Increasing Foot Comfort Inside the Shoes by Optimizing the Last Shape

Throughout life, the human foot undergoes permanent transformations. Results of medical studies show that foot size stabilizes at the age of 18, when the ossification process ends. Therefore, special attention should be paid to quantifying constructive parameters of the shoe last so as not to adversely affect the natural development of the foot. To increase foot comfort inside the shoes, lasts will be designed based on anthropometric measurements by 3D imaging capture. For last and footwear prototyping, 17 children, eight girls and nine boys, aged between 3 and 7, were chosen for the study. The following steps were taken: (i) anthropometric data collection from female and male children and statistical processing of these data in order to establish constructive parameters of lasts; (ii) designing and manufacturing the last - average size - according to destination; (iii) designing and manufacturing the footwear model; (iv) creating a batch of shoes - test wearing; (v) analyzing the results of test wearing. As a result of designing and creating the new prototype lasts, and their testing through test wearing, it was concluded that: (a) the back of the last can be standardized in a proportion of 2/3 of the total length; (B) in terms of size, footwear corresponds to the shape of the foot. It follows that the new prototype lasts provide comfort inside the footwear.