Business Notes FOOTWEAR

High heels weren't designed for walking, so many women wear sneakers on their way to work. Now companies are making dress shoes with sneaker technology. The result: walking pumps with extra cushioning in the soles and heels. Women are running to buy them at $65 to $100 a pair. U.S. Shoe, which touts its Easy Spirit pumps with spots of women playing basketball in them, says sales of the shoes more than doubled last year. Brown Shoe's Naturalizer division quadrupled sales of its NaturalSport line when it added TownWalker pumps to its collection. Says Leslie Smith, a product manager at Rockport, the trendy Massachusetts shoemaker whose version is called Walking Pump: "Women are no longer ready to compromise their comfort."