Shoe me the way: India’s smart footwear to go on sale in September

"Wizard of Oz" heroine Dorothy only had to click her ruby red slippers together and they would spirit her home to Kansas. Now, an Indian high-tech start-up is promising to do the same in real life with a new, GPS-enabled smart sports shoe that vibrates to give the wearer directions. The fiery red sneakers, which will also count the number of steps taken, distance travelled and calories burned, will go on sale in September under the name LeChal, which means "take me along" in Hindi. The shoes come with a detachable Bluetooth transceiver that links to a smartphone app to direct the wearer using Google maps, sending a vibrating signal to indicate a left or right turn.

The footwear works instinctively. Imagine if someone taps your right shoulder, your body naturally reacts to turn right, and that’s how LeChal works.

LeChal creator Krispian Lawrence

Smart shoes aimed at specific demographic markets - such as dementia sufferers and children whose parents want to keep track of their movements - are already commercially available. But LeChal creators Krispian Lawrence and Anirudh Sharma believe theirs will be the first to target mass-market consumers, and have focused on creating stylish rather than purely functional footwear. As well as the red sneaker, they are marketing an insole to allow users to slip the technology into their own shoes. They say they have 25,000 advance orders for the shoes, which will retail at between $100 and $150.

Technology