The height of comfort

French shoe designer Raphael Young has developed a skyscraper heel that he claims is as comfortable as a ballet pump.

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London - It is a familiar sight in offices up and down the country - women slipping out of their stilettos and into flat shoes to walk home.

But one designer is convinced he can consign this ritual to history with a skyscraper heel that he claims is as comfortable as a ballet pump.

And he’s so confident his creation will revolutionise shoe manufacture - and women’s lives - that he has patented it.

“R-Flex”, created by French shoe designer Raphael Young, is a range of smart high heels with flexible rubber and leather soles that are designed to feel comfortable all day long.

The shoes contain steel inserts in the heels, a latex gel injection in the leather soles and a rubber injection under the balls of the feet.

There is also an “anti-twisting steel accessory” which sits near the toes and is designed to steady the shoe and prevent the ankle from twisting.

But with the hi-tech footwear costing nearly £400 (about R4000) a pair, keeping a pair of ballet pumps in your handbag may still be a more affordable option.

Mr Young said he was first inspired to create comfortable shoes 12 years ago while visiting a factory that produced footwear designed to be more flexible and mimic the wearer’s natural walk.

He said: “[The factory] was manufacturing comfort shoes, almost ortho- paedic shoes, where the owner explained that he was looking for a solution to make the shoes more flexible, which could give real comfort if the shoes could accompany the natural movement of the walk.

“After trials and tests in the factory, I found the technical solution to make shoes as flexible and comfy as a ballerina [pump]. We patented it.”

On Mr Young’s website, the R-Flex range is described as “dramatically improving the comfort and flexibility of the shoe while keeping an external look similar to any other standard shoe”.

The designer said he had become obsessed with trying to make stylish shoes that women could wear all day without pain. He said the design process was made up of two stages: “At first I just think about the style and it’s the artistic phase, nothing else than the aesthetic and style,” he explained.

“The second phase concerns the [coming together of] all the components and at this point it’s all about comfort and practicability.

“It’s constant. How can I increase the comfort and longevity of the shoes, how can I modify components and materials to improve the quality and comfort?”

Kay Barron, features editor at Grazia magazine, said: “The Raphael Young shoes are supremely flexible and comfy - surprisingly, considering how high they are. I wore them for a whole day during London Fashion Week and there was no burning pain, or numb toes.”

And for those unwilling to part with £400 for a pair of shoes, she offers some more modest advice about choosing comfortable footwear.

“It’s not to do with the height, a wedge or otherwise, or the brand. It’s all a question of balance and distribution of weight,” she said.

“A well-made shoe that allows your weight to be spread evenly will be more comfortable to stand in for longer than one where the pressure is all on the ball of the foot.”

Mr Young said he first became interested in the craft of making shoes while watching his uncle Alexandre Narcy at work in French fashion house Yves Saint Laurent’s shoe studio. Mr Narcy would craft each “last” - the wooden “foot” shape around which the shoe is built - and fashion the heel by hand. - Daily Mail

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/the-height-of-comfort-1.1061635

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