A Michigan 19-year-old, who was previously in the Guinness Book of World Records for world's tallest teenager, has finally found an affordable pair of shoes that fit his US size-28 feet.
Broc Brown, who is nearly 8 feet tall, has Sotos Syndrome. Sotos is also known as cerebral gigantism and affects approximately one in every 15,000 people, the Jackson Citizen Patriot reported.
Brown's aunt Stacy Snyder said that along with abnormal size, Sotos causes Brown to have chronic back and knee pain, ADHD, intermittent explosive disorder and oppositional defiance disorder. Snyder said no one is sure when he will stop growing.
"I can walk in a store and walk out with five pairs of shoes if I want to," she said. "He can't."
"Whoa," Brown said. "Heck, I don't like them. I love them. Thank you."Feetz CEO Lucy Beard delivered a pair of black and red shoes to Brown on March 1. The shoes were the colours of Brown's favourite basketball team, the Chicago Bulls.
Feetz is a company that uses an app to convert photos of someone's feet into a 3-D model, which can be measured to create custom-fit shoes manufactured by a 3-D printer.
"We've never done a show this big before, but we're just excited to get Broc some comfy shoes," Beard said. "We're really just honoured to do this."
Beard said Feetz shoes cost between US$99 and US$250, versus the typical custom-fit shoes that cost a minimum of US$400 to US$500.
Until he turned 18 in 2015 and could no longer qualify, he was considered the tallest teenager in the world. With his new shoes, Brown thinks he can get back in the Guinness Book of World Records.
"These definitely are the world's largest 3-D-printed shoes," he said.