The Archies Arch Support Thongs certainly are a approach to a common dilemma. To begin with, in Australia what the rest of the world call “flip flops”, those in Australia call them “thongs”. In Australia that term doesn't mean a skimpy item of under garments. Australia is the flip flop center of the world and what they call thongs are generally an important part of the way of life due to its relaxed character and the condition. The issue with using this kind of footwear can be that not everyone can wear them, especially when they have some type of foot or lower leg problem that needs foot orthoses or support. There is simply no way you can use most of these foot orthoses with thongs. The thing is that individuals who have to have foot orthoses may need to wear them quite a bit, at least at first, to get rid of their symptoms. This may not be achievable if the environment and choices are not really compatible with what the foot orthotics ought to be worn in.
This is the reason the Archies Arch Support Thongs are getting to be so popular in Australia. The product has an arch support built into them and so you could very well eliminate the requirement to have foot orthotics. The volume of arch support included in these is roughly similar to what you can get in the over-the-counter arch supports available on the market separately. The podiatry profession has become generally encouraging of this product and a lot of podiatry practices are actually promoting them. They like these as they can be used as part of the strategy for individuals that are unable to or will not use foot orthoses as they want to wear this sort of footwear. Even individuals who do have foot orthotics are using these Archies independently since they give them alternatives in warmer temperatures as an option to the foot orthoses that they will be wearing in other shoes.