So, how do you feel about wearing a flip-flop that has the potential to make your bum smaller and your legs leaner?

I thought so. Me, too. The concept (and the shoe itself) has been dreamt up by a woman who specialises in coming up with things we all want, but just didn't know it. Marcia Kilgore is the former personal trainer who came up with the concept of Bliss ­ the Mecca for spa hoppers on both sides of the Atlantic ­ and then surpassed herself with her next project, the gloriously tabloidish "Soap and Glory" skincare range.

Kilgore created Fitflops in response to her own needs. "I never have the time to go to the gym," she says, "so I thought, wouldn't it be great if you could get an MBT sort of flip-flop that you could wear in the summer, that exercises your legs while you walk to the office?" Kilgore refers, of course, to the monumentally ugly (though some say equally effective) Masai Barefoot Technology training shoe, developed by Swiss Engineer Karl Muller.

MBT trainers (more than a million pairs sold) are thought to improve posture, relieve back pain and exercise your legs and bum while you walk.

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Muller first took an interest in the technology after crossing a Korean paddy field barefoot and discovering that it alleviated his back pain. I guess Korean Barefoot Technology doesn't have the same ring. He went on to analyse the barefoot walking techniques of the Masai in East Africa ­ the semi-nomadic Masai allegedly have no postural issues or backache. They also have no savvy deal struck with MBT, that would allow them to benefit from every pair sold. The company does, though, have a project to drill boreholes, supplying clean water to areas of Kenya. So that's all right, then.

Kilgore's own foot mechanic was Dr Dave Cook, a lecturing podiatric biomechanist (who even knew this was a profession?) at South Bank University in London. Kilgour says she was impressed by his passion, knowledge and his trim buttocks "which you could bounce a quarter off". Sounds good to me.

Fitflops, it is claimed, burn fat, improve posture, strengthen muscles and reduce joint strain. How do they work? Well, in a similar way to MBT, the Fitflop slightly destablises the foot as one walks, creating a kind of continuous tension in the muscles of the foot and leg. "It's like a mini-wobble board," explains Kilgore. "It makes you step more naturally and it activates the slow-twitch muscle fibres in the legs [the fat burners]." Do Fitflops (£38) really do the job? I've only been wearing mine "exclusively" for a few days, so it's hard to tell. They definitely make walking a different experience, and, as one normally prim mother said to me on the school run, "The concept is the dog's b*******." You heard it here first.

www.thefitflop.com

Have you bought a pair of Fitflops? Do they work? Let us know.

coolhunter@thetimes.co.uk

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