Kinky Boots sees its 1,000th performance and proudly welcomes its 1,000,000th customer in the West End! In celebration, here are 10 fun facts you didn’t know about the Olivier Award-winning show:

There are 216 pairs of shoes/boots in Kinky Boots.

Lola, Charlie and the Angels wear the highest heels at 6″. Each of the factory workers have heels at a height of 4″. All of the boots have a platform ranging from 1/2″ to 1″. Some are visible, some aren’t!

The shoes and boots can take up to a week to make, depending on the design, height and leather used. It’s clear why it can take up to 4 months to have new boots made for the entire cast! Kinky Boots was inspired by a true story. The original shoe factory’s name was W.J. Brooks Shoe Company. It was the BBC who nicknamed W.J. Brooks the ‘Kinky Boot’ Factory. Charlie Price’s journey is based on the life of Steve Pateman, an Englishman who was struggling to save his family-run shoe factory from closure. Under pressure from changes in fashion and competition from abroad, he started to look for new markets. An unexpected call from a woman who ran a shop specialising in transgender glamour wear convinced him to try a line of women’s shoes in men’s sizes. He developed his line of ‘kinky boots’ under the brand name “Divine Footwear”.

90% of the male cast had not worn heels before appearing in Kinky Boots. Each boot is made specifically to fit the wearer; an outline of each foot and 21 measurements around the foot and leg are taken. In 2016, Kinky Boots was nominated for 7 Olivier Awards and won the award for ‘Best New Musical’. Each finale boot holds 5 metres of coloured elastic for the laces.

Turn your ‘Blue Monday’ RED with a trip to Kinky Boots. Browse tickets here.