Central Florida Converse Collection sets world record

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A retired central Florida teacher has a shoe closet to make any woman jealous filled with more than 700 pairs. And they're all the same kind: Converse All-Stars and the collection is now a world record.

Photo Gallery: Converse shoe collection sets Guinness Book of World Record

Retired third grade school teacher, Penny Gold wore a different pair of Converse All-Stars each day of the school year and she still has hundreds to spare.

Gold retired after 20 years at the Jewish Academy of Orlando last spring, but returned to the school Thursday to show off her collection of shoes.

She needs to display, document, and count all 733 pairs of to get into the Guinness Book of World Records. "We have tally sheets and we have six to seven people that will be the official counters," Gold said.

The official tally will be sent to England for authentication and for Guinness to include in its next book of world records in 2013.

Gold started collecting after she became a teacher. She mostly buys them at local Central Florida Outlet malls, where the staffs all know her and keep a look out for new sneakers.

But the outgoing Gold says she's only worn about half the shoes in her collection. She admits some just aren't her taste. "I like the colorful ones, but some of them are a little outrageous."

It took a rented U-Haul truck to move all 700+ pairs of shoes to the Jewish Academy for display, but Gold keeps them all in one large bedroom closet…decked out with floor to ceiling shelves.

Gold's son contacted Guinness about his mom's sneakers when he heard the current record for a Converse collection was a mere 402.