The Average Woman’s Shoe Closet Has 11 Pairs of Unused Shoes

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While many women are obsessed with shoes, there are also some researchers who are obsessed with studying our obsession with shoes!

A few years ago, Co-operative Insurance conducted a study on women’s shoe-related habits. The study tried to find out how much women spend on shoes, how long women keep shoes before donating them, and the most common reasons women buy shoes.

The most shocking thing the study discovered? That the average woman has 11 pairs of pristine or hardly worn shoes that’ll never see the light of day! How many unused pairs do you have in your shoe closet?

Isla Fisher as Rebecca Bloomwood sits among her shoes in the 2009 American romantic comedy film Confessions of a ShopaholicIsla Fisher as Rebecca Bloomwood sits among her shoes in the 2009 American romantic comedy film Confessions of a Shopaholic (Credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

Since an earlier study showed that the average woman owns 17 pairs of shoes, does this mean that women generally only wear six pairs of shoes and leave the rest unused?

We understand some women keep certain pairs of shoes in heavy rotation and that some only come out for special occasions, but that the total is JUST six pairs of shoes sounds ridiculous.

The average woman has 11 unused or hardly worn shoes in her shoe closetThe average woman has 11 unused or hardly worn shoes in her shoe closet (Credit: Kostikova Natalia / Shutterstock)

We’re also not quite sure what an insurance company is doing conducting a study on women’s shoes. The study also presented data indicating the average value of all the unworn shoes is more than $650.

According to the study, we spend about $60 on average for each pair, and we fuel our shoe addiction with eight new pairs of shoes annually. Perhaps the insurance company wants to show how much money we’re “frittering away” on shoes instead of on its insurance products.

It also might be thinking of coming up with a product that offers insurance on shoes.

The Daily Mail has quoted the head of home insurance at the Co-operative Lee Mooney, as saying, “It’s staggering to think about how much the average woman’s shoe collection could be worth. Whereas a few decades ago shoes may have been considered an indulgent purchase, it’s now the norm to spend a considerable amount of money on them every year.”

Hmm, shoe insurance… we’ve always known that shoes are serious business.

Some more interesting facts from the study:

  • Nearly a third of the 3,000 women surveyed admit to buying shoes that were the wrong size simply because they liked them.

  • Women buy shoes mainly to go with a new outfit, to cheer themselves up, to stay on-trend, and to fuel a shoe obsession lastly.

  • More than half (55%) keep shoes in their closets, but 1 in 5 admit to stashing them in the living room, scattered around the house, and even in the car.

  • Most women will wear shoes for 3 years before throwing them out.

  • More than a fifth (21%) can’t bear to part with their shoes and will never throw an old pair away.