Men's Sandals That Fit Custom Orthotics (Even in Summer)

It is summer in Southern California. You have custom orthotics that finally made your shoes comfortable, and you have no intention of wearing closed shoes until October. You want sandals. Maybe flip-flops. And you would like the orthotics to come with you.

Fair enough. Here is the straight version. Some sandals will carry a full custom orthotic and still look like a sandal rather than a medical device. But the flat thong flip-flop, with a post between the toes and nothing at the heel, is the one style that usually cannot. Here is why, and what to wear instead.

Why a Flat Thong Fights Your Orthotic

An orthotic needs two things from any shoe. A place to sit, and something to keep your foot on top of it. A true thong flip-flop gives it neither.

Most have no removable footbed at all. On the ones that do, the toe post is the problem. That strap between your toes runs down through the footbed and anchors underneath it. Lift the footbed out to fit your device and you have just unhooked the strap that holds the sandal on your foot. That is the plain engineering reason a flat thong and a full custom orthotic almost never work together.

Movement is the other half. A study in the Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association (2010) found that men and women in thong flip-flops took shorter steps. It also found they changed how the ankle carried the foot through its swing. The researchers tie that to the toes gripping to keep the loose sandal on. Drop in an orthotic that raises your foot, and that grip works overtime. The fuller story is in are flip-flops bad for your feet. Short answer: fine at the pool, punishing as an all-day shoe.

What Actually Works: Removable Footbed Plus a Strap

The sandal that carries your orthotic has two features, and it needs both.

• A footbed that genuinely lifts out, leaving real depth for your device.
• A securing strap. An adjustable instep strap, a back strap, or the closed heel of a fisherman sandal. It keeps your foot on the device once the device raises you up.

Guys skip the second one and wonder why the sandal feels off. A raised orthotic pushes your foot forward. Without a strap or a closed heel, it slides right off the front. The strap is the whole difference between a sandal that looks supportive and one that is.

Brands Worth Trying

Models rotate every season, so treat this as a starting map. Confirm the footbed actually lifts out on the current version, and fit it with your orthotic in place.

First, three things you should know before the lists.

No shoe company pays us. No brand sponsors this article, and nobody paid to be named on this page. Everything below is our own opinion, based on the research above and on what we see in the office.

We do run a separate website, footshop.cc. Patients kept asking where to find the products we talk about in the exam room. So we built a separate site that keeps the links in one place. It includes links to Amazon and other retailers. Every affiliate link over there is disclosed where it appears. If you buy through one of those links, we earn a small commission. It costs you nothing extra. We run it as a convenience for our patients, not as a condition of care. You are free to buy any of these sandals anywhere you like, at whatever price you find, with or without our links. Our advice is the same either way.

Medical footwear is not part of that. Medicare-covered shoes, inserts, boots, and braces are never on our affiliate site. Those go through a prescription, a fitting, and proper documentation. They are not a shopping link, and we will not treat them like one.

Removable footbed, orthotic-ready. Built to let you swap in a custom device, with straps or a closed heel to hold you on it.

• Revere. The standout. The footbed lifts out, and the brand builds specifically so custom orthotics, and even braces, can go in. Look at the adjustable fisherman styles, which pair a removable footbed with a strap system and shipped strap extensions.
• Orthofeet. Removable insole with extra depth, adjustable straps, and slip-resistant soles across thong, slide, and fisherman shapes. Built around plantar-fascia pain and a diabetes-conscious fit.
• Naot. The cork-and-latex footbed lifts out for your device. The enclosed-heel fisherman styles secure an orthotic well.
• Drew. Extra-depth fisherman and slide builds with a removable footbed and several adjustable straps.
• Wolky and Finn Comfort. Removable contoured footbeds with a deep anatomical heel cup. Sturdy walkers that happen to be open.
• Propet and Apis. Double-depth, removable-footbed sandals with several adjustable straps. Strong therapeutic and wide-fit options.

Four of those are medical brands, and they are not on our affiliate site, on purpose. Orthofeet, Drew, Propet, and Apis are prescribed, fitted, and documented, and many of their styles are covered by Medicare. We keep them completely separate from anything we earn a commission on. If you need those, come see us and we will handle it properly.

Excellent built-in support, for when a device will not fit. These have molded footbeds that do not come out. That is a design choice, not a downside, because they are a complete shoe on their own. If your custom device will not fit an open sandal, this is the row to shop.

• Chaco. A contoured footbed with fully adjustable straps and a secure closed heel. The toe-loop model adds even more foot control, and it is a real all-day walking sandal. The footbed is molded in, so wear it instead of a device.
• Keen. Closed-toe protection with real arch support and adjustable straps. A tough pick for an active warm-climate day.
• Teva. Multi-strap adjustability with a back strap for security.
• OluKai. An anatomically molded footbed with arch support and a clean, non-orthopedic look. Slides and thongs both.
• Vionic and Birkenstock. Podiatrist-designed or classic cork support in flip-flop, slide, and fisherman shapes. Supportive on their own, but plan to wear them without a device, since the sandal footbeds do not come out.

Watch out for three things. Flat, structureless thong flip-flops as your everyday shoe. Backless slides with no strap, since a raised device slides your foot right off. And beach sandals with a molded-looking footbed that is really flat foam with a shape pressed in. The twist test exposes those fast.

Four Tests You Can Do in the Store Aisle

Do all four with your orthotic in hand.

• The lift. Peel the footbed up at the heel. Does it come out cleanly, with real depth beneath it? If it is glued down, this is a built-in-support sandal and not an orthotic carrier. That is fine, as long as you know which one you are buying.
• The twist. Grip the heel and the toe and wring it. Structure resists. A cheap one wrings like a towel and supports nothing.
• The bend. Bend it toe toward heel. It should flex at the ball of the foot and refuse to fold at the arch.
• The heel check. With the device in and the straps done up, does your heel stay put over a few steps on hard floor? Slip means you need a back strap or a closed heel, which is exactly what a fisherman sandal gives you.

If You Truly Only Want a Thong

Some men want a toe-post sandal or nothing. There are two workable routes.

• A sandal-specific device. An orthotic lab can make a slimmer, low-profile device notched to clear the toe post. It is built to fit one particular sandal you send in. It will not look or fit like your everyday device, but it is real. Bring the sandal to your visit and we will tell you straight whether it is worth doing.
• Stick-on arch pads. Adhesive arch supports made for open shoes add a bit of lift and cushion. They are a comfort aid, not a prescription orthotic. They can shift, and they will not fix a diagnosed mechanical problem. For a casual day, though, they beat bare flat foam.

A Quick Word on Fit

A review in the Journal of Foot and Ankle Research (2018) pooled eighteen studies. Between 63 and 72 percent of people were wearing shoes that did not match the length or width of their feet, with width the usual miss. Sandals are included in that. Buy for your wider foot, shop late in the day when your feet are largest, and use the adjustable straps rather than forcing a fixed size.

If structure is what you are after, some of the better open soles borrow a gently curved rocker profile. Older pressure work (Foot & Ankle, 1990) measured roughly 30 percent lower peak forefoot pressure under rocker-profile soles than under flat ones. Two caveats: pressure moved to other parts of the foot, and results vary from person to person.

The Southern California Reality

In Fallbrook and Temecula, sandal weather runs most of the year. An open shoe is not a once-in-a-while thing here. It is doing the job of a primary shoe for months at a stretch.

That is the argument for two solid pairs. An orthotic-ready fisherman or adjustable sandal for full days on your feet, and a supportive built-in sandal for casual and water days. Save the flat flip-flops for the pool. When the weather finally turns, we did the same careful sort for closed shoes in men's dress shoes that fit custom orthotics.

A Word About the Orthotics Themselves

Orthotics help a lot of people, they are not magic, and they only work inside footwear that lets them. If you are deciding between a custom device and what is on the pharmacy shelf, we compared custom orthotics against store-bought insoles, including what they cost. The basics of custom orthotics at our office are here.

When to See a Podiatrist Instead of the Sandal Rack

This is the part that matters most, and it is not the same for everyone. Open-toe and thong footwear is genuinely risky if you have diabetes or nerve damage. Once the feet lose protective sensation, a rubbing strap, a stray pebble, or a hot surface can cause real damage before you feel anything.

Research in Diabetes Care (2023) describes loss of protective sensation in at least half of people with diabetes over the course of the disease. It also describes a much higher risk of foot ulcers once nerve damage sets in. If that is you, or you have had a foot ulcer, a foot deformity, or poor circulation, do not buy sandals off a shelf. Come in and let us fit you. Some feet belong in closed, protective shoes, and that is the straight answer.

For everyone else, book a visit rather than another sandal purchase if any of this sounds like you. Heel pain with the first steps of the morning, since some heel pain will not leave on its own. Burning or numbness in the front of the foot. Or a big-toe joint that is getting stiff or sore. And if your orthotics are a few years old, or a new pair hurts, bring them in, because devices need re-checks as feet, weight, and activity change.

Last thing: bring the sandals you actually want to wear to your visit, along with your orthotics. It is much easier to build a plan around your real summer footwear than to hand you one you will never take out of the box. The companion piece is women's sandals that fit custom orthotics.