Average Foot Sizes Rising In Line With Body Mass

We've all read the reports in the news that as a nation we are getting bigger but it seems that it's not just our waistlines that are expanding. As a nation, our feet are getting bigger too! And obesity may be a factor in this trend, with podiatrists citing a link between children who are overweight and larger feet. Simply put, the excess weight the child is carrying makes a child's softer bones splay. Excess weight can thus be a cause of flat feet.

Leading retailers have reported that there has been an increased growth of sales of ladies shoes in size 9 and it's not just women's feet that are getting bigger. For the men there has been an increase in sales of size 12 shoes and even shoes in a size 14 are now being more frequently requested. Storing larger shoes presents its own set of problems but thankfully companies like Rakku have developed products like the Shoe Pod which is designed for large shoe storage.

It seems that there is something of a stigma attached to having so-called 'big feet' with women who take a size 9 or over feeling that their feet are classed as unfeminine. Apparently almost 4 in 10 women with larger sized feet will buy shoes in a smaller size rather than own up to being their real size and 2 in 10 men may be doing the same. The damage that can be inflicted upon feet by wearing shoes that are too small includes generalised foot pain, corns, callouses, bunions, blisters, trapped nerves and even permanently compressed toes. Help for many of these problems is at hand by using foot comfort and shoe comfort products like Foot Petals Insoles.

However attitudes towards larger feet do seem to be shifting with some specialist shoe shops that stock larger sized shoes revamping their image and providing fashionable footwear in sizes 8 and above for women. The celebrity confessions of the larger footed also help the cause - with Kate Winslet, a size 9 coming forward, singer Macy Gray a size 10 and newsreader Kate Silverton, also a size 10 showing us that larger feet certainly haven't impeded their careers!