Florence has created a base shoe that is neutral in colour and style perfect for every event, and transformable in heel height from flat to high stiletto. There are optional straps available from simple ribbons for £20 to full Swarovski crystal gold broaches and straps for £500 which can adapt your base shoe into the statement piece you’ve always wanted without having to fork out for an entirely new base shoe again! The shoes and straps are made from high quality metals, fabrics, jewels and goat’s leathers sustainably sourced and fully compatible with all of our base shoe designs.
Team
Megan Florence – Psychology with Innovation
Charlotte Ward – History with Innovation
Inspiration
After wearing high heels regularly in both Singapore and Britain, we quickly realised the pains caused from high heels. With our strong passion for shoes and shoe design, we wanted to solve the problems experienced. Convertible high heels have been gaining a lot more attention in recent years with large numbers of women expressing their desire for a high quality, timeless, convertible high heel. As a result, there have been an increasing number of companies attempting to provide this. However, thus far, most attempts have been inadequate in solving all the users’ problems.
Process
We initially targeted Florence at high earning businesswomen for business trips, but our primary research revealed that high heels are out for work. We, therefore, targeted occasion wear. Working with engineer consultants to design and prototype many different shank, heel, sole and upper designs, we then tested the viability, feasibility and desirability of each idea. We have created 2 final shank and heel designs. These have been prototyped from wood for the shanks, fully rendered and one heel, sole and upper has been high fidelity prototyped from steel, plastic and leather to be tested with customers in the future.
Desirability/viability
Our customer is a woman aged between 25 and 45 with disposable income who likes to wear high heels to events. She is conscious of the problems of fast fashion but loves keeping up with the latest trends especially at occasion events. However currently she will buy one shoe for one event that will be unlikely to worn with any other outfit, and won’t even be able to wear that shoe all night, resorting to dancing barefoot on glass, cutting feet walking home on tarmac or, if she’s lucky, finding someone to carry her because of the pain from her high heels.
Impact
Florence has the competitive advantage of being comfortable, convenient and stylish, fully transformable in physical height and style disrupting the luxury footwear market by gaining most profit from the sale of its straps rather than the base shoe. By having one shoe to suit multiple occasions, though the initial cost may be high it will save our consumer’s money yearly and discourage fast fashion as women will buy fewer shoes limiting environmental concerns. Florence is also socially beneficial, encouraging confidence throughout every occasion with both beauty and practicality at the core of our shoes.