FitMyFeet is a design kit to create custom flip-flops for people suffering with clubfoot.

It is uniquely designed to work with the centuries-old tools of the vast street-cobbler network of India. This allows for a design that is not only cost effective (retailing at USD 2.40 a pair) but also hugely scalable (currently being sold through over 4.5k cobblers).

Yes, through street-cobblers at USD 2.40 a pair.

Clubfoot, a congenital abnormality that leads to misshapen feet, affects 1.3 million people in India. Since surgical options are limited to early years and custom footwear is expensive, people are forced to live with a lack of mobility, dignity and opportunity.

On the other hand, India has a large network of street-cobblers. Part of the 30-million unorganised labour-force of the country, the cobblers are present on almost every street-corner of every town.

This gives us a unique opportunity to design a kit for customizable flip-flops, that worked specifically with the tools of this centuries-old cobbler network. This allowed the flip-flops to be cost-effective at just USD 2.40 and leverage the large-scale distribution of the on-street network.

Clubfoot, a congenital abnormality that leads to misshapen feet, affects 1.3 million people in India. Since surgical options are limited to early years and custom footwear is expensive, people are forced to live with a lack of mobility, dignity and opportunity.

The brief was to come-up with a footwear solution for clubfeet that could tackle the high cost of creating footwear while keeping it customizable.

Our objective was to not just crack the design and cost-effectiveness, but also figure out large scale distribution of our design solution.

The project is currently underway with over 4.5k cobblers, with plans to scale it to pan-India by the end of the year.

The creative idea of FitMyFeet works on two levels:

The Design Solution

The FitMyFeet kit is a unique DIY design solution to make custom flip-flops. Packed with 2 sheets of rubber soles (one hard and one soft), tracing paper and adjustable length straps, the kit allows footwear to be cut to any shape or size.

The Culture Solution

The kit has been uniquely designed to work with the centuries-old tools of the street-cobblers of India. Part of the 30-million unorganised labour-force of the country, the cobblers allow for a cost-effective means of production and distribution.

The FitMyFeet kit has been uniquely designed to work with the tools of the street-cobbler. Even the instructions are visual so that they can overcome barriers of language or education.

The kit contains a rubber strap that can be tailored to any length, two rubber soles (one flexible and one hard) and a tracing paper to outline the shape of each unique clubfoot. A clear design choice was to keep two soles, the top flexible sole allows for better bend and comfort during movement while the hard bottom sole helps with drag while walking. To make sure the flip-flops were effective, we designed them in collaboration with orthopaedics and foot-wear designers.

So far more than 228,000 customized flip-flops have managed to reach its consumer, through a network of over 4.5k street-cobblers. With plans to scale it to pan-India by the end of the year.

FitMyFeet successfully managed to create customized flip-flops for clubfeet at just USD 2.40 a pair, while also generating a new revenue stream for cobblers.

So far more than 228,000 customized flip-flops have managed to reach its consumer. With every customized flip-flop, we enable mobility, opportunity and dignity.

Working with over 4.5K cobblers and sticking to advertising on the walls behind them, we've also managed to create a smart and cost-effective means of generating awareness.

We plan to have gone pan-India by the end of the year.