70 Fun Facts About Shoe

The world's oldest known leather shoe, about 5,500 years old, was found in 2008 in which country?

It is roughly a modern US size 7, and was preserved under a thick seal of sheep dung.

The earliest known footwear, 10,000-year-old sagebrush-bark sandals, was found in a cave in which US state?

They were dug out of Fort Rock Cave in 1938.

Ötzi the Iceman's shoes from around 3300 BC had bases made from the skin of which animal?

Deerskin side panels and a bark-string net finished the design; the Areni-1 shoe is about 200 years older.

UK and US shoe sizes are spaced one 'barleycorn' apart. How long is a barleycorn?

Continental Europe uses the Paris point of two-thirds of a centimetre instead.

The metal foot-measuring tool found in shoe shops is named after its inventor. What is it called?

Charles F. Brannock came up with it in 1925.

Robert Wadlow, the tallest person in recorded history, wore what US shoe size?

He stood 8 ft 11.1 in and the International Shoe Company supplied his footwear for free.

The 10th-century cavalry of which empire wore heeled boots to keep their feet in the stirrups?

Emissaries of Abbas the Great brought the fashion to Europe in the early 17th century, and men wore them first.

Which French king introduced the red heel to court, before his son restricted it to himself and his circle?

Louis XIV then outlawed red high heels for anyone outside the royal court.

By 1580 a person of wealth or authority was described with what shoe-related phrase?

Even men wore heels by then; the tall, thin stiletto did not arrive until 1950.

Chopines, platform shoes that became a status symbol in Venice, were typically how tall?

They were created in Spain in the 15th century before spreading across Europe.

The 15th-century pointed shoe called the Crakow is thought to be named after a city in which country?

Kraków was then the Polish capital.

In 19th-century China, roughly what proportion of women were estimated to have bound feet?

The ideal 'golden lotus' foot was about three Chinese inches; the last new case was reported in 1957.

In what year did the new Republic of China formally ban foot binding?

The ban was barely enforced; the practice faded over the following decades.

A false story traces 'sabotage' to workers in which Belgian city throwing sabots into machines?

The real trail runs through French labour slang; Émile Pouget wrote of 'saboter un travail' in 1897.

Why were soft-soled athletic shoes nicknamed 'sneakers'?

The Boston Journal was already using the word in 1887 as 'the name boys give to tennis shoes'.

British plimsolls got their name because the band above the sole resembled a line on what?

If water rose above the rubber line, your feet got wet, just as with the load line on a ship.

The earliest rubber-soled athletic shoes, made in Britain in 1876, were designed for which sport?

The New Liverpool Rubber Company called them plimsolls or sandshoes.

Converse All Stars were the official shoe of the Olympics for how long?

Adding Chuck Taylor's signature to the ankle patch made them the first celebrity-endorsed athletic shoe.

How much did Nike pay Carolyn Davidson for designing the Swoosh in 1971?

She was a Portland State design student; in 1983 Phil Knight gave her a diamond Swoosh ring and 500 shares of stock.

What was Nike originally called when Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman founded it in 1964?

The company took its later name from the Greek goddess of victory.

Which kitchen appliance did Bill Bowerman use in 1971 to create a new grippy sole for track shoes?

It was his wife's; the result became the 1972 'Moon Shoe'.

What per-game NBA fine did Jordan's black-and-red Air Jordan I supposedly incur in 1985?

Nike agreed to pay and turned the 'Banned' story into an advertising campaign.

The Air Jordan 'Jumpman' logo comes from a photograph taken before which event?

Co Rentmeester shot it; a pair of Jordan's 1997-98 Air Jordan 13s sold for a record $2.2 million in 2023.

How much did the Air Jordan line sell in its first year?

Nike introduced the shoe in April 1985, named for the Bulls' rookie.

Adidas acquired its three-stripe logo from Finnish brand Karhu for €1,600 and what else?

That was in 1952, three years after Adi Dassler registered the company name.

Adi Dassler's brother Rudolf founded a rival company after their feud. What is it called today?

He first called it Ruda; their home town of Herzogenaurach became 'the town of bent necks' as people checked strangers' shoes.

Which American sprinter did Adi Dassler persuade to wear his handmade spikes at the 1936 Berlin Olympics?

Four gold medals later, the Dassler name was known to athletes worldwide.

Which brand introduced the first sneakers with Velcro straps instead of laces, in 1968?

They caught on in the 1980s, particularly with children and the elderly.

How did Christian Louboutin create his first red-soled shoe in the early 1990s?

The colour is now trademarked as Pantone 18-1663 TPX.

In 2012 a court ruled that Louboutin owns the red sole trademark except when what?

That let Yves Saint Laurent keep selling all-red shoes.

Dr. Martens' air-cushioned sole was designed by a German doctor after he hurt what skiing?

Klaus Märtens went into business with Herbert Funck; the British 1460 boot is named for its 1 April 1960 launch date.

The number of the classic Dr. Martens 1460 boot refers to what?

The three-eyelet 1461 shoe followed exactly a year later; both were made in Wollaston, Northamptonshire.

According to the BBC, who was the first high-profile person to wear Dr. Martens as a symbol of working-class pride?

Skinheads, punks and grunge kids followed the Who's guitarist.

Crocs unveiled their first model, the Beach, in 2002 at what kind of event?

All 200 pairs sold out at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show; by 2017 the company had sold 300 million pairs.

In 2010, Time magazine listed Crocs on which list?

The company had bought Jibbitz, maker of the snap-in charms, for $10 million in 2006.

In L. Frank Baum's original novel, what colour were the slippers the 1939 film turned ruby red?

Five pairs from the film survive; one was stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota in 2005 and recovered by the FBI in 2018.

How much did a pair of the ruby slippers fetch in December 2024, a movie-memorabilia record?

Fees took the total to $32.5 million; it was the pair once stolen from Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

Perrault's 1697 Cinderella has the glass footwear. What material is it in the Brothers Grimm version?

Some scholars have suggested Perrault's 'verre' was really 'vair', squirrel fur, though most think glass was deliberate.

In the Greek forerunner of Cinderella, what animal carries Rhodopis's sandal to the king?

Strabo told the tale; the Chinese Ye Xian story of around 860 uses a light golden shoe.

According to Time magazine's final tally, how many pairs of shoes did Imelda Marcos leave behind in 1986?

Early press reports said 3,000 and some claimed 7,500, along with 15 mink coats and 888 handbags.

The Duke of Wellington had which London bootmaker modify the Hessian boot into the Wellington?

Rubber wellies came later, after Hiram Hutchinson bought Goodyear's vulcanisation patent and founded Aigle in France in 1853.

Which company did Guinness name the largest shoe seller and maker of all time in 2004, with over 14 billion pairs?

Founded in Zlín in 1894, it also popularised prices ending in nine.

Chuck Taylor, whose signature ended up on the Converse All Star, joined the company in 1921 in what role?

The semi-pro basketball player's endorsement was added to the ankle patch within a year.

Under what name did Converse first market the forerunner of the All Star in 1917?

By 2000 the company had sold more than 600 million pairs of the shoe.

Which company bought Converse in 2003?

Converse had gone bankrupt two years earlier.

The Nike Air Force 1, released in 1982, was the first basketball shoe to feature what?

Bruce Kilgore designed it, and it is named after the US president's aeroplane.

Which St. Louis rapper released a 2002 hit single named after Nike's Air Force 1?

By 2007 the shoe was earning Nike an estimated $800 million a year across more than 1,700 colourways.

The Adidas Superstar's nickname, the shell toe, comes from what feature?

It launched in 1969 as a low-top version of the Pro Model basketball shoe.

Run-D.M.C.'s 1986 Adidas deal was the earliest between a major corporation and whom?

The group famously held their Superstars aloft on stage at Madison Square Garden while Adidas executives watched.

Vans opened its first store in 1966 in which California city?

Paul Van Doren sold shoes made that morning directly to customers on East Broadway.

Which actor wore Vans checkerboard slip-ons as Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High?

Vans has also sponsored the Warped Tour since 1999.

Keds' original 1916 model, the Champion, is credited as the first mass-marketed shoe of what type?

The brand was nearly called Peds, from the Latin for feet, but that name was already trademarked.

Nike's 1985 'Banned' advert claimed the NBA had thrown the Air Jordan I out of the game on what date?

The ad said Nike created the shoe on September 15 and the league banned it on October 18; the fine story was mostly marketing.

The Air Jordan XI, worn in Space Jam, is best known for which material on its mudguard?

Michael Jordan wore the model in the 1996 film, and it remains one of the most re-released Jordans.

A pair of Michael Jordan's game-worn Air Jordan 13s from the 1997-98 season sold in 2023 for how much?

It set a record for the most valuable sneakers ever sold.

How much revenue did Jordan Brand bring Nike in 2022 alone?

Not bad for a line that began with a $5,000-per-game fine story.

Reebok's name comes from an Afrikaans word for what animal?

The company was founded in Bolton, England, in 1958 by grandsons of J.W. Foster.

The 1982 Reebok Freestyle, an aerobics shoe, is described as the first athletic shoe designed for whom?

It rode the aerobics boom and made Reebok a giant almost overnight.

Which Reebok technology, launched in 1989, let wearers inflate the shoe for a custom fit?

Adidas bought Reebok in 2005 and sold it to Authentic Brands Group in 2021.

William J. Riley is said to have got the name New Balance in 1906 by watching what in his yard?

His first product was a flexible arch support with three points of contact, like a bird's foot.

Since 2014, Nike has celebrated Air Max Day on which date?

The date marks the 1987 release of the first Air Max with a visible air unit.

Onitsuka Tiger, the Japanese brand later merged into ASICS, was founded in 1949 in which city?

Phil Knight's Blue Ribbon Sports began by importing its running shoes to the US.

Which actress's Onitsuka Tigers in a 2003 Tarantino film gave the brand a global boost?

They matched her Bruce Lee-inspired jumpsuit in Kill Bill: Volume 1.

How many pairs of the first Adidas Yeezy Boost 750 were released in February 2015?

They sold out in ten minutes; Adidas ended the whole line in October 2022.

Who invented the first boat shoe, with its soft white non-marking sole, in 1935?

Deck shoes are cousins of the loafer, with plain leather laces and a sole designed not to scratch a boat's deck.

Shoes made without a distinct left and right, standard until around 1800, are known as what?

The sewn-on sole had been standard since the 17th century, but foot-specific shoes only gradually became the norm.

The espadrille, with its braided jute sole, takes its name from which plant?

The shoe originated in Catalonia as early as the 13th century and was worn by peasants across the Pyrenees.

Roughly what share of the world's shoes are said to end up in landfill?

The global shoe industry is worth around $200 billion a year, increasingly built on rubber, plastics and petrochemical materials.

What name did Lyman Blake's 1856 shoe-sewing invention take after he found a business partner?

It was quickly adopted across New England, and by the 1890s shoemaking was largely mechanised.

How could a Roman soldier's rank be read from his footwear?

Roman military shoes were chiral, with left and right differentiated, and had riveted insoles for traction and durability.