Parts of a Sandal – Straps, Buckle, Footbed and Sole

All 9 parts on the diagram

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Strap sandal 7

Toe strap It crosses the toes. A sandal has an open upper, a sole held to the foot by straps.
Instep strap It slants back over the instep. The straps of a sandal go over the instep and round the ankle.
Ankle strap It goes round the ankle and is fastened with the buckle.
Buckle The buckle fastens the strap and lets it be adjusted. Other sandals use hook-and-loop straps.
Heel strap It passes behind the heel. Shoe designers call a shoe held on by a strap behind the heel a slingback.
Footbed The foot rests on the footbed. Shoe catalogs describe footbeds as cushioned or shaped to the foot.
Outsole The bottom part of a shoe, the part that touches the ground. Sandals made for hiking usually have a robust rubber one.

Flip-flop 2

Thong A flip-flop is held on by a Y-shaped strap, the toe thong. It passes between the first and second toes and round both sides of the foot.
Sole A flip-flop has a thin, flat sole, typically of rubber.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two independent sources use it: Wikipedia, text only: Sandal (a sole held to the foot by straps over the instep and round the ankle; a thong between the first and second toes; a cross strap fastened with a buckle; rubber outsole) and Flip-flops (a thin flat sole, typically rubber, held on by a Y-shaped strap called a toe thong); John Peacock, Shoes: The Complete Sourcebook, https://archive.org/details/shoescompletesou0000peac (toe strap, instep strap, heel strap, buckled ankle strap, thong between big and second toe); Aki Choklat, Footwear Design (2012), https://archive.org/details/footweardesign0000chok (toe strap, ankle strap, sling-back heel strap, footbed, outsole as the bottom part of the shoe that touches the ground); Caroline Cox, Shoes: a visual celebration, https://archive.org/details/shoesvisualceleb0000coxc (ankle strap, toe strap, slingback sandal); Bragonier and Fisher, What's What: A Visual Glossary of the Physical World (1981), https://archive.org/details/whatswhatvisualg00brag (sandal: strap or thong, buckle, midsole, sole); and a shoe retailer's catalogs, for example https://archive.org/details/mason_2023.03.21_late_spring (cushioned footbed, hook-and-loop instep and heel straps, buckle closures). The books and catalogs were read through archive.org's full-text search. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; no maker's design, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

The parts of sandals are mostly straps: a sandal is a sole held to the foot by straps over the instep and round the ankle. The second drawing shows a flip-flop, held on by a thong.

Read the full guide

A strap sandal, then a flip-flop

Numbers 1 to 7 are on the strap sandal, drawn on the outline of a foot. From the front: the toe strap, the instep strap, and at the back the heel strap and the ankle strap with its buckle. The sole has the footbed on top and the outsole underneath. Open the second drawing for 8 and 9: the thong and the sole of a flip-flop.

Each strap is named for the part of the foot it crosses: toe, instep, heel, ankle.
One catalog calls the part of a thong between the toes a toe post.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a sandal called?

A sole and the straps that hold it on. The straps are named for where they cross the foot: toe strap, instep strap, heel strap and ankle strap. The sole has a footbed on top and an outsole underneath.

What is the strap between the toes of a flip-flop called?

A thong, or toe thong. It is a Y-shaped strap that passes between the first and second toes and round both sides of the foot.

What is the footbed of a sandal?

The top layer of the sole, the surface the foot rests on. Catalogs describe footbeds as cushioned or contoured to the foot.

What is the difference between a sandal and a flip-flop?

A flip-flop is a light kind of sandal: a thin flat sole held loosely on the foot by one Y-shaped thong. Other sandals are held on by straps over the instep and round the ankle.