While (unsurprisingly) targeted primarily to children there seems no reason why this brilliant Inchworm expanding shoe concept could not be applied to young-adult and even fully adult shoe sizes – after all, feet are never fully fixed in size and shape and it would be great to adjust even slightly for comfort in different situations.

Regardless of its other potential applications, this ingenious shoe design has certainly found a ready and willing niche in the parents of fast-growing youngsters who are accustomed to switching shoe sizes as often as every few months at some ages.

Designed to give parents a few more months of use, a simple button activates the extension or contraction of the shoe. This, however, seems the weak point of the design – manual mechanical systems like this have more potential to break down.