When our feet are wrapped inside shoes on a sweltering summer day, it invariably gets infested by a sticky heat and bad odor. More often than not this uneasiness can be too overwhelming for our fragile legs. But your feet don’t have to suffer this indignation no matter the scorching heat. It deserves much better and air-conditioned shoes will exceed your expectations by offering your feet high tech cooling effect.
A futuristic product, air-conditioned shoes promises to revolutionize the shoe industry. This blog post will give an overview of how this revolution could unfold by exploring its features, benefits, and top brands competing in this niche.
What are air conditioned shoes?
Air-conditioned shoes are not your ordinary shoes that scarcely have anything to do with hi-tech technology. As mentioned above, at the heart of this shoe is a cutting-edge technology that is seamlessly integrated into the shoes.
Micro-fans, ventilation systems and thermoelectric materials all come together to lower the temperature and evenly distribute the cool air around your feet. Therefore, despite unforgiving heat and strenuous physical activities or prolonged standing, your feet won’t get itchy, dry, sweaty or any other form of discomfort
Technology behind air-conditioned shoes
In the above paragraph, we have given some idea about the mechanism and operational principles that fuels these hi-tech shoes. However, in this section, we’ll dwell into the technical aspect more deeply.
Air circulation system:
Air circulation system is nothing but a tiny fan that is fitted in the soles or upper-part of the shoes. The basic air circulation mechanism that is found in this type of shoes is very similar to the ones found in air conditioners (ACs) and air coolers. One of the major differences is that they have comparatively larger fans, and Acs in particular requires far more sophisticated mechanism.
These tiny fans suck in the fresh air from the external environment and evenly distribute cool air around the feet.
Thermoelectric cooling:
Many air-conditioned shoes come embedded with Thermoelectric cooling technology. Thermoelectric cooling technology or TEC not only helps in regulating the temperature but also absorbs heat from your feet. This dual function makes sure that your feet always remain optimally cool.
Smart ventilation design: Vents and holes are strategically placed that allows for natural airflows, making sure that the heat does not accumulate.
Smart temperature control: Imagine wearing shoes that allow users to adjust the cooling or temperature through a smartphone app. In these high-end models, temperature is controlled through Bluetooth technology.
Additionally, some high-end models also include gel pads that absorbs humidity and provide calming cooling effect to your feet.
Benefits of air-conditioned shoes
Regulates temperature and keeps your feet cool:
The most obvious benefit is that it keeps your feet cool even amid rising mercury and during physically exerting activities. This not only comforts your feet but also your tenacious mind, adding up to your overall confidence.
Promotes healthy and hygienic living:
It barely crosses most people’s mind that shoes could have any relation with our health. For all those doubters, it does and hi-tech shoes of all have a strong connection with our health. It reduces the risk of bacterial and fungal infection, prevents bad odor and sweat build-up among other things.
Improves efficiency and performance:
When you have shoes that facilitates healthy lifestyle then it bodes well for your daily productivity and performance. It certainly augurs well for those people who are involved strenuous physical activities
Top Brands Competing in this niche
Considering that air-conditioned shoes are still futuristic concept, there are not many brands that manufacture such type of shoes. This only goes on to prove that it is still highly niche market and its market is still evolving.
Cyberbackpack, CoolCore, Cool Breeze Shoes, and Chillyfeet are among the most notable brand that competes in this niche.
What about top brands like Nike, Adidas and Reebook? Although these top brands don’t manufacture shoes that is exclusively focused on air conditioning features, you’ll certainly find many Nike, Adidas and Chillyfeet shoes that is embedded with innovative cooling technologies and advanced ventilation system.
Nike and Adidas shoes with air-cooling feature
- Nike Air Max DN Winterized Shoes.
- Nike Air Tailwind.
- Nike Air Zoom SuperRep.
- Nike Air Huarache.
- Adidas Climacool shoes.
- Adidas Climacool Vento Running Shoes.
Obstacles and challenging factors:
Although these hi-tech shoes are showing considerable potential to better our lives, they have their own downsides and challenges.
- Due to their cooling effect feature, wearing or using these types of shoes can be bit challenging especially during monsoon and winter seasons.
- Limited battery life can be a major challenge especially if you continuously use it for prolong period of time. Besides, you have to keep charging the battery after every few hours, which can lot of irritation and
- Due to its higher cost and expensive price tag, these shoes have a limited appeal among consumers.
- Since these shoes are still in prototype stage, companies still don’t have the confidence to mass produce these products.
- Maintenance of these shoes can be quite challenging especially considering that it is fitted with sensitive electronic components. Due to the electronic components, you cannot wash these shoes.
Are these Shoes Commonly Available in the Market?
No. Shoes exclusively focused on air conditioning features are still not commonly available in the market. As mentioned above, these shoes are still in experimental and prototype stage and hence not many companies currently manufacture them. However, shoes with air cooling and ventilation features are commonly available in the market.
What is the future of AC shoes?
As the wearable technology matures and advances, we can expect some great things from the air-conditioned shoes. Here’s how this technology and the future could unfold.
- Temperature of the shoes can be controlled through artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies.
- Going forward, we can expect improved battery life.
- To achieve energy efficiency, in future these shoes could integrate solar powered systems.
- We can also expect waterproof models to arrive in the market to make these shoes more accessible and usable in all seasons including rainy season.
Conclusion:
Air-conditioned shoes are not your fancy product thriving on unrealistic hype. It represents advanced wearable technology that promises unprecedented comfort and health benefits for our feet. This leap in footwear innovation certainly appears promising and we have all the reasons to be excited. We can certainly look forward to these shoes to get respite from heat related problems and other discomfort issues.
These shoes are ideal choice for people whose work mandates long hour of standing and physical activities or those desperately seeking comfort from rising heat or heat related problems.
Lastly, these shoes have been proven to be 100% safe. Therefore, any reservations or concerns about your safety could be largely misplaced.