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Tyler [Visitor] in response to: Why Toe Shoes? The Benefits of Toe Separation for Barefoot Feel and Shoe Functionality

Tyler [Visitor] — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 17:03:44 +0000

If only they would make them in a more formal color. Would you mind touching on the tabi boot? Good article, thanks.

Blue [Visitor] in response to: Why Toe Shoes? The Benefits of Toe Separation for Barefoot Feel and Shoe Functionality

Blue [Visitor] — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:00:08 +0000

This article is ridiculous. What you have described is basically a thin layer of fabric between your foot and the outside world, a glove for your foot. You're still confining your foot in a sweaty, claustrophobic space, but with almost no protection. You're cutting it off from that nice dust feel without guarding it the harsher physical elements. Shoes are for protection. Many people around the world have jobs and do things that require hard soled and steel toes protection. The point of shoes is that we don't have to adjust our gate or change how we step. We can just go about walking without worrying about the state of the ground or what we're stepping on.

If you want to tip toe around, stepping on glass and gravel and stubbing your pinky toe on every heavy object you get too close to, why pay $50 to do so? Just don't wear shoes.

M Cooper [Visitor] in response to: Why Toe Shoes? The Benefits of Toe Separation for Barefoot Feel and Shoe Functionality

M Cooper [Visitor] — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 20:15:47 +0000

An interesting discussion on footwear. Until modern times very few materials can be hand-made to the shape of a foot. A few years ago a doctor in India designed an artificial leg for people without legs made with rubber with the foot that shaped like a human foot.

The earliest attempt to create footwear with least amount of material including animal hides and the straw sandals. In modern times there is the Birkinstock from Germany to mimic walking in the sand. Back in the 1980s there was a type of rubber sole that just sticks to the bottom of your feet. No straps to tie so you're literally walking barefoot. And then came Teva sports sandals that you can be camping or mountain climbing.

There are people who wear flip-flops or sandals in hot summer days and those who would stick to sneakers for fashion reasons.

The last time I've seen a pair of shoes that shaped like a foot was 2 weeks ago at a local fundraising event walking up 140 floors of a tall building. As a rule sandals were not allowed so some wore these instead...

Melony Robinson [Visitor] in response to: Why Toe Shoes? The Benefits of Toe Separation for Barefoot Feel and Shoe Functionality

Melony Robinson [Visitor] — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:24:33 +0000

I suffer from Plantar Faciitis and would love to try a basis pair of these shoes, just to walk in. I have heard they actually can help my condition. What do you recommend?

daniel [Visitor] in response to: Why Toe Shoes? The Benefits of Toe Separation for Barefoot Feel and Shoe Functionality

daniel [Visitor] — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 07:01:27 +0000

Ahh toes shoes, I loved them ever since I saw Al Bundy's God shoes.

Justin Owings [Member] in response to: Why Toe Shoes? The Benefits of Toe Separation for Barefoot Feel and Shoe Functionality

Justin Owings [Member] — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 16:07:42 +0000

@Q DatsWho,

Basically no toe shoes have "great arch support" -- that basically would fly in the face of the core concept around which toe shoes function -- leave the foot to function naturally. The most natural function of the foot is achieved when the foot is bare -- and the bare foot has no arch support; therefore, "barefoot shoes" don't have arch support either. Make sense?

Q DatsWhoo [Visitor] in response to: Why Toe Shoes? The Benefits of Toe Separation for Barefoot Feel and Shoe Functionality

Q DatsWhoo [Visitor] — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 15:12:32 +0000

I need to know which toe shoe out there has great arch support. the vibram bilka grey and red ones i want after reading review on this website says it has no arch support can someone help me decide i need to order the today sao i can over night them because i need them by friday

Ana [Visitor] in response to: Why Toe Shoes? The Benefits of Toe Separation for Barefoot Feel and Shoe Functionality

Ana [Visitor] — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 05:52:38 +0000

I bought my first pair of Vibrams about a year ago. At first I was iffy as I had just invested in a new pair of Reeboks. I went back and forth at first but finally decided the Vibrams were the best. For a year those are the only work out shoes and pretty much the only shoes I ever wore. Today I went to the gym and realized I left my vibrams at home. I remembered I had an old pair of tennis shoes in my car and decided to use them instead of going back home. I HATED them. They were bulky and my feet felt constricted. I was so upset and after my legs and feet hurt. I will never go back to conventional tennis shoes again!

Rob [Member] in response to: Why Toe Shoes? The Benefits of Toe Separation for Barefoot Feel and Shoe Functionality

Rob [Member] — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 21:34:04 +0000

I had a *theory* as to the origin of the elevated heel in shoes. My theory is that with the advent of humans traveling on horseback with saddles and stirrups they needed a way to better "lock" their shod foot in the stirrup. A simple way to accomplish this would be for the shoe to have a chunk of material that protruded from the sole at the heel there by perhaps inadvertently creating the raised heel? I think about the most simple boots and shoes; think cowboy boots or more formal patent leather shoes with the heel blocks; perfect for use in stirrups but at the cost of elevating the heel! So I'm thinking the whole elevated heel is (at least in part) a carry over from the saddled horseback riding days... Perhaps somebody more studied in this area could clear this up?

Justin Owings [Member] in response to: Why Toe Shoes? The Benefits of Toe Separation for Barefoot Feel and Shoe Functionality

Justin Owings [Member] — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 14:25:40 +0000

@Ralf,

Thanks for pointing out the footwear errors -- the comment about humans being around for millennia wasn't intended to mean that they've only been around a few thousand years. Regardless, I updated the article a bit to be more coherent.

The Eurasia boots information is new to me and makes sense. Thanks for sharing it. Footwear would make sense as an early technology to adapt to environments not suitable for bare feet or deal with harsh conditions.

That said, the types of shoe technology used by human beings for the last 10-40K years certainly varied dramatically around the globe. Not everyone was wearing thick boots. I haven't seen any ancient footwear having elevated heels or foam soles, arch support, etc., either. So while I see the point of your comment — that we have likely evolved to some extent to wear shoes — that doesn't negate the broader point, which is that we are not likely to be adapted to modern footwear. Meanwhile, even while we may have evolved over the last 10K years, it seems a leap to assume that we necessarily evolved to wear footwear. The feet of babies and children certainly don't made to fit narrow shoe lasts. Given the massive adaptability of human beings to all sorts of footwear (within one's own life), I'd also argue that an evolutionary morphological change doesn't seem very necessary to fitness, survivability, etc. All this is just speculation on my part -- any more thoughts on what sorts of morphological changes might have come about in the last 10K years as they pertain to footwear?