SOMEWHERE in Britain right now, a woman is deciding whether to sell pictures of her feet to earn some extra cash amid the cost of living crisis.
It might sound bonkers, but the niche side hustle has been gaining traction in recent years, with some women claiming they’re taking home an extra £100,000 a year thanks to it.
Celebs are also cashing in on the demand for niche feet content, with Lily Allen revealing in July this year that she had set up an OnlyFans account solely to flog pictures of her feet.
The demand is driven by an increased awareness of foot fetishes, the most common form of sexual fetishism towards an otherwise unsexual body part.
Women can pocket roughly £400 a week (or £1,733 a month) flogging pictures to men who have a fancy for feet, according to the 2023 Foot Fetish Market Research and Alternative Income Reports.
And while platforms like OnlyFans and Feet Finder create a direct seller-to-buyer pipeline, some celebs are being sneakier.
Kim Kardashian, Addison Rae and Bella Thorne are all using their feet to subtly promote their brands.
Feet Finder, a platform dedicated to connecting feet-loving people to those willing to share pictures of their trotters, declared last year that “feet modelling is taking over the advertisement industry”.
In short, feet can be used to promote just about anything.
“When toe-sucking and foot-licking first became a common treat or dare on shows like Love Island, with male contestants openly boasting about ‘having a thing’ about feet, foot fetishism moved on,” body language expert Judi James tells Fabulous.
“It was no longer sad guys sniffing the merch in shoe shops, and instead became a new thirst trap for A-list celebrities wanting to sell luxury items or brands without resorting to more obvious sexual displays.
“Foot displays pander to what is the most common sexual fetish, but bare feet are also emotionally elitist and show off a sense of superiority.
“Celebs might have lip fillers, boob jobs and bum implants in a bid to create the ‘perfect’ body but feet tend to be an au natural beauty gift.
“Bunion-less, corn-less and with no hint of cracked or dry skin in view, they imply the life of luxury, pampering and privilege that we all crave.
“Attach any product to this attention-stimulator and you have the perfect marketing method.”
The experts at Feet Finder say that the “foot pictures market” is expected to reach over $1 billion globally by 2027.
With billions on their mind, it makes sense why celebrities are sneakily slipping their trotters into campaigns totally unrelated to feet.
Kim Kardashian, 44, is not shy about going bare foot on Instagram, even amid rumours that she has six toes on one foot.
The mum-of-four actually promoted her beauty line, SKKN, with a feet-first picture.
“Of course, celebrity goddess Kim would possess an absolutely perfect pair of feet that imply her soles have never had contact with the ground,” comments Judi.
“As she leans back here with a look of relaxed, challenging superiority she uses an elongated leg pose to drive the eye down to the bare foot and back up again.
It’s the deliberate contrast between all those ballgown swathes of white satin and then the bare feet below that create the attention-grabbing, money-spinning shock here
Judi James
“Her legs are placed in an awkward arch but they are only vectors for the perfect-looking naked feet.
“It’s the deliberate contrast between all those ballgown swathes of white satin and then the bare feet below that create the attention-grabbing, money-spinning shock here.”
We’re used to Kim using her larger-than-life behind and hourglass figure to flog us shapewear and swimwear from her biggest brand, SKIMS.
But she knows that there’s more money to be made with less covertly sexual parts of her body.
“Take a woman known for her cleavage, micro-waist and curvaceous bum but throw a pair of perfect, nude feet into the mix and you open up a whole new world of powerful subliminal selling,” Judi adds.
Kim Kardashian is so dedicated to the cause that, even after breaking her foot shortly before Christmas, she’s still dressing it up in PVC heels showing it off.
The reality icon attended the grand opening of her new flagship SKIMS store in New York City on Thursday on a black knee scooter with her left foot on full display.
Pics from inside the event with pals also show her using the device to balance.
The Not Fair singer, 39, recently claimed that she’s raking in more flogging pictures of her feet on OnlyFans than music streams.
The mum-of-two charges fans £8 to access her catalogue of her US size 6 feet snaps and videos on the adult picture sharing site
Lily, mum to daughters Ethel and Marnie, made headlines after she shared an Instagram story of her toes resting beside the Trevi fountain with a link labelled “La dolce feeta”, which took her 2million followers direct to her OnlyFans account – with the username Lily Allen FTSE500.
The 39-year-old revealed that it was actually her nail technician who told the noughties musician that her toes were nice and cute enough to make a good chunk of cash online.
Although the singer was met with a huge backlash by fans, Lily’s feet seem to have become a major hit on the site, with her toes boasting an impressive five-star rating on WikiFeet.
Hitting back at the haters, the Smile singer said: “Imagine being and artist and having nearly 8 million monthly listeners on Spotify but earning more money from having 1000 people subscribe to pictures of your feet.”
She added: “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
Bella Thorne, one of the globe’s top OnlyFans earners, is also no stranger to using her feet to promote products.
Amazingly, feet are a staple in product pictures for her jewelry brand.
“Bare feet and nudity go together and this ritual will trigger thoughts of nakedness in a guy’s mind, as though the woman’s just made the first move in a slow striptease,” Judi explains.
As a result, getting her trotters out has the power to drive men to buy products from Throne Dynasty for their girlfriends.
Commenting on the above picture of Bella promoting EARRINGS with her feet front-and-centre of the shot, Judi says: “Her legs stretch free from the robe and at the end of the dramatically placed legs are her featured bare feet.
“One foot is en point to elongate the leg and draw attention to the toes in a powerful flirt signal. Draw attention to or bare the breasts, bum or pelvis, then you risk the ad looking obvious and tasteless.
“However, bare the feet can stimulate shock or awe, and thus attract instant attention without looking obvious or inelegant.
“Foot-baring like this allows a brand to hold onto its integrity and sense of class.”
She was once Kourtney Kardashian’s bestie after shooting to fame dancing on TikTok, but now Addison Rae is a singer.
How is she promoting her musical career? With feet in her music video, of course.
A quick scroll on the 24-year-old’s Instagram profile throws up countless nearly-nude and feet first pictures.
“Bare feet are an outstanding USP,” Judi says about the music video to Addison’s latest tune, Diet Pepsi.
“Addison’s toes look almost as long and elegant as fingers, and she often embellishes them with toe rings to show how conscious she is that they are one of her physical strengths.
“For anyone with a foot-feshist, this might be the Holy Grail of suck-able tootsies, with long, straight toes rather than the chubbier, curled kind.
“It’s a sexual signal that will also sell by its associations with free-thinking and free-wheeling behaviours which would be perfect for selling her brand and her music.”
While Miley Cyrus isn’t one to get her trotters out on her personal social media profiles, many of her campaigns show close-up shots of her feet.
Mainly, her promo videos since becoming the face of Gucci’s Flora perfume range.
“Why zoom in on feet when you’re promoting a perfume unless you want to display the sense of freedom and luxury brand sensuality in one small take?” Judi says.
“Even when the feet are not visible, the way we see Miley’s bare legs running through the countryside suggests she is going barefoot after kicking off those shoes.
“It’s natural, evocative and subtly sensual, which are probably all qualities that would also apply to the perfume.
“This is subtle, sensual-stimulating selling that works, especially when the customer spends most of their day in functional lace-ups and bedroom slippers.
“It’s a foot fantasy that subliminally provokes the desire to buy and by association buy into the idealistic lifestyle.”
The 44-year-old has spoken candidly about making a fortune flogging steamy content on the subscription site.
The former Atomic Kitten singer, who’s been in the entertainment business for over two decades, joined the adults-only subscription site to overcome her financial struggles a few years ago – and has since raked in eye-watering sums.
Speaking to the Mirror, Kerry said that selling snaps of her feet is earning her ”tens of thousands a month” – totalling well over a million pounds, as she said in an exclusive chat with The Sun.
The mum-of-five boasted: “Yeah, I’ve made more than that. I can’t put a figure on it. I’m a billionaire!!
“I will give myself credit. I am a grafter, I came from a foster home, went to eight schools, got clothes off car boot sales, was a lap-dancer, got in a girl band, became face of Iceland, became a millionaire, went bankrupt, lost it all, became a millionaire again and went bankrupt again, then became a millionaire again. Who does it?”
The Whole Again star doesn’t care if people judge her for being on the website as she is now able to ‘‘invest in herself’’ thanks to the fortune she’s since made.
Kerry told publication: ‘‘People are quick to say, ‘she’s desperate if I get out a bit of nipple, but I’ve made my first million since bankruptcy and I’m so, so proud.’’
The 44-year-old, who often also gets messages from people wanting to improve their sex lives, revealed that there are ”loads of requests for foot selfies from people with foot fetishes”.
‘’Some are men and women texting me their sex issues and I’m like a therapist for them – their fantasy.
‘;Others aren’t crude at all. They’ll see me on TV and say, ‘you’re smashing it, kid! What have you been up to today?”’
Former model Blac Chyna, real name Angela Renee White, rose to fame as a stunt double for Nicki Minaj in 2010 – but the 36-year-old is now famous in her own right.
The TV personality, who dated the rapper Tyga before an on-off relationship with Rob Kardashian, claimed she made an astronomical $1m (£790,000) on OnlyFans during a legal battle with the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star.
The mother-of-two has been keeping busy with promoting her content in order to rake in extra cash and was seen posting a rather bizarre foot fetish clip on her social media page.
The video, which at the time had won her mon than 500k likes, was a close-up footage of Blac’s feet squishing a bowl full of juicy grapes.
Alongside the video, the inked star: “Foot Freak Monday’s. Fans Only (link in bio). (subscribe to see more )”
She also used an array of hashtags related to “foot fetish” and “foot porn.”
