Apple Just Launched its Foldable iPhone. I Invented Foldable Shoes when BlackBerry Ruled the World

What do a foldable iPhone and a pair of shoes have in common?

Yesterday, I found myself explaining the idea behind the foldable shoe live on BBC Radio London, talking to Jim Davis about an invention that began with a very ordinary frustration: the difficulty of getting through a working day in beautiful shoes when your feet are telling you something quite different.

It was a lovely opportunity to revisit the story. But it also felt particularly timely.

Apple has just launched its first foldable iPhone, the Duo. To be fair to Samsung, it has been developing foldable smartphones for years. But now, suddenly, the idea of a familiar object transforming itself to become more compact, portable and adaptable is back in the spotlight.

It made me think about 2007, when I invented the foldable shoe. BlackBerry was the smartphone everyone seemed to have, mobile technology was changing how we worked, and the first iPhone had only just been unveiled. Nobody was talking about foldable phones in the way we do today. And I was thinking about something completely different: why should women have to carry a bulky, spare pair of shoes around with them, just to be able to change into something more comfortable when our heels would start to hurt?

For the full story of how the idea came to life, read The Everyday Shoe That Folds, which explores the thinking behind my original invention and the problem I wanted to solve for women on the move.

Nearly twenty years later, technology has changed enormously. The underlying design question, however, feels remarkably familiar.

Apple has entered the fold.

Apple's first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo, was unveiled in September 2026, with availability beginning on 23 October. Opened out, its 7.6 inch inner display provides a much larger screen for viewing, multitasking and entertainment. Folded, it becomes a compact device designed to fit into everyday life.

That is the central appeal of a foldable phone. You can carry something relatively compact, then expand it when you need more space. The design adapts to the moment rather than asking you to carry a larger device everywhere.

Apple is not the first to explore this idea. Samsung unveiled its original Galaxy Fold in 2019, introducing a smartphone that opened like a book to reveal a larger display. The company has continued to develop the category, and its 2026 Galaxy Z Fold8 and Fold8 Ultra models offer different approaches to the same basic proposition: a device that can be compact when closed and more expansive when opened.

There is something fascinating about watching a familiar product category being rethought in this way. The mobile phone has spent decades becoming more capable, with bigger screens and increasingly sophisticated technology. Foldable designs introduce another possibility, and perhaps the next step is not simply to make things bigger, but to make them adaptable.

A device can be compact when you are travelling, expansive when you are working and flexible to accommodate the different ways you use it throughout the day.

It is a clever response to a very modern problem. We want more from the things we carry, but we do not necessarily want to carry more things.

In 2007, I was thinking about a different kind of portability

When I came up with the idea for the foldable shoe, my problem was not a lack of technology. It was a lack of choice. And space.

I was a young professional living and working in London. I loved wearing heels, but the reality of commuting in them was not plausible. By the end of the working day (and often much earlier), I often wanted to change into something kinder to my feet.

The obvious solution was to carry another pair of shoes. Yet a spare pair of comfortable shoes took up valuable room in my handbag, and the alternatives often felt like a compromise between comfort and style.

I wanted something that did not force me to choose.

So I began asking a question that, at the time, had no obvious answer: why couldn't a beautiful and comfortable pair of shoes fold away neatly and compactly into a handbag?

It sounds simple when you say it now. But there was no foldable shoe to turn to, no familiar template to follow and no product on the market that did what I imagined. I had to work out how to make the idea real.

The challenge was not merely to make a shoe bend. It had to fold compactly, return to its wearable shape and still look beautiful on the foot. It needed to be a shoe women would genuinely want to wear, and not simply a clever object they would admire for a moment.

That distinction became fundamental to how I approached the design. The folding mechanism was only part of the invention. The shoe itself had to work.

In 2007, I founded Cocorose London around that idea. What began as a solution to a personal frustration became a new category of women's footwear, created around the realities of modern life.

BlackBerry, the first iPhone and the idea of making life more portable

There is a detail about the timing of my invention that I particularly enjoy looking back on.

In 2007, BlackBerry was synonymous with mobile working. Its devices had made it easier to keep up with emails, messages and work while away from a desk. Apple unveiled the first iPhone that January, beginning another chapter in the evolution of the smartphone.

It was a moment when technology was changing our expectations of everyday objects. We were becoming accustomed to products that could do more, travel with us and fit more naturally around the way we lived.

I was working on a similar idea, albeit in a completely different field and category.

My invention was all about removing an inconvenience. Instead of carrying a bulky spare pair, women could carry a pair of foldable shoes in their handbag and change when they needed to.

That is where I see the connection with foldable technology today. A foldable phone is not interesting simply because its screen bends. It is interesting because that flexibility changes how the device can be carried and used. The same principle applied to my shoes: the ability to fold was valuable because it made the product more useful in everyday life.

Of course, a flexible display and a foldable shoe involve very different materials, engineering and design challenges. I am not suggesting they are technically the same invention. What connects them is the thinking behind them: start with a real human need, question the assumptions around an existing product and explore whether a different design can make life a little easier.

Sometimes innovation begins by adding something new. Sometimes it begins by looking at something familiar and asking why it has always been done that way.

The best inventions solve problems people have learned to live with

One of the most interesting things about inventing the foldable shoe was discovering how people responded when they first saw it.

In the early days, I spent weekends selling at the Backyard Market on Brick Lane in East London. I would pick up a pair of shoes, fold them in half and place them inside their compact travel purse. People would stop, look again and often ask me to demonstrate it a second time.

It was a little like a magic trick. But what mattered was the moment when people understood what the invention could do for them.

They were not simply looking at a foldable ballet flats. They were imagining a wedding where they could change out of their heels, a commute that might be more comfortable, a holiday with less to pack or an evening that could continue without sore feet dictating when it ended.

They had not necessarily been searching for foldable shoes because they had never considered that shoes could fold. Once they saw the possibility, however, the idea made immediate sense.

I think many meaningful innovations begin in this way. We become so accustomed to the limitations of a familiar product that we stop questioning them. We accept that spare shoes take up space, that a larger screen means carrying a larger device, or that practicality must come at the expense of appearance.

Then somebody asks a different question.

What if the screen could fold? What if the shoes could fold? What if the thing we have always carried could become easier to carry without losing the qualities that made us want it in the first place?

The answer is not always straightforward. A good idea still needs thoughtful design, careful development and the determination to make it work in the real world. But that initial question can open a door that nobody knew was there.

Foldable does not have to mean a compromise

One of the lessons I learned early on was that the smallest possible folded shoe was not automatically the best shoe. It was tempting to focus on how compact I could make the design, but that was only one measure of success.

A shoe still had to feel good on the foot. It had to look elegant, fit properly and work for the woman wearing it. Portability was important, but it could not come at the expense of the experience itself.

The design principles behind a successful foldable shoe go well beyond the ability to fold. In What Makes a Great Foldable Shoe?, I explore the details that bring comfort, flexibility, support and style together in a shoe designed for everyday life.

That principle has continued to guide the way I think about footwear at Cocorose London. Over time, our original concept has evolved, and we have developed leather foldable ballet flats that bring together the qualities women expect from an everyday shoe with the convenience of being able to fold and carry them.

The aim is not to make a shoe that is useful only in an emergency. It is to create a beautiful pair of flats that can be worn in their own right, with the added benefit of folding neatly into a travel pouch when needed.

It is a subtle but important distinction. The foldability should enhance the shoe, not define its entire value.

I suspect the same question will continue to shape the future of foldable technology. The folding mechanism may capture attention at first, but the long term value of any device will depend on how well it works, how it fits into daily life and whether the flexibility genuinely improves the experience.

What the foldable iPhone means to me as an inventor

Seeing Apple enter the foldable phone market is a reminder that an idea can take time to become familiar. Samsung began bringing foldable smartphones to market years ago, and the technology has continued to develop. Now Apple's arrival is bringing the concept to a fresh audience.

It is tempting to think of innovation as a race, with one company launching something and everyone else following. In reality, new categories often develop over many years. Different designers and companies explore different solutions, and each iteration can help people understand what a new form of product might offer.

For me, the most interesting part is not which company has made a foldable phone. It is the fact that we are increasingly open to questioning the shape of everyday things.

We have become accustomed to carrying technology that adapts to us. Perhaps we should expect the same thoughtful design from the other objects that accompany us through our lives, including what we wear on our feet.

That is what I set out to do with Cocorose London. I wanted to create footwear for women who move between different places, roles and occasions throughout the day, without asking them to compromise on style or comfort.

Yesterday's BBC Radio London conversation brought me back to where it all began: my frustrating commute, a problem for so many women that seemed to have no elegant solution and the determination to create something that did not yet exist.

When I invented the foldable shoe, BlackBerry was the smartphone of the moment. Today, Apple and Samsung are exploring what happens when a phone can unfold into something more. The products are different, but the question remains a good one: how can we design everyday objects to work better for the lives we actually lead?

That question was behind the first pair of Cocorose foldable shoes in 2007. It is still behind the way I think about design today.

Discover the Cocorose London Ultimate Guide to Foldable Shoes to explore how the original idea has evolved, and explore our foldable shoes to see the concept in practice.

Sometimes the most interesting innovation is not about inventing something entirely unfamiliar. It is about looking at something we use every day and imagining how it could work differently.