Marikina’s giant shoes earn Guinness plum

Marikina City’s 5.5-meter (18-foot) long pair of shoes ran away with the Guinness record for being the largest in the world.

Mayor Lourdes Fernando said she was informed by a team of researchers from the Guinness Book of World Records that a certificate of recognition for being the new title holder in the largest shoe category is now on its way to Marikina’s local government.

Marikina’s giant pair of shoes – measuring 5.5 meters (18 feet) in length, 2.25 meters (7.4 feet) in width and1.83 (six feet) meters in height – stomped its class on its nearest rival, a 3.12-meter long right shoe produced by Zahit Okurlar of Konya, Turkey.

A nine-man team from Colossal Footwear crafted the giant shoes, which are made of 100 percent leather. Fernando said the leather could be used to make close to 250 pairs of regular shoes. The giant shoes are Oxford-designed and could be used by a 125-foot tall man, who would be of the same height as the Statue of Liberty in New York.

The record-breaking pair of shoes are currently on display at the Marikina Sports Park.

Fernando said she hopes that the feat done by Colossal Footwear will encourage the shoe manufacturers of Marikina – long perceived to be the shoe capital of the Philippines – to continue producing quality leather shoes. – Non Alquitran