Fraser is making shoes from tyres and bottle tops

Fraser Hunter from Blackhall is making shoes from recycled car tyres and bottle tops in a bid to help those living in the Sub-Sahara to ward off disease.

African communities who are regularly barefoot risk contracting Tungiasis which is an inflammatory skin disease caused by ‘jigger fleas’ which live in the sand. The fleas burrow deep into feet and often have to be cut out with a scalpel.

Fraser who is a final year product design student at Edinburgh Napier University thinks his footwear is the answer. He said: “Tungiasis doesn’t receive much attention in the Western world because it doesn’t tend to kill people like malaria but the disease can be crippling to African communities and the hundreds of thousands of people who are infested with jigger fleas each year.

“Many people in rural East Africa are very poor and walk barefoot or wear open-toed sandals, which allows the fleas to attack their feet.

“The pain and swelling stops adults from being able to walk to work and prevents children going to school, trapping people in poverty.

“The shoes I have created, which are for wearing through the day and at night, have been made using a combination of polyester mesh, cotton, silicone and recycled car tyres and plastic bottles.

“While the day shoes can be made using traditional cobbling methods, the night mesh shoes can be put together using a simple sewing kit and could be compared to a mosquito net for feet.”

Fraser (22) now needs some funding to develop his product to help local communities learn how to make the shoes themselves.

The former Royal High School pupil explained: “The idea is to help people help themselves,” “We have tested the shoes as best we can here in Scotland. Ideally, a shoe manufacturer will help fund the project in the short-term and demonstrate the shoes work in Africa.

“In the future, the plan is for the traditional craftsmen in these communities to teach local people to make these shoes using recycled materials.”

Fraser is one of more than 200 students exhibiting their work at Edinburgh Napier’s Degree Show in and around Merchiston campus, which is open to the public from May 20-29.