Average woman has 11 pairs she will never wear

While the average female owns 20 pairs, 11 of those pairs worth a probable total of 400 pounds will remain tucked away in the wardrobe awaiting the right occasion that never comes, according to the survey in Britain.

Despite leaving more than half of their footwear to gather dust, most women will continue to fuel their shoe addiction, splashing out on an additional eight new pairs a year, the `Daily Mail` reported.

Nearly a third of the 3,000 woman surveyed even admitted forking out on shoes that were the wrong size, just because they liked them.

According to the study by Co-operative Insurance, the average spend on a pair of shoes is 36 pounds, so eight pairs a year would cost 288 pounds. However, 10 per cent of those polled admitted to an annual spend of 600 pounds a year.

More than a third of women (37 per cent) told the survey that they buy shoes to cheer them up. Other reasons are to go with a new outfit (52 per cent), to stay on trend (18 per cent) and to fuel a shoe obsession (10 per cent).

According to the survey, most women will wear a pair of shoes for three years before binning them, although more than a fifth can`t bear to part with their beloved footwear, with as many as 21 per cent admitting that they never throw old shoes away.