The Office Manager — In Tray

Abstract

Most of our manufactured goods are made on mass-production lines and shoes are not generally an exception. So when one thinks of shoes which are not only hand-made but also specially tailored to suit every individual’s taste and foot shape, one expects to find prices becoming quite exorbitant. Yet Paula Jones and her friend Tina Patel have combined the two apparently incompatible notions of reasonably priced, high-fashion footwear for ladies. Paula was on her way to obtaining a degree in electronic engineering when she discovered a simple application of the technique for body scanning — this time applied to a three-dimensional measurement of the foot. The device was both ingenious and inexpensive and after obtaining the necessary patents she set up in business with her friend, Tina, who was a talented designer of the more exotic footwear. Their plan was uncomplicated. They would provide a number of retailers with their Electronic Measuring Devices (they called them EMDs) at a modest price and offer their customers the opportunity to have shoes specially made to fit each foot perfectly. A catalogue of designs would be available from which the customer could choose the sort of ‘upper’ she had in mind.