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Foot Healer
A Height-Adjustable High Heels
We invented a height-adjustable high heels that helps office ladies relieve pressure on their feet while commuting.
Innovation Competition
Gold Award (bonus NTD $150,000)
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition
NTHU Entrepreneur Day, 2017
Overview
We create a pair of high heels that is both aesthetic and practical for office ladies who want to look professional at work and relax when commuting.
Its distinguishing features:
-
Adjustable height heels
-
Easy to operate
-
Convenient : No need to bring other components to change the height
-
Minimize the gap to pursue high heels aesthetics
Motivation
Do you remember the first time you put on high heels and rushed to an interview?
Or, if you are a male, have you ever seen tapes on the back heels of your work partner because the high heels rub her heels so badly?
Many companies require female employees to wear high heels while working because high heels make women look more elegant, professional, and full of energy. It’s good to be beautiful at work, but the most unbearable thing is to commute in high heels:
Tired, inconvenient, and painful.
I think everyone agrees, it sucks.
Inconvenient
It hurts so bad
However,
Sometimes
Attractive
Elegant
What inconvenience caused ?
-
Women rarely have the opportunity to wear high heels when they are students, which makes them not accustomed to wearing high heels after work.
-
Many women will therefore prepare a second pair of shoes, but this causes great inconvenience in carrying and replacing them.
What do office ladies need ?
What they need most is a pair of high heels that will not hurt their feet, a pair of high heels that are beautiful, practical, and most importantly, easy to walk.
What we provide ?
Foot Healer is committed to developing a high-heels with both beautiful appearance and highly retractable function to solve the problem of high heels, so that women in the workplace will no longer suffer from inconvenient commuting.
Design Process
Problems
Define
Market
Research
Ideate
&
Brainstorm
3D
Modeling
Product
Prototype
Questionnaires
& Problems Define
We made a questionnaire and received 197 valid samples.
From the questionnaire, we can figure out the problems caused by high heels:
60% of people think that wearing high heels during commuting is uncomfortable and unnecessary.
53% of people claim that they would carry flat shoes for the comfort sake, but find it very space-consuming and inconvenient.
Up to 90% of people strongly feel the foot discomfort caused by wearing high heels for a long time.
90%
53%
60%
And, on what occasions do women wear high heels more frequently ?
88%
60%
20%
15%
8%
Work
Interview
Gathering
Shopping
School
most frequently
Target Audience
Business Women
Here
comes our
3 Requirements
Convenient
Highly Practical
Aesthetic
What can we do for them?
Adjustable-height Heels
Without Carrying any Stuff
Attractive
Appearance
Core Product Concept
Brainstorming & Discussion
Requirement
Effortless
Comfortable
Breathable
Non-slip
Durable
Desirable
Won't rub back heels
As comfortable as flat shoes on low mode
Solution
Changeable height
The height change difference is large enough
Method
Retractable
Height can be changed without additional tools
Appearance
Structure
Function
Aesthetic
Seamless
Stable
Balance
Easy to walk
The foot will not slide forward
Easy to operate
Won't get hands dirty
Easy to adjust height
Smooth
Our Solutions
-
Our product design uses a tenon to control the height adjustment, and the height of high heels can be increased from 3 cm to 7 cm.
From the 3D animation, we can see that the height can be easily adjusted by simply turning the latch on the inner side of the heel by one hand.
-
We minimize the gap between mechanical parts to meet aesthetic requirements.
-
We will continue looking for adjustable soles to increase comfort and more ergonomics.
We made product prototypes with a 3D printer and took a demo video.
Our first-generation product helped us win Gold Award with a bonus of NTD$ 150,000 in Tsing Hua Innovation Competition on Tsing Hua Entrepreneurship Day in 2017.
But that was not good enough.
Mechanical Structure Improvement
After winning the NTHU Innovation Competition, we continued improving our product.
Our goal is to make the heel of high heels more stable and able to bear heavier weight.
We introduced "springs" into our mechanism design.
With the help of springs, users will be able to operate height adjustment more easily.
High heel Tenon
Low heel Tenon
Spring
When you want to convert the low heel to a high heel, pull down the bottom heel and then rotate it clockwise. When you want to convert the high heel to a low heel, pull out the bottom heel and it will bounce back automatically.
# A step-by-step Instruction
Low heel
High heel
When the low heel converts to a high heel, the heel extends downwards along the shoe until the next mortise and the inner spring secures the heel through the reverse elastic force.
When the high heel converts to the low heel, the heel retracts to the original mortise along the bevel with elasticity.
In a low-heeled state, the bevels are completely fitted to support the user’s body weight.
In a high-heeled state, the bevels are completely fitted to support the user’s body weight.
Bevel
Heel extend
Mortise
Heel retract
Along
the bevel
Market Feedback
# Would You Buy our product?
Yes
88.7%
# How much would you Pay
for our product?
USD$ 36 - 54
USD$ 54 - 72
USD$ 54 - 72
USD$ 90 - 108
USD$ 126 up
In our questionnaire, 88.7 percent of people expressed their willingness to buy products of our design, and they were willing to spend a price between 1500-2500.
Heal your foot