What can you not do without on a walk, in the office or when going out? Of course, without the shoes that mankind has been producing since ancient times. There are many interesting facts in the history of shoes, which we will tell you about.
The biggest shoe
In Hauenstein (Germany) in 2006, an incredibly huge walking boot appeared, which was developed by the German company Schuh Marke. Just imagine its dimensions: the height was 4.2 m, the width was 2.5 m, and the length was 7.14 m! Naturally, the weight of the boot is impressive: this figure reaches 1.5 tons. Do you want to know how long the cord is? As much as 35 meters, which is equal to the length of almost four limousines!
The largest private collection of shoes
It turns out that most of the things in the world that are associated with shoes are owned by a resident of the United States — Darlene Flynn. Back in 2012, she was the owner of 15,665 pairs of shoes and accessories.
If you look at data on sneaker collections, then Joshua Miller is the leader in this area. He owns 1,546 pairs of classic sneakers located in Lakewood, Washington. And another American, Geordie Geller, had a passion for collecting sneakers. As a result, he managed to create a collection that consists of 1546 pairs of sneakers from different brands.
Record prices for sneakers and shoes
On May 24, 2000, «ruby» shoes were put up for auction at Christie’s, which were used as props for the filming of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. They were worn by American actress Judy Garland. As a result of the auction, the sale price was 666,000 dollars!
The record price for sneakers was registered on July 23, 2019 in New York at Sotheby’s auction. One of the lots was a pair of new Nike Waffle Racing Flat «Moon Shoe» shoes that were released in 1972. This model is handcrafted by Bill Bowerman, co-founder of the Nike brand. The lot cost was $437,500.
Best Selling Shoe Brand
Market research company Euromonitor International conducted a massive study in search of an answer to the question: “Which brand sells the most shoes in the world?”. As of February 27, 2020, this title belongs to Nike. This is due to the fact that in 2019 the sales of this brand amounted to 31.55 billion dollars.
The largest sculpture in the form of shoes
The largest shoe sculpture was created by artist Bob Wyed (USA). It is made in the form of cowboy boots, the height of which is 10.74 meters. The base structure is a steel frame filled with fiberglass and concrete. The surface of the resulting material is designed in the form of ostrich skin. You can admire the huge cowboy boots if you look into the state of Texas, San Antonio and go to the entrance to the North Star Mall.
And one more interesting fact: the British company Clarks, which is part of the Soho brand portfolio, holds the title of world record holder in the number of pairs of shoes produced in the casual and comfortable market segment. The figure is impressive: every year the brand produces more than 50 million pairs of shoes for men, women and children!