There is absolutely nothing that is guaranteed to fill up luggage as quickly as shoes. So what if you could pack up a single set of shoes that could easily be converted into several different looks?
That’s the idea behind Shooz, the brainchild of Edoardo Iannuzzi, who has created ‘modular’ footwear that can be customised to every occasion.
The idea behind it is simple. You get the sole of a shoe and then you buy a range of ‘skins’ that can be zipped on to it depending on what you need.
The project has been fully funded through Kickstarter and the first shoes – that is, both the soles and the skins – are about to be delivered to backers.
Founder Edoardo Iannuzzi told Lonely Planet: “It’s never easy to make a product that had never been made before and when trying to explain the idea to our manufacturer he thought we were mad, the pattern cutters were going crazy, and all of the workers in the factory were looking at us like we had just come out from a madhouse.
“Luckily, the factory’s boss shared our vision. It took a while to come up with the first working prototype, the first ones were all crooked and looked more like bananas than shoes. But we knew it was just a matter of insisting and pursuing our intentions.”
He said the main advantage of Shooz was in cutting down on filling travel bags up with all sorts of footwear.
“I travel frequently and only with hand luggage and I love practicality combined with style,” he said.
“My challenge every time I pack is to … have all I need to be ready for a business meeting, free time and [even] a sport session. I’ll wear a pair [of Shooz] on my feet and bring my Shooz skins flat in my suitcase with each of them taking the space of a t-shirt.”