Turns out, Barbie’s feet have been quietly staging a fashion revolution. A new peer-reviewed study in PLOS ONE analyzed more than 2,700 dolls manufactured between 1959 and 2024 — excluding collectible or limited editions — and uncovered what may be Mattel’s most practical makeover yet: a declining foot arch.

Researchers at Monash University applied a classification system dubbed FEET — Foot posture, Employment theme, Equity and Time period — to track the shift. Their findings? Barbie’s original >10-degree foot pitch, engineered for heels, has softened considerably. As dolls embraced more physically active or professional roles, their foot posture adjusted in tandem, moving toward a flatter, more stable base.

The drop is measurable: 85 percent of Barbies in the 1970s displayed equinus (heel-raised) foot posture. By the 1980s, it dropped to 70 percent, then 55 percent in the 1990s, 50 percent in the 2000s and just 40 percent by mid-2024. Career-themed dolls, such as nurses, astronauts and veterinarians, are 3.2 times more likely to be flat-footed than their fashion-centric counterparts. Barbie’s equinus posture was closely linked to task demands, with flat feet more common in dolls designed to “work on their feet,” according to the authors.

In real life, the footwear market is shifting in the same direction. Research by shoe retailer Kurt Geiger found that sales of high heels over 4 inches drastically declined, accounting for only 17 percent of non-flat shoe sales in 2024 compared to 47 percent in 2014. Meanwhile, flats — from ballerina-inspired silhouettes to sneaker hybrids — have gained serious ground. Spring 2025 collections at Chloé and Gabriela Hearst emphasized low-profile designs, including woven leather flats, square-toe loafers and flexible slip-on silhouettes. 

Footwear brands are evolving alongside the trend. Spanx’s Sneex pumps, which won the 2024 FNAA Launch of the Year 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 adding features like wider toe boxes and padded insoles to meet growing demand for comfort-first luxury.

Barbie’s transition toward flat feet isn’t just a toy-industry anecdote. It reflects broader consumer behavior and a cultural pivot toward body autonomy and task-driven design. “Barbie models her footwear based on task demands,” the PLOS ONE authors write. “She makes sensible determinations regarding her body. High heel wearers should have that same ability.”

Physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson agrees. “High heels project the body center of mass forward, so anyone with high heels wants to walk forward not backwards,” deGrasse Tyson tells Footwear News. “Like that scene in the ‘Barbie’ movie, where she steps out of the high heels and her foot has the same shape, and then her heels drop because she’s becoming human, and then she comments, she said ‘oh, is this how humans walk? Well, if that’s the shape of their feet, why would they ever where heels at all?’”