Fun Historical Shoe Facts

• The earliest known shoes are sandals that date back to between 7,000 and 8,000 BC.
• The first shoes were made from animal skins and leather cord.
• Thong sandals date back to 4,000 BC and were made from papyrus leaves, rawhide, wood, rice straw, etc.
• The ancient Romans were the first to construct distinct left and right shoes. Before that, shoes could be worn on either foot.
• Shoe sizes were devised in England by King Edward II who declared in 1324 that the diameter of one barely corn (a third of an inch) would represent one full shoe size. This is still true today.
• The record for the world’s largest feet belongs to Matthew McGrory who wears US size 28 1/2 shoes.

Image by Pedro Ribeiro Simoes. Roman Sandal. (2010). Flickr.