The invention presents an apparatus for measuring the dimensions of human feet. The apparatus is comprised of a base (20) and a cover (2), which fits over it to define the borders of two essentially rectangular wells (3, 31) in the upper surface of said base, into which the feet to be measured are placed. Pressure pads (5, 5') containing a sensor are placed at the bottom of each well and the perimeters of the well, are surrounded by arrays comprised of a multitude of emitter/detector pairs, which are used to make length and width measurements of said feet. In addition, computational means, which calculate the dimensions of the feet from data from the pressure pads and emitter/detector pairs and display means are provided. The apparatus is characterized in that the computational means comprises a software algorithm, which uses information supplied by the pressure pads to correct errors in the length and width measurements caused by misplacement/misalignment of the feet in the wells and the emitters and corresponding detectors are provided in two contiguous levels spaced in a way that increases the accuracy of the measurements. A method of using the apparatus is also presented.