A shoe can change your life
“One shoe can change your life,” is what Cinderella taught us.
Four young men in Munich, Germany took this slogan further to ‘a shoe with many heels’ which can change women’s lives. They did this by manufacturing feminine shoes with removable heels.
In a world where women’s need for functional and practical clothes aren’t addressed as they should, creating stilettos that can spin into mid-height heels and then down to flats anytime of the day may sound like Cinderella’s fairy godmother having to work overtime.
Only this time it was four young men who saved many Cinderellas’ from struggle with throbbing tootsies and easing the pain of towering stilettos after dancing the night away – past midnight, and some may not even be looking for princess’.
From Munich-Germany, the four founded Mime et moi, a start-up manufacturing ladies’ shoes with interchangeable heel heights.
It was one of the boy’s girlfriends who had the idea. Just like a lot of other women, they were tired of changing shoes or going home barefoot after a long day on high heels. So, one of the founders took up the idea for a university project in mechanical engineering/construction.
Party hard
A few years later the concept was ready and the four guys founded the company Mime et moi in 2013. While founders are German- based the name is French and means Mime (a girl’s name) and me.
“We always wanted to do something with fashion and make beautiful things.
After a night out with our girlfriends, they walked home barefoot. We immediately were thinking that it was something that was absolutely missing.
A shoe that looks amazing on a woman – sexy and feminine but has a comfort function. So, we knew we had to start with height-convertible shoes and we love what we do, and it doesn’t feel like work, it’s something that we really enjoy doing,” Tim Haas, Founder at Mime et moi and Head Marketing, told the Business Times when we caught up with him in Berlin early this month.
It took another three years for the first shoe to be sold online.
The main difference in the product is the patented sole technology, Tim says, noting that it does not exist anywhere else in this way. Obviously, there are competitors, he says noting that if you take the whole shoe market into consideration all companies that make shoes are competitors.
“If you take a look at the submarket shoes with interchangeable heels, there are still a handful of similar companies. If you only consider the market shoes with sole technology for height adjustment, we are unique. There are other shoes, where a simple locking mechanism allows you to exchange the heel, but Mime et moi is the only brand that allows you to adjust the height of the heel from flat (3 cm) to high (11 cm). With this technology, the inner sole is actively adjusted and adapts to the height of the heel and the shape of the foot.”
So these shoes come with a clip-on heel in different heights. Not only can the heels be changed in height, but shape and colour too. Basically, depending on how you feel, the shoe can be changed. “Our shoes are made for women who love sexy shoes but at the same time want them comfy. We want them to look best and feel comfortable all the time,” Tim says.
Mime et moi shoes are beautiful ones and at that it’s a young fashion brand where changing, heels is really easy and wearing them in all heights just feels great, he promises.
“Nowadays women have to fulfill several roles at the same time and we help woman to adjust their shoes to every situation in daily life.” Slowly but surely, people in the shoe market are becoming aware of company, Tim says noting that their ambition is to gain ground in Europe and establish the brand Mime et moi more strongly. “We have made it our aim to remain market leader in the area of shoes with sole technology focused on height adjustment, and expand our premarket position. We will continue to develop and also take on other trends and try to make them a reality. Of course, it is also possible for us to extend Mime et moi’s product portfolio and enter the offline business.”
So, Mime et moi shoes will definitely confuse Prince Charming in Cinderella’s case, but she still has hope. Why? Because as Marilyn Monroe said give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world – with or without Charming.