KEY POINTS:
Tucked away in foot labs at Auckland's AUT University, researchers are quietly working towards triggering an all-out, all-woman stampede.
Their aim is to find a technology that will end - or at least greatly ease - the pain caused by high heels, suffered by fashion-conscious females worldwide.
Pairing up with comfort-conscious shoe manufacturer Kumfs, the researchers hope their ground-breaking project will unlock the secrets of what really makes a shoe comfortable.
Within 12 months female feet of all shapes and sizes will be required to test-drive a new insert.
Researchers, including the country's first professor of podiatry, Keith Rome, expect hordes of Kiwi women to snap at their heels for the chance to give the new shoe technology a go.
Announcement of the novel commercial partnership, which Kumfs' managing director Andrew Robertson anticipates will result in a "world-leading design prototype" to "significantly enhance" female foot comfort, comes as podiatrists warn that Kiwi women are developing osteoarthritis in their feet like never before.
They say prolonged wearing of high heels - the latest catwalk trends have heels up to 17cm - is often to blame for crippling pain and afflictions including bunions, deformed toes, back, knee, hip, and even neurological problems.
Rangimarie Whatley, of Remuera's Perform Podiatry, told the Herald on Sunday "excessive loading" caused by heel-wearing damaged nerves, tendons, joints and could also affect women's knees, spine and hips to the point where they needed surgery.
Whatley was not surprised by a report claiming British women were spending £29 million ($81.6m) on podiatrist and surgeons' bills every year. She believed Kiwi women were no better off, often buying shoes that were not only improbably high, but also too small.
"Osteoarthritis is going to increase to being one of the biggest health problems we will face with an ageing population."
Ankle injuries caused by women falling off their heels are also over-represented in Accident Compensation Corporation statistics.
John Miller of Foot Mechanics said he'd seen countless women, some still in their teens, who had developed problems from wearing high heels. Lower back pain was common, as were "claw toes", corns and tendonitis.
His advice to restrict high heels to special occasions often fell on deaf ears.
"As a podiatrist, if you want to tell women not to wear high-heeled shoes, you are going to be out of a job pretty quickly."
Robertson said researchers had already gathered "just about all the literature in the world on the subject" and warned the solution would not come easy.
The inserts would be designed for Kumfs shoes, leaving fans of the "killer" or "limo" styles so beloved by A-listers out of luck - Kumfs' highest heels are just 6.5cm.
