution increases with the height of the heel, and is also influenced by many factors such as body weight, make of the foot and shoe design.

The simple takeaways from this knowledge are-

We should not keep standing in high heels for a long time, even if we do not feel immediate pain and fatigue;

We should do simple exercises of ankle and toes, and massage the feet, after long high heel wear;

If there is a congenital deformity in the feet / legs / back, or there has been some injury in these parts, we should consider that before going for high heels, especially more than about 2 inches; and

Ladies with bulky build should avoid too high heeled shoes.

I posted this general post earlier on care of feet while wearing high heeled shoes.

Non-leather high heel shoes:sexy, stylish, kind!

For ages, humans have been using shoes made out of leather, and though synthetic products of all kinds abound, shoe connoisseurs regard leather as the material of choice. I have worked in a leather technology lab for some time, and I'm not only fascinated with the great qualities of leather, but I have imbibed so much of smell of leather that I am almost addicted to it.
Yet this post. Why?

1. The cost-durability trade off. Leather shoes are generally more expensive than synthetics. They last more, but why do we need our fashion shoes to last a lifetime? In today’s world of “use and throw”, their longevity may even annoy you:  you can’t throw them away because they are still good and you have spent a lot on them, and you don’t feel like wearing them again and again and again. Btw, some categories of synthetic leather can be as long lasting as hard leather.
2. Design, color aspects. Synthetic leather comes in many more varieties than pure leather. It does have a greater range of colors too.
3. Texture. Leather comes in rich, ‘leathery’ textures and stretches well. Synthetic leather is not far behind; at bends and seams, certain synthetic leathers stretch better than pure leather.
4. Feel. Though fine leather is soft on feet, it ‘breathes’ and it feels natural, fine varieties of synthetic leather can be even softer. The Nike sports cum fashion shoes look so trendy and are softer than most leather shoes.
5. Snob value. Well, high quality pure leather has an elitist appeal. Certain varieties of leather – made from rare species  as against mass-produced varieties – show themselves up in the crowd, no doubt about that.

faux suede from Beyondskin

6. Cruelty to animals. This one beats all other considerations. I drool about sexy and feminine shoes but have slowly convinced myself to avoid leather shoes. I know of true stories of animals being skinned alive. Even otherwise, animals are killed cruelly because this leather is much better in many respects than the hide of dead animals.

I quote here a passage from PETA website:
“ In India, a PETA investigation found that workers break cows' tails and rub chilli and tobacco into their eyes in order to force them to run and exhaust themselves on way to the slaughterhouse. … In the U.S., millions of animals endure extreme crowding and deprivation, castration, branding, tail-docking, and dehorning without painkillers. At slaughterhouses, animals have their throats cut routinely, and they are skinned and dismembered while they are still conscious. ”

high heel shoe design: when it turns bad

I am a high heel fan, a die-hard high heel lover. I believe that high heels make one look fashionable, glam, even sexy. But I cannot go for heels that can cripple me.

This heel is an example of taking fashion too far. Look carefully at it: its design, its curves, its colors and its overall finish are all superb. But look at the heel height versus the slope: the slope is horrible though there is enough space for the lower foot. [I am saying this, because when they give such slope and heel height in a small-sized shoe, they reduce this space, making the shoe even worse.]

I have taken this photo from a website and removed the watermark not to be seen as going after a brand.

Beware of shoe with slope that puts too much pressure forward, curvature that strains the arch, and has little sole for lower foot and toes. For a detailed discussion on this, you can visit this post on high heel shoe shapes and curves.

A bad shoe design

This time, I am giving an example of bad shoe from a big shoe name in India. This sandal is meant for older ladies and so has soft base, no thin straps, no buckles, no colors etc etc. But that does not mean, it should have bad curves. 
Look at the frontal foot area: it is too big. Since the front foot is too big, there is steep slope though the sandal does not have a very high heel. Look at the arch area: it is nearly conclave. Look at the peep-toe: the slippery sole will soon push the foot forward and toes will come out of the shoe.

Click here for discussion on shoe designs.

My friend’s bad experience with cheap high heels

My friend, who doesn’t usually go for cheap heels, experimented with high heels from one of those cheap shoe sellers that have mushroomed all over big cities in India. They sell flashy heels and you might not find a problem with the shoe unless you closely examine it. The heels are dirt cheap and can very well imitate good and expensive brands. So, it is natural that girls who want to look smart and modern fall for these ones. Forget Jimmy Choo or Christian Louboutin, you cannot buy a decent domestic brand such as Bata and Liberty in Rs. 3000 [USD 60] but you can but a superb looking platform 6 inch super-heel in that price from such shops.

My friend bought the high heel, wore it once and it wore fine. The next time, it caused slight ankle pain. She thought, the pain would go – as happens with all high heel wearers who occasionally wear the heels for long time – but it didn’t. The other mistake she did was that she wore the shoe again and for a long period. This time not only the pain turned more severe, it led to swelling.

She showed the shoe to me when I visited her.[She was unable to attend office.] The shoe was an excellent piece going by its bright silver color, beautiful curves and shiny buckles. You could easily tell your credulous friend that your bought it from a top store in Paris. But the imitators  had not cared to buttress the sole and heel where required. When you wear such shoes, the shoe might fit well and go well till you have walked a few thousand steps in them. After that, the body’s weight starts putting pressure at wrong places. Moreover, as the shoe does not have proper strength [due to poor joints or use of material that is too soft or too hard], it gets distorted and makes things worse for itself and the wearer. I have seen many girls’ sideway wobbles due to ill-crafted but outwardly beautiful shoes.

Coming to problems with design in ladies’ shoes, especially those sold cheap in streets, let me talk about the three most common ones.

In many cases, the heel either points backward or it becomes so after some use. In both these cases, your centre of gravity falls away from the heel’s tip. It makes your gait awkward. It also looks shoddy if the heel goes a lot backwards. It hurts the arch of the foot as the shoe sole stretches to align the points of gravity.

In trying to make the shoe ‘extra sexy’, they forget how much height is enough. The sole has to slant a lot in high heels of 4 inches and above, and unless it is properly strapped and proper toe support is there, it is prone to hurt the foot and also make the walk unstable. But cheap shoe makers make the shoe curvy while forgetting the things that need to be cared for to minimize risks - such as proper base, strong sole, cushions, arch support, proper flexibility and strong upper.

Straight sole. I have seen straight soles more in low / chunky heeled shoes. No curvature. This is a recipe for silent damage to the sole arch especially if you have flat foot or other deformity in the sole area. Since such shoes do not hurt and you keep on wearing them, you have a chance of deforming the foot in the long run.

Many more disadvantages are coming to mind but I’ll stop here. My advice, as always is, spend a few bucks more for the sake of your feet if you want to wear high heels.

Wavering stiletto shoes: recipe for disaster

When walking in my neighborhood mall, I saw a lady walking in very sexy high heels. The stilettos, without the lady in them, were real eye candy. But the lady's walk left me wondering how much time she'd take to break her ankles. And the lady was not bothered at all about the stiletto - badly twisting to one side.         

This prompted me to write this post and maybe I'll write a detailed one on the topic sometime later.

Do hold your stiletto in your hand and try to twist is mildly to each side. If it twists easily, you have a problem in hand [actually, in feet ;) ]. When you walk in such a shoe, you roll to a side [mostly the outside]. This stretches ligaments at the ankle too much, paining and even tearing them. It leads to ankle sprain, osteoarthritis if the problem is allowed to persist.

There could be two reasons for this:

One, shoe related: the curvature that joins the toe area with the heel top is secured with a hard object [called shank], which keeps the shoe from distortions when we walk. When this loosens due to an inferior work or material, the shoe will twist when you walk, especially in an uneven surface. If the shoe is of poor make, discard it outright and promise to yourself never to buy a shoe from that brand. If the loosening occurred due to an accidental cause [e.g., soaking in water, heel twisting when it heel dug into a pit on the ground], take it to an expert shoe repair shop. If the shoe is old and inexpensive, forget that and throw the shoe away. The other reason could be worn heels. Never wear high heels with even a small side-erosion.

Two, foot related: the shank fixing can weaken or the heel can wear out on one side if you have some gait related problem. The answer is in wearing customized shoes [if the walk is too wavy] and repairing heels as soon as they show signs of wear.
Whatever the reason, don't walk in high heels if the heel does not stand straight on the ground.

For my other shoe related tips, please visit this section.

Stylish high heels: need they be uncomfortable?

Christian Louboutin, the king of high heel shoes, is reported to have said recently that he doesn’t want to create painful shoes, but it is not his job too to create something comfortable. He said, his priority is design, beauty and sexiness much above comfort. He is so candid!

But his very high heels, I find, are more comfortable than less high makes of some other brands. I discovered it with one friend of mine. She has a great collection of shoes and she agreed to discuss them with me last week. We found that some highly elegant heels were quite uncomfortable: they tended to be uncomfortable when they were brand new – like many shoes – but they remained uncomfortable after use too. After some use, a highly expensive shoe’s heel cushion turned flat and didn’t give the required softness under the heel. In some cases, especially less expensive ones, the synthetic sole cracks or decomposes after some months though the upper still is fine. In many cases, the basic design is faulty. [It only confirmed my observations on high-heel curvature.]

By the way, this friend broke her ankle while walking briskly in high heels in a Singapore street. That’s how the topic started on high heels. I will talk of her ankle too later. Right now, I just want to reiterate my saying: wear high heels only from well-known brands and wear them sensibly.   

High heel shoe shapes: curves and the arch

Look at the regular curvature [yellow];
compare it with the shoe shape [dark blue]
and the slope [light blue]

The foot is so highly flexible that we tend to ignore it and apply pressure wrongly on its bones, joints, ligaments,tendons, pads, nerves, vessels and muscles. Then we blame the habit of wearing high heels for all our foot miseries.

It is not the high heels per se, but wearing wrong heels and in a wrong way is what mostly causes foot related problems. Wearing high heels that are not made keeping the foot’s anatomy and walk dynamics in mind can not only cause pain, it can hurt the foot [and also legs and back] badly and permanently. One way to avoid these is to buy shoes only from recognised manufacturers. Fakes are good so long as they are exact replica of the original; but can they be? Will they have high quality components? Will the material that is used in fakes and duplicates behave the same way as the material in the original, even if the shape and looks have been copied perfectly? The same goes for mass produced cheap shoes. They seldom care for finer elements of foot comfort. Even ‘custom-made’ shoes may not be too fine if the shoe-maker does not have a sense of the working of the human foot.

In this post, let me talk of one important aspect of high heel shoes – their curvature as seen from the side.

• Do have a close look at the first figure in the drawing here. This is the generally accepted curvature for tall heels [2 inches and above]. The heel goes slightly inwards from top to bottom so that its base comes where the ‘center of gravity’ of the body falls when standing.  The shoe has a heel top with a low slope - followed by the main arch that is slightly convex and with a steeper slope. The front is nearly flat.  
• The second figure shows a bigger toe space at the cost of the arch; this results in more pressure on the balls and arch of the foot as they are not supported from behind and under. 
• Figures 3 and 4 show shoes with a flat heel top. This leads to a sharp bend of foot just in front of the ankle, leading to muscle cramps in the lower leg and pain in the heel. Such shoes are also not stable enough to walk. 
• Figures 4 and 5 have concavity at the arch area, leading to improper support to the foot arch. 
• The last figure shows a rather straight sloping shoe. This is seen usually in custom-made and mass produced shoes and wedges. Such shoes, even with a mid-level heel height, are not good for the foot as they constantly push the foot forward.

Another relevant consideration here. Foot shapes and sizes come in a wide range. They differ according to age and also differ among racial groups: Asian feet are usually broader and smaller while American feet are bigger, and so on.The arch also decides suitability of a particular type of curvature: flat feet, low arched and high arched feet - all need different levels of support at the arch area.

Like to see this earlier post on shoe design and comfort?
   

The best high heel shoes for the office

High heel shoes give confidence to women in workplaces. Heeled shoes also help women present themselves as smart people: people who care for themselves, who matter, who cannot be brushed aside. Heels provide the 'attitude' that women need in the male-dominated world.

Some women [me, very much] are not comfortable without high heels as a matter of fashion too. When I am not in my heels, I feel as if I have left something essential in my routine make up. 

Which high heel type? How tall heels?

One, it depends upon the nature of job and what liberty is allowed. Two, your own personal preferences that fit in the range of variety allowed.

Go by the rule book

Look for the dress code, if there is any, of your company or the general dress code of the country if you are posted abroad.

Observe others

Observe what type of shoes your co-workers are wearing, especially those of your status in the workplace. 

Don’t give up your own style within the permitted range

Your style of shoes, like your garments and accessories, must be of your own liking. Within the permitted types too, there will be variations in color, frills, material used and so on that can add a lot of variety. It also depends on whether you are a follower or a leader in matters of fashion.

Office shoes need not be too conservative and boring. You can add a bit of metal and frills here and there, variations of the tip, an ankle strap, a t-strap and so on. But this should be limited to the extent permitted, not too eye-catching. 

Final point: err on the right side

If you are not sure, do err on the right side. Be a bit conservative initially and experiment slowly. There could be reasons [historical / cultural / comfort] why ladies [in this location / field of work / office] are following a particular approach to fashion. 

The general guiding points for office wear for women are:

• Court shoes, the classic black pumps, are almost universally recognized as appropriate shoes for the workplace. Heels up to 2.5 inches would suit most women, but that depends on the body make up and foot architecture. Brown pumps are also perfectly OK if they suit your dress.
• In some countries and some companies worldwide, sandals are now accepted. But they need to be in leather or synthetic [not canvas or fabric]. Flip flops and plastics are a no-no in most cases. Avoid strappy sandals as they not only look casual, they might not fully cover and hug your feet for comfort.
• Do not wear pumps or closed shoes if the temperature does not allow that. Sandals in sober colors and designs are OK in most such cases. But if you have to wear a jacket [even in hot weather], don't wear sandals. 
• Some colors do not suit workplaces, such as yellow and deep red. For that matter, all gaudy colors, silver and gold are not suited for office-wear.
• Do not wear socks with sandals but always wear socks with pumps and boots. Avoid socks made of synthetic material as they would not absorb sweat, give smell and harm the skin.
  

The enormous variety of high heel shoes!

When it comes to women's shoes, more so in the case of high heel shoes, there is an enormous variety. Shoes can be defined based on their heel type, upper, curve, sole and so on.

Do you know the difference between an ankle-strap and a T-strap shoe? Or between a French heel and a kitten heel shoe?

Do read this article on the variety of women shoes.