Expandable shoes for children aim to cut landfill waste
It’s the Dragons’ Den pitch parents have been dreaming about: an expandable children’s shoe that fits long enough to be worn out, and it could soon be a high-street reality.
The average young child needs new shoes every four months, a rapid and costly replacement cycle that sees Britons buy 80m pairs a year, most of which end up in landfill.
But come 2023, kids trainers that are capable of expanding by at least three half-sizes could be in stores after a footwear entrepreneur won backing from the £1m sustainability fund.
Jeroo Doodhmal, the founder of eco-shoe brand Pip & Henry, is behind the “expandable” shoe, a product she thinks could reduce the scale of waste in the UK footwear market where 85% of shoes end up in landfill, according to the Better Shoes Foundation.
“Our aim is to create a shoe that can expand by at least three half-sizes, and therefore double the lifetime use of any shoe,” she said. The design is aimed at under-sevens, a period when children’s feet are growing rapidly.
The 38-year-old businesswoman got the idea after the birth of her daughter. “On the one hand I was showing her Blue Planet, and trying to get her inspired by nature, but on the other, she was outgrowing clothing and footwear faster than I could effectively recycle it,” she said.
The hard part to get right will be the sole, and several options are being explored. One is a mechanism that can be extended and secured with an interlocking piece, like a jigsaw.
Another is to use a flexible material that can be stretched and then locked into position. The upper will be made out of an elasticated material and secured using zips and toggles. The shoes will also likely come with several insoles.
The £250,000 grant will be used to complete the design of
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