Seems, Barbie’s ft have been quietly staging a vogue revolution. A brand new peer-reviewed examine in PLOS ONE analyzed greater than 2,700 dolls manufactured between 1959 and 2024 — excluding collectible or restricted editions — and uncovered what could also be Mattel’s most sensible makeover but: a declining foot arch.
Researchers at Monash College utilized a classification system dubbed FEET — Foot posture, Employment theme, Fairness and Time interval — to trace the shift. Their findings? Barbie’s authentic >10-degree foot pitch, engineered for heels, has softened significantly. As dolls embraced extra bodily lively or skilled roles, their foot posture adjusted in tandem, shifting towards a flatter, extra steady base.
The drop is measurable: 85 p.c of Barbies within the Nineteen Seventies displayed equinus (heel-raised) foot posture. By the Eighties, it dropped to 70 p.c, then 55 p.c within the Nineties, 50 p.c within the 2000s and simply 40 p.c by mid-2024. Profession-themed dolls, comparable to nurses, astronauts and veterinarians, are 3.2 occasions extra prone to be flat-footed than their fashion-centric counterparts. Barbie’s equinus posture was intently linked to process calls for, with flat ft extra frequent in dolls designed to “work on their ft,” based on the authors.
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In actual life, the footwear market is shifting in the identical course. Analysis by shoe retailer Kurt Geiger discovered that gross sales of excessive heels over 4 inches drastically declined, accounting for less than 17 p.c of non-flat shoe gross sales in 2024 in comparison with 47 p.c in 2014. In the meantime, flats — from ballerina-inspired silhouettes to sneaker hybrids — have gained severe floor. Spring 2025 collections at Chloé and Gabriela Hearst emphasised low-profile designs, together with woven leather-based flats, square-toe loafers and versatile slip-on silhouettes.
Footwear manufacturers are evolving alongside the development. Spanx’s Sneex pumps, which received the 2024 FNAA Launch of the 12 months Award, paired a 3-inch stacked heel with a sneaker-inspired sole. Balenciaga’s partnership with Scholl combines orthopedic tech and sculptural designs. Mass retailers, too, are including options like wider toe packing containers and padded insoles to fulfill rising demand for comfort-first luxurious.
“Barbie,” from left: Margot Robbie and Kate McKinnon.
©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Assortment
Barbie’s transition towards flat ft isn’t only a toy-industry anecdote. It displays broader shopper conduct and a cultural pivot towards physique autonomy and task-driven design. “Barbie fashions her footwear based mostly on process calls for,” the PLOS ONE authors write. “She makes wise determinations concerning her physique. Excessive heel wearers ought to have that very same means.”
“Barbie” film poster.
©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett C
Physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson agrees. “Excessive heels mission the physique middle of mass ahead, so anybody with excessive heels desires to stroll ahead not backwards,” deGrasse Tyson tells Footwear Information. “Like that scene within the ‘Barbie’ film, the place she steps out of the excessive heels and her foot has the identical form, after which her heels drop as a result of she’s changing into human, after which she feedback, she mentioned ‘oh, is that this how people stroll? Effectively, if that’s the form of their ft, why would they ever the place heels in any respect?’”
