[Photo/Instagram @tanyaheathparisfrance]

Sky-high shoes are lovely, but they can also cause a lot of pain after you've worn them for some time. One hour, six minutes and 48 seconds, to be exact, according to a 2013 survey conducted by the UK's College of Podiatry on how long it takes on average for a woman to feel the agony of high heels.

With this in mind, a few brands have started to experiment with the idea of interchangeable heels. Tanya Heath is one the early pioneers who attempted to make the convertible shoes of her dreams come true. Her brand, Tanya Heath Paris, launched in 2012 after three years of working with a team of engineers, shoe designers and technicians. In various colors, styles and heights (ranging from 4.5cm to a towering 8cm), the brand's heels can also be personalised.

[Photo/Instagram @tanyaheathparisfrance]

Most importantly, the replacement of the heels on a pair is quite straightforward – just press a button deep in the insole, slide the heel out and, when you slide the other heel in, do it with a bit of force until you hear a click. "Do make sure you hear the click so that you know the heel is safe to walk in," advises Heath.

"Our love of high and low" is one of the taglines used by another leading convertible shoe brand: Mime et moi, based in Munich. When one pair of shoes can be converted into multiple styles (be they pumps, boots or flats), the sky's the limit. And if you love to mix and match styles – and heights – you're sure to get the best of both worlds.

For footwear aficionados, with all these new choices, you might want to start thinking about a new way of sorting your shoe closet. Could you go by heel type? There's stiletto, trotter, kitten, block, flat… What about by pattern and style? Try metallic, all-day basic, velvet, mosaic, polka dot, animal print… the list goes on and it's a brave new world.

[Photo/Instagram @mimeetmoi]