Problem+Statement

Problem Statement: Women’s shoes that have flat, smooth bottoms do not provide any resistance to sticky gum. In 1871, the gum production escalated with the patent of a gum manufacture machine; today, over 374 billion sticks of gum are made yearly, and when not disposed of properly, gum becomes a sticky situation. Women in urban areas have agreed that they hate it when there is gum stuck on their shoes as evidenced by the amount of responses to the online search “I hate it when gum is stuck on my shoe.” Although there are many answers on how to effectively remove the gum from your shoes, there are no solutions on how to keep the gum from sticking to the shoe in the first place.

Statement of Purpose: Provide flat, women’s shoes with a gum resistant material to protect the bottom of the shoe.