The 'FindSimilar For Shoes' programme picks up on the shape, texture and design from a photograph and matches it to similar products on an online database.
The technology copies the way the brain processes images. It matches shape, then colour and details to identify shoes that will look and feel just like your worn-out favourites.
Working like a visual search engine, which can be embedded into a mobile app or fashion website, the programme aims to act as a personal shopping assistant.
"This kind of technology is very exciting, it is teaching computers to see how we see. This is a huge leap forward, to be able to just take a picture, a wild picture, and pick out the detail and match it against a database," said Iain McCready, of Cortexica, the British company that developed the programme.
"Soon, people will use image recognition for full street style. You will be able to take a picture of someone in the street and immediately be able to buy what they are wearing. The app will match their shirt, their shoes, their coat, all from one photograph," McCready said.