Oh, patents! Spinning shoes

Copyright © Françoise Herrman Do you wear Skechers Jazz Hands spinning shoes when you dance? If not, perhaps that you should try! WIPO Patent WO2012121741 was awarded for an invention titled “Spinning shoes”, and assigned to Skechers. These shoes have a pivot point, that is, a pivoting assembly inserted into the forefoot of the shoe sole. This enables you to spin and twirl vertically on the tips of your toes when you shift your weight to the forefoot of the shoe! The assembly inside the sole is flush with the outsole, so that it is not visible from the side (as traditional roller skates), and the shoes look like regular casual sports footwear, which you can wear to walk about as usual. To spin like a ballerina or twirl like a Dervish, you will need to shift your weight to the front of the shoe. Below is the abstract of the Skechers Spinning shoe and a copy of Figure 1 extracted from the invention cover sheet.               Abstract WO2012121741 A spinning shoe having an upper and sole member in which the sole member has a spinning assembly In the forefoot. The spinning assembly is placed within a recess in the forefoot region of the sole member. Thus, the user may walk about wearing a normal shoe and then by simply placing their weight on the forefoot region, they may spin about on a vertical axis.                                                               Now you can pirouette and twirl without the squished and aching toes…!