Woman with world's largest feet forced to make her own size 18 shoes
A woman who holds the World Record for the largest female feet says it is 'impossible' to find shoes that fit her. Tanya Herbert, 39, who is a US shoe size 18, says she has to go to great lengths to ensure her shoes fit and is forced to extend purchased footwear from stores herself.
The 39-year-old from Houston, Texas, was awarded the Guinness World Record, with her right foot measuring 33.1cm (13.03in) and her left foot measuring 32.5 cm (12.79in), Hull Live reports Tanya also happens to be remarkably tall as she stands at 6ft 9inch - only three inches shorter than the tallest woman Rumeysa Gelgi, from Turkey, who is 7ft 0.7in.
Tanya explained: "The most difficult part of having big feet is trying to find shoes that fit. I extend women's shoes myself so they fit my feet, or, if I shop in the men's section, I drop down to either a size 16 or 17 - depending on the brand.
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"I can find some men's shoes at that size online - but when they arrive, I personalise them to make them look more feminine." Tanya, who has always been far taller than her peers, said her shoe size had reached a record-breaking size by the time she was in high school.
She has been forced to wear men's shoes for much of her life as those were the only type of footwear she could find in her size. Tanya has been able to connect with other women who suffer from the same issues through social media and has since found ways to create her own feminine looking shoes by extending their length and width to fit her feet.
Tanya said: "Growing up I was always the tallest around. My mum was 6 ft 5 in and my dad is 6 ft 4 in so it was inevitable I was going to be tall. My parents were supportive growing up so I didn’t think of being tall as a bad thing.
"I never remember getting bullied or anything like that for my height, and my friends made sure I was loved and liked. As I got older, I would buy some of the largest shoes I could find online and extend them out longer and make them wider so that they would fit my feet."
Tanya, who went viral on TikTok at the beginning of this year, was encouraged by other social media users to put herself forward for the Guinness World Records. The 39-year-old decided to get in touch with them in April 2022 and someone came out and measured her feet.
In October, she was officially crowned with the title of World's largest female feet which was previously held by Julie Felton who has US women's size 15.5 feet. Inspirational Tanya now hopes that her record will encourage shoe manufacturing companies to cater more to woman with larger sized feet at a more affordable cost.
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She said: "You can find men’s size shoes that are my size, but trying to find women’s shoes is impossible or extremely unaffordable. Women with size 12 or 13 struggle trying to find shoes, and I’m size 18.
"Being a world record holder may present opportunities that I may not have been offered beforehand. I want to be a spark to the shoe manufacturing industry."
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