My new shoes make me feel like a criminal - alarms go off.

[Chan790]

1. Yes, they're done with magnets.

On shoes they're one of two types usually.

It's either a sticker, usually inside the shoe sometimes stuck to the bottom, that looks like this.

Just remove it and your problems are done.

The other type is built into the sole and works the same way. The dead-give away here is that it'll either go off when you enter the store or when you leave but not both; it works like a toggle: First pass reactivates it, second sets it off. This is intentional, much like the dye-tags on clothing it renders the garment unwearable, it should have been deactivated at the time of sale but sometimes the pass-over the deactivator doesn't take. If you take them back to the store you bought them at, their mag-swipe at the register or customer service should permanently deactivate it. Trust me when i say this is not going to be a strange request, it happens a lot. Alternately, it'll just burn out in time from use and stop working. It's a cheap chip-set and usually the chip cracks after a few good solid days of being trod upon...you can speed up the process by wearing them around walking on hard surfaces like concrete or linoleum