My good friend Ryan Wanger wouldn’t stop talking about his new shoes, so I made him write a review. He is the Community Manager for the Boulder based startup Everlater, which helps people record their travel experiences with friends and family.
Let me make this clear: my review of Vibram Five Fingers shoes is self serving. The more people who know about them, the less I will be stopped by total strangers asking “What are those?”
Basically, the Five Finger shoes are the antithesis of footwear technology – not much more than a flexible, semi-form fitting rubber sole attached to the bottom of your foot. You can feel everything. I actually find myself wanting to walk more often, and taking strange paths home just to feel the difference between concrete, grass, and gravel.
What are they for? Everything. I’ve worn mine:
- Walking around town
- Climbing easy routes (these aren’t great for cracks, dime edges or
smearing) - Hiking (both with and without a pack
- Sprinting
- At work (caveat: I’m in Boulder!)
- Trail running
- Playing soccer on astroturf (amazing ball control)
Why should you get them?
- There is growing evidence that “high performance” running shoes may actually cause more injuries
- You’ll strengthen your feet beyond what is possible in normal footwear
- Traveling on foot becomes much more fun
- Better balance on uneven surfaces (I’m actually more likely to step on smaller stones and branches because I can feel them – and won’t wobble)
- They can solve lower back problems (see Tim Ferriss’ post for a good explanation)
That sounds great, but what if you have __________ (fill in the blank: high arches, flat feet, pronation, weak ankles, etc)? Well, I would ask you this question: why would you be born with feet you couldn’t use as is? What do you do for arch support? Use your arches. What do you do for ankle support? Use your ankles.
I have high arches myself (my footprint in the sand is two unconnected imprints) and have not had a single problem. Two days after my track workout (complete with sprinting) my arches were killing me. And then a strange realization – was this the first time in my life I’d ever felt the need to stretch my arches? It was. The next day I felt fine – and my feet were stronger than ever before.
The best part is that my occasional lower back pain is gone. Heels on our shoes push our hips forward, arching our lower back. This doesn’t happen with my VFFs. Why are we wearing footwear that is bad for our posture and makes our feet weaker? Pretty crazy when you think about it!
The cons:
- Don’t overdo it. It takes a little while for your feet to get stronger. Work up to longer hikes and runs.
- Unwanted attention. Extreme introverts might have a problem with strangers approaching to ask about your Vibram Five Fingers. In particular, I catch women and children staring at my feet constantly.
- If you wear them for more than a few hours consecutively, you’ll need to wash them. Your feet won’t be hot, but the shoes will be stinky.
Find a store and try them on for sizing purposes (for reference: I wear an 11 mens US, but ended up with size 42 five fingers – your situation might be different). There are 4 different styles. I own the KSOs but have not tried any of the others, so I can’t enumerate the differences, other than saying that the Flows are thick neoprene on top and more suited for water-only activities.
Expecting to walk home in the Classics, I went with KSO because I did not want an open top which would likely collect dirt and pebbles on the trail.
Anyone else own these or seen them around? I’ve noticed a dramatic increase in the last few weeks.
You can order the Vibram Five Fingers online from Amazon.
Special thanks to Ryan Wanger of Everlater for writing this guest post. I’m still not 100% sold on these shoes, but he’s been doing a good job trying to convince me!
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I just got my first KSOs and, like you, have found myself wanting to walk more. I have some knee problems and typically when walking put on a knee brace and then my walking shoes. I’ve not used my brace yet while walking with these. I’m not claiming that I’m healed, merely that walking with these on makes me pay more attention to how I’m walking (trying not to heel strike). I’m looking forward to wearing these when hiking as well.
I own a pair of the classics, and I just love the feel of the “barefoot” experience. As yourself I find I get less aches in my lower back from wearing them. Also I really notice I’m walking differently compared to wearing normal shoes, using my foot in a better way. I’ve used them for everything from hiking, running, walking in the city, swimming, bouldering (did a steep 7A in them not long ago where I could use my toes on edges for grabbing).
I have only positive things to say about this footwear! I’ll probably get my 3rd pair soon
That’s all very well but – let’s be honest here people – they look a little silly. Shoes have heels because years of refinements in fashion have concluded that they look the best, not because of any deep-seated desire to make them ‘ergonomic’. Who wants an ergonomic shoe?! I just wanna go out in groovy trainers that give me bunions and blisters; at least I can cope with the pain and hold my head high knowing that I’m not walking around with sweaty rubber gloves on my feet!
@Bobby,
You make a good point — though I think the style-factor of high-heels came full circle and turned into a “shoe science” factor for companies like Nike — I mean, how is it that Nike’s “Free,” which is intended to be a barefoot shoe, STILL has a heel? Doesn’t make much sense.
Nice review, Ryan. And I think you *are* doing the world a favor by increasing awareness of VFFs though I could also see a day when you actually miss the automatic icebreaker with complete strangers that VFFs provide. For my part in trying to increase awareness of VFFs, I’m running a VFF fan site/community/forums that includes news, user stories and photos, mods, etc. Please check it out if you get a chance – birthdayshoes.com.
I’ll be throwing your review in with the latest VFF reviews from the past week (shows up every Sunday).
I had my first pair like 2 year ago, and loved this things. Used them at the city and at the beach, for running, over sand, dirt and pavement, walking, etc. Have used them to run over rocks, but it turned painful after a while. I used them for camping too. They are easy to clean and they dry quick. I have no experienced any pain in my arch or knees, eventhough I have flat feet.
Hi Laura,
Hope you’re still enjoying the FiveFingers. I certainly have. Unfortunately they seemed to have a defect though and have started to fall apart! I wrote a review to explain.
Thanks Justin for the mention. http://www.birthdayshoes.com is great…more people need to get on board with the “new” science of going barefoot.
I love my Sprints; they’re the most comfortable, best shoe I’ve ever had.
Except for the stinkies. They make my feet reek really, really bad. If I could just find a way to keep them from smelling so bad… (and yes, I do wash them, but every day? Come on!)
I like the kso’s personally, the sprints are nice and slide in faster but things do get in.. the kso’s actually does what it says.. “keeps stuff out”.
as far as looks, i think they look pretty awesome.. lotta head turns wherever i go thats for sure…
concrete I’d recommend normal shoes or nike frees though.. here’s more info on nike free and vibram and how they compare:
http://barefootrunningshoes.org/2009/10/08/nike-free-versus-vibram-five-fingers-10-points/
I think their main site for vibram five fingers is here
My fiance purchased me a pair of Classics because I hate using traditional shoes. While wearing them I have found that I no longer have lower back and hip pain, I don’t trip over my own feet while walking, and I can enjoy walking for longer periods of time without my feet tiring. I really enjoy my shoes and I have recomended them to several people.
Tom,
Looks like your post here got a nice fat spam comment from “heathkim,” who I can only assume is the proprietor of barefootrunningshoes dot org. I say this b/c I track all things VFF and I am constantly seeing comments sprout up on blogs that tangentially link to some sorta post on barefootrunningshoes and are written by “heathjones,” “electro,” “jason heathrow,” “heesinjones,” etc. Perhaps the most obvious proof of my point is how heathkim is trying to confuse readers by suggesting that barefootrunningshoes is the official site for fivefingers.
Anyway thought you’d want to know that All Climbing was unwittingly contributing to a site like that.
I am desperately wanting a pair of these as soon as I can find the $90 to fork over.
I became interested after reading a great write up in Chris McDougall’s book, “Born to Run.”
My fiance purchased me a pair of Classics because I hate using traditional shoes. While wearing them I have found that I no longer have lower back and hip pain, I don’t trip over my own feet while walking, and I can enjoy walking for longer periods of time without my feet tiring. I really enjoy my shoes and I have recomended them to several people
So you’re spamming a link to “cheap MBT shoes,” which are like the anti-FiveFingers, while talking about how much you like VFFs? Fail.
I love my five finger shoes. I wear them to my boxing class instead of going barefoot. The mats going slippery when peopled sweated on it and it was dangerous for bare feet. The boxing shoes I had felt like big shoes. These vibrams were the answer!