For a great number of women, toning shoes must seem like the ideal product. When you think about it, it’s hardly surprising. They promise to provide wearers with a cellulite reducing, leg toning, butt firming, posture improving lower body workout with every single step that they take. No need to make time to visit the gym and no need to get all hot and sweaty. Just pull on a different pair of shoes in the morning before you leave the house and you’ll be toned and shapely in no time. You can understand how many professional women or busy mothers would find that to be an attractive prospect.

Although toning shoes are fairly new, they are one of the fastest growing market segments in the footwear sector. A number of different designs and brands are available, the majority of these rely on a specially designed sole in order to work. The sole is designed to encourage the muscle in the lower body to work a little bit harder whilst walking. That’s how the toning and trimming effect is achieved.

Skechers Shape Ups and Masai Barefoot Technology (MBT) Shoes use a chunky, shaped sole which is intended to mimic the mechanics of walking upon soft sand. The sole of FitFlops uses something termed “microwobbleboard” technology. This produces small imbalances when walking and the muscles in the legs and butt try to correct for this. Reebok Easy Tones incorporate special air pods in their soles. These also introduce an element of instability and the leg and butt muscles do extra work as they attempt to restore the body’s natural balance.

A lot of toning shoes look like exercise footwear- FitFlops are the exception that proves the rule. They have never looked anything like exercise footwear and the range includes boots, clogs, slippers and brightly colored sandals. However, other manufacturers like Skechers are now marketing boots, shoes and sandals which look nothing like exercise shoes.

There is a certain element of controversy surrounding toning shoes. Manufacturers have commissioned a number of studies which seem to support the claims made with respect to increased muscle activity. There’s no shortage of glowing testimonials from happy customers. Nevertheless, there are many who consider the claims to be unrealistic and doubt whether the studies performed can be considered truly independent given that they were funded by the manufacturers themselves.

Clearly there are two sides to the story. Nevertheless, health advisers agree that walking is one of the best methods of taking exercise. If toning shoes do nothing other than to encourage users to walk a little bit further and a little more often than they would typically do then that’s a pretty good result in itself.

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Toning shoe sales have been rising rapidly over the last eighteen months - during a period when adverse economic conditions have seen footwear sales generally decline. Toning shoes sales were just $ 17 million in 2008. Toning shoe sales sky-rocketed to $ 252 million in the first four months of 2010. The list of the top ten grossing athletic shoes at this time includes no fewer than six toning shoes - two Reebok Easy Tones and four Skechers Shape Ups.

The big selling point for toning shoes is that they give the wearer a toning and trimming lower body workout just by wearing them and walking around as normal. No need to make time in your day for a trip to the gym - and no expensive monthly membership fees to pay either. All that you need to do is to pull on a different pair of shoes and you will have toned legs and a pert butt in no time.

Toning shoes deliver this walking workout using a specially designed sole. There are design variations across different brands. Skechers and MBT Shoes use a thick, chunky sole, FitFlops use a sole which uses different densities of materials and Reebok Easy Tones have special air pods incorporated.

The exact mechanism may vary across the different brands - but the general theory is that the sole should produce some slight instability during the course of normal walking activity. This encourages the muscles in the lower body to try to re-establish balance - which makes them carry out a little extra work. That’s where the toning and trimming effect comes from.

The various manufacturers have commissioned a variety of different trials and tests which, generally speaking, seem to back up their claims. User feedback is also extremely positive and many happy customers even report extra benefits which are not claimed by the footwear manufacturers. However, there are those who doubt the claims made for toning shoes and who view them as simply the latest gimmick.

Looking at the sales figures, there is very definitely a market for toning shoes. Women are clearly the target market. Skechers, currently the biggest player in the toning shoes sector, have seen their share of the women’s sports footwear market increase by a factor of three - rising to 17%, which represents annual sales of $ 226 million. Reebok have also seen their market share increase to just under 7%.

Even in better market conditions, these would be regarded as extremely impressive results. Whether or not toning shoes genuinely deliver any fitness benefits, there can’t be much doubt that the annual accounts of both Reebok and Skechers are in much better shape thanks to them.

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