Morning:
10°c
Emergency shoes ease high-heel agony
23 Jun 2009A British entrepreneur who used his redundancy cash to start a business selling foldable shoes from a vending machine is now launching in America.
Businessman Matt Horan is going global with Rollasole, the £5 vending machine emergency flat shoes allowing women to ditch their uncomfortable stiletto heels for the walk home after a night out.
Rollasoles are available in three sizes in either gold, silver or black in more than 25 nightclub vending machines across the UK, and even come with a drawstring bag to carry the offending heels home.
The pumps are selling out in Ibiza superclubs Eden and Space, and Mr Horan is now launching the product in nightclubs in Los Angeles and New York.
Rollasole is also attracting a celebrity following after Perez Hilton, the American gossip blogger, championed the shoes on his website.
Danielle Bux and Gary Lineker will have personalised Rollasoles for guests at their wedding later this year.
Mr Horan, 27, from Oldland Common, in Bristol, graduated from Roehampton University with a psychology degree and worked as an events co-ordinator on a cruise ship before being made redundant at the beginning of 2008.
He came up with the Rollasoles idea after being inspired by a stiletto-loving girlfriend who complained about her crippled feet every time they went out.
He returned to Bristol where he did charity work for Barnardo's while developing a business plan for Rollasole, investing his redundancy money in designing and manufacturing the first pairs of shoes.
Having been turned away by several UK-based vending machine suppliers, Mr Horan eventually found a set of recycled cigarette vending machines in Spain and had them shipped back to the UK to sell the first pairs of Rollasole shoes.
He has now sold 60,000 pairs since launching the company in May 2008 and on Thursday his success story will be featured on NBC News in America.
He says he regards himself as a modern day Prince Charming, escorting danced-out Cinderellas down the stairs, across the kerb and into the back of their taxi carriage.
"After getting tired of giving my girlfriend a piggyback home every Saturday night, I had a 'eureka' moment," he said.
"Within six months we were selling thousands of them.
"In the early days I didn't have much of a budget so I had to travel round the country filling up the machines and promoting the shoes myself.
"It's fantastic that after so many weekends living in my van the hard graft is paying off and word is spreading.
"We have expanded 600% in the last three months. We're always coming up with new ideas and now produce Rollasoles for weddings and special occasions.
"It's not just in nightclubs where women's feet suffer."
The Rollasole brand will be making an appearance at Glastonbury Festival this year, and Mr Horan hopes to thrash out a deal to put the shoes in retail stores worldwide soon.
