3 Out of 5 Indian Kids Have Flat Feet. Here's What Every Parent Needs to Know.

There is a study sitting in a medical journal that every Indian parent should read and almost none have.

Researchers analysed the feet of 424 primary school children and found that out of every five children, three were either completely or partially flat-footed — a prevalence rate of 69.3%.

Three out of five.

If your child's class has 30 students, that's 18 children walking, running, sitting on the floor, and spending six or more hours a day on feet that may not be developing the arch support they need.

Most of their parents don't know.

Most of their shoes aren't helping.

And the window to actually do something meaningful about it — the period when the arch is actively forming and the foot is most responsive to what it's being put into, closes by around age 6 or 7.

First, What Is Flat Foot, and Is It Actually a Problem?

Flat foot called pes planus in clinical terms, simply means the arch of the foot collapses partially or completely when standing. Instead of a visible curve along the inside of the foot, the sole presses almost entirely flat against the ground. 

Here's the thing most parents don't know: flat foot in young children is completely normal. In fact, every single baby is born with flat feet. The arch isn't there yet, it develops gradually as the bones, muscles, and ligaments of the foot strengthen through the act of walking, running, jumping, and bearing weight.

The most common type is called flexible flat foot, where the arch disappears when the child stands, but reappears when they go on tiptoe or when the foot is lifted off the ground. This is the kind most Indian children have, and it's the kind most responsive to the right footwear.

The question is never "does my child have flat feet right now?" Many children do, and many will naturally develop their arch as they grow. The real question is: are the conditions right for that arch to develop properly?

And that question, it turns out, is almost entirely about what's on their feet. 

Not sure if your child's shoe is right for their foot type? Use our Shoe Finder → — answer three questions and we'll tell you exactly which Buds shoe fits your child's foot.

The Window Nobody Tells You About

Between two and five years old is considered a critical period where independent gait starts to significantly shape how the foot develops. This is when walking patterns are being established, when bones are ossifying, and when the structural foundation for a lifetime of movement is quietly being laid down.

Research tracking children from their first steps through to age five found that arch development was faster in children who wore arch-supportive footwear and continued developing more rapidly in children whose shoes actively supported longitudinal arch growth.

What conditions slow that natural development down — or stop it entirely?

Wrong shoes.

If your child is between 2 and 5 years old, this window is open right now. The Poppins collection was designed specifically for this developmental stage — wide toe box, flexible sole, breathable mesh. Explore Poppins →

The Indian Shoe Problem Nobody Is Talking About

Let's be honest about what most Indian children are wearing.

The typical school shoe bought from a local store is narrow, rigid, synthetic, and purchased one or two sizes too large because the parent wants to get more wear out of it. Every single one of those four characteristics is a problem.

On buying too large: This is perhaps the most common and most damaging habit in Indian children's footwear. A study involving more than 2,100 parents revealed that 65% of all children are wearing the wrong shoe size. But buying too large is equally harmful, shoes a half or whole size too large leave a child vulnerable to trips and falls and cause children to overuse their foot muscles in attempts to maintain stability.

There is something worse than the instability, though. When a shoe is too large, the child's toes naturally curl and grip to try to hold the shoe in place. When toes stay in a gripped position day after day, the anatomy may actually be altered especially since little feet are still developing. Over time, this leads to bunions and hammertoes in children who were simply stuck in shoes that didn't fit right.

On narrow toe boxes: Children who go barefoot develop well-functioning plantar arches more readily than their shoe-wearing peers because the foot has more space for the toes to move flexibly. A narrow shoe that crowds the toes does the exact opposite — it forces the forefoot into an unnatural position that the developing foot then adapts to, permanently.

On rigid soles: Shoes affect children's gait significantly — a rigid sole that doesn't flex with the foot actively restricts the natural movement that strengthens the arch-forming muscles. The foot cannot do its job inside a shoe that won't let it move.

On synthetic materials: Indian summers regularly push 40°C. Children's feet tend to sweat more than adults' feet — breathable materials such as mesh, canvas, or leather help with airflow and prevent the moisture buildup that leads to fungal infections, blisters, and skin breakdown. A synthetic shoe in Indian heat is essentially a petri dish.

Specifically looking for shoes designed for flat feet? We built an entire collection around it. Shop Flat Foot Shoes for Kids →

The 5-Minute Check You Can Do Tonight

You don't need a doctor for the first assessment of your child's foot health. Here are four simple things you can do at home right now.

Test 1: The Wet Foot Test Wet the bottom of your child's foot and have them stand on a flat dry surface — a tile floor or a piece of cardboard. Lift their foot and look at the impression left behind. A normal arch will show a clear gap along the inside edge. A flat foot will print almost entirely, with little or no gap. If you see full printing, it doesn't signal a crisis — but it does mean the shoe your child is wearing right now really matters.

Test 2: The Tiptoe Test Have your child stand flat, then ask them to rise onto their tiptoes. Watch the inside of the foot. If an arch appears on tiptoe — even if it disappears when they stand flat — this is flexible flat foot. The arch is there. It just needs the right conditions to stay there.

Test 3: The Shoe Wear Pattern Test Turn your child's current shoes upside down. Look at the sole. Excessive wear along the inner edge of the heel — more than the outer — is a sign of pronation, the inward rolling of the ankle that typically accompanies flat foot. If the inner heel is significantly more worn than the outer, the current shoe is not providing adequate support.

Test 4: The Conversation Test Ask your child after a school day: "Are your feet tired? Do your legs hurt?" Children under six often cannot articulate foot pain directly. They will instead say their legs feel heavy, that they don't want to walk anymore, that they want to be carried, or that their feet feel hot. Any of these consistently, after a school day, is worth paying attention to.

What to Actually Look For in a Shoe

Once you've assessed your child's feet, here is the checklist every shoe they wear should meet. Judge any shoe, including ours — against these five criteria.

1. Wide Toe Box The front of the shoe must allow the toes to spread naturally. Place your child's foot on a piece of paper, trace the outline, then place the shoe on top. If the shoe is narrower than the foot at the toe area, the shoe is wrong. Every Buds shoe is built with a wide toe box as the non-negotiable starting point — not a feature, a foundation.

🔗 See how the Buds wide toe box is engineered →

2. Flexible Sole The sole should bend at the ball of the foot with minimal resistance. Hold the shoe at the toe and heel and try to bend it — it should flex easily at the forefoot. Research confirms that habitual use of inflexible footwear has significant negative effects on foot arch development, including a measurable reduction in arch height over time.

3. Breathable Upper Material In India's climate, this is non-negotiable. Mesh, canvas, or perforated leather. Moisture buildup inside a synthetic shoe causes fungal infections, blisters, and skin breakdown — especially during summer months when children's feet sweat significantly more than adults'.

For Indian summer specifically, the Airo collection's breathable mesh upper was designed for exactly this. Shop Airo →

4. Correct Weight A child's shoe should feel light in the hand. Heavier shoes alter natural movement patterns, increase stance time, and change the way the foot strikes the ground — all of which interfere with natural arch development. If you wouldn't want to carry it all day, their foot muscles shouldn't have to.

5. Proper Fit — Not Too Small, Not Too Large There should be approximately a thumb-width of space between the longest toe and the front of the shoe. Measure both feet separately — many children have one foot slightly larger than the other and feet can grow half a size or more every two months in the early years. Always fit to the larger foot.

Unsure about sizing? Every Buds product page has a detailed size guide, and we offer a free 14-day exchange policy if the size isn't right. No forms, no courier headaches — just WhatsApp us. Find your child's size →

A Note on Barefoot Time

One of the most counterintuitive findings in paediatric foot research is this: children who spend time barefoot develop well-functioning plantar arches more readily than their shoe-wearing peers, because the foot has more space for the toes to move flexibly and the arch-strengthening muscles activate more frequently.

This doesn't mean shoes are bad. It means that barefoot time — at home, on grass, on safe indoor surfaces — is genuinely valuable for your child's foot development. Let them run barefoot on the lawn. Let them go without shoes at home. The foot is a sensory organ as much as a structural one, and it develops better when it has freedom as well as support.

The goal is not to eliminate shoes. It's to make sure that when shoes are worn — which for Indian school children is six or more hours a day — those shoes are not working against the foot's natural development.

When a Shoe Isn't Enough

Most children with flexible flat foot respond well to proper footwear alone. But there are situations where a shoe is not enough and a specialist should be involved. See a paediatric physiotherapist or podiatrist if:

• Your child regularly complains of foot, ankle, or knee pain after normal activity
• The flat foot is rigid — meaning no arch appears even on tiptoe
• You notice one foot significantly flatter than the other
• Your child walks with an unusual inward or outward rotation at the ankle
• The condition hasn't improved by age 8–10 despite proper footwear

A physiotherapist can recommend specific strengthening exercises and confirm whether orthotics or any intervention beyond footwear is needed. Early attention is always easier than late correction.

At Buds Life

We built Buds because we were genuinely angry that nobody in India was making a shoe designed backwards from these principles.

We started with what a developing foot actually needs — wide toe box, flexible EVA sole, breathable mesh upper, correct lightweight construction — and then worked out how to make it something a child would want to wear every day and a parent could afford to buy.

Every feature in a Buds shoe exists because of the research cited in this piece. Not because it looks good in a catalogue. Because it's what a growing Indian child's foot actually requires.