Personally adjustable footwear

A personally adjustable sandal comprising:(a) a sole having an upper surface and a bottom surface, and including a toe portion, a heel portion, and an intermediate portion, said intermediate portion being integrally formed with both said toe portion and said heel portion, said intermediate portion having a plurality of openings passing substantially vertically through said sole, from and including trough said upper surface and said bottom surface, so that said intermediate portion is elastically flexible to allow relative longitudinal displacement of said toe portion and said heel portion to vary a length of said sole without significant variation in a thickness of said sole by compressing or elongating the vertical openings through the sole, wherein said sole comprises at least two sole layers including a lower sole layer having said bottom surface configured for ground engagement and an upper sole layer including said upper surface for supporting a foot, said lower sole layer and said upper sole layer shaped to define therebetween at least one channel formed between said upper surface and said bottom surface of said sole, extending longitudinally between said toe portion and said heel portion;

• and(b) a retention mechanism associated with both said toe portion and said heel portion, said retention mechanism being configured for retaining any of a plurality of relative positions between said toe portion and said heel portion, wherein said retention mechanism includes an element deployed within said channel, said element being anchored to a first of said toe portion and said heel portion and being displaceable relative to the second of said toe portion and said heel portion.

A personally adjustable sandal comprising:(a) a sole having an upper surface and a bottom surface, and including a toe portion, a heel portion, and an intermediate portion, said intermediate portion being integrally formed with both said toe portion and said heel portion, said intermediate portion having a plurality of openings passing substantially vertically through said sole, from and including trough said upper surface and said bottom surface, so that said intermediate portion is elastically flexible to allow relative longitudinal displacement of said toe portion and said heel portion to vary a length of said sole without significant variation in a thickness of said sole by compressing or elongating the vertical openings through the sole, wherein said sole comprises at least two sole layers including a lower sole layer having said bottom surface configured for ground engagement and an upper sole layer including said upper surface for supporting a foot, said lower sole layer and said upper sole layer shaped to define therebetween at least one channel formed between said upper surface and said bottom surface of said sole, extending longitudinally between said toe portion and said heel portion;

• and(b) a retention mechanism associated with both said toe portion and said heel portion, said retention mechanism being configured for retaining any of a plurality of relative positions between said toe portion and said heel portion, wherein said retention mechanism includes an element deployed within said channel, said element being anchored to a first of said toe portion and said heel portion and being displaceable relative to the second of said toe portion and said heel portion, and further includes a stepped resistance arrangement associated with said element and said second of said toe portion and said heel portion, said stepped resistance arrangement providing a resistive force opposing relative displacement of said toe portion and said heel portion between a plurality of predefined relative positions corresponding to a plurality of different lengths of said sole, such that a length of said sole is manually adjustable by manual application of force to overcome said resistive force, and such that, in the absence of manually applied force, said toe portion and said heel portion are retained in one of said predefined relative positions, and a manually releasable and manually engagable locking mechanism for locking a position of said element relative to said second of said toe portion and said heel portion.