Lancaster inventor creates women’s shoe for 20 different occasions

occasions.

Tanya Mulesa the founder of Cleverstein, has designed the product and the business model, which enables women to sustain their shoe closets, wellbeing and the planet.

Tanya, who is based at Halton Mill, also won the 2019 Global Women Inventors and Innovators Network Awards For Exceptional Creativity.

She said: “An average woman owns 20 pairs of shoes. But she only wears three to four pairs a week.

“The rest create unnecessary clutter, waste, and many shoes regularly blister her feet causing long-term skin deformations.

“Imagine owning shoes which are able to transform in many ways to fit different occasions, are blister-free, clutter-free and practically eliminate your carbon footprint from shoes.”

Described as “game-changing”, the shoes transform thanks to the mechanism for adding different accessories on the top, creating different looks to match various outfits and occasions, from office to a casual day out to an evening event.

She launched with two colours of classic ballet flats in black and powder and 20 different accessories.

“Tanya said: “You can easily match the shoes and accessories to your outfit and even change your look throughout the day.

“Another innovative aspect of Cleversteins - they are proudly comfortable and blister-free. A

“ll areas of the shoes that are at risk to blister have been thought through to make sure the feet are not affected.

“Cleverstein solution enables women to have clutter-free wardrobes.

“Both shoes and accessories are stored in an elegantly designed Capsule closet hanger, making the footwear closet minimalistically organised. Marie Kondo would be very proud!”

Tanya added: “I am so humbled by the win, but also am thrilled and feel empowered to grow this innovative shoe concept further to help footwear industry reduce its impact on the environment without compromising the amount of styles women want.”

Cleverstein says that it aims to achieve the “four Rs” - reduce, regenerate, repair and recycle, and that a tree will be planted for every pair of shoes produced.

Tanya added that new models of shoes would be added next year such as heels, trainers and sandals.