Alternative Names for Vibram Five Fingers

By Justin Owings on Aug 18, 2009 | In Guides | 18 comments »

(Update 10/07/09: See the alternative names for VFFs wiki entry here!)

Vibram FiveFingers wearers and gawkers alike all have come up with a slew of alternative names for "VFFs." I chalk this up to the unique footwear niche of fivefingers — they aren't quite shoes nor are they socks, and since they look like feet, well what on earth are they?

So here's an attempt to have the "definitive guide" to alternative names for Vibram fivefingers. If I am missing anything on this list, do comment below as I will update this post. From the obvious to the silly, here goes nothing:

Category

Alternatives to "Fivefingers"

Similar names (those resembling "Vibram fivefingers" or that employ the "Vee-brum" name):
  • Vibram five toes
  • Vibrams
  • Vibes

Acronym-based names:
  • VFFs
  • V5s
  • V5Fs

Descriptive names (those based on trying to understand VFFs via descriptive or analogous words):
  • toe shoes
  • foot gloves
  • barefoot shoes
  • sock-shoes
  • water shoes (or kayak shoes)
  • ballerina shoes
  • freakish slippers

Names based on animals:
  • ape feet
  • gorilla feet
  • monkey feet
  • frog feet
  • gecko feet
  • cat feet

Names based on characters:
  • ninja shoes
  • pirate shoes
  • caveman shoes
  • Spider-man shoes
  • Aqua man shoes
  • muppet feet
  • hobbit feet

Names pulled from pop culture (TV in both cases):
??? names:
  • happy feet
  • second skins
  • claws
  • skinnies
  • foot condoms

Finally, there's this site's namesake — birthday shoes! Any I'm missing? What do you call your fivefingers? What about others? Let me know!

Hat tip to "kakez" for creating a forum thread to get the ball rolling on this naming task!

About the Author — I founded BirthdayShoes.com in April 2009 on realizing just how much I enjoyed having "free feet" - I mostly wanted to use them for weights, sprints, and plyometrics (I'm not much of a runner!). I'm a Googler by day and minimalist footwear aficionado by night; you can find me 'round Atlanta. If you want to catch up with what I'm doing outside of the site here, follow me on twitter @bdayshoes or @justinno or check out my personal site JustinOwings.com.
has written 845 articles and 379 comments.

wait! before you go —

« Colin takes two weeks to "mill around" France barefoot or in Vibrams (Classics)Ben finishes first half-marathon in VFF KSOs »
Comment from: rebecca [Visitor]
rebeccaI never realised there were so many names!
08/19/09 @ 11:17
Comment from: whaltar [Visitor]
whaltarI like "Monkey Toes" personally
08/20/09 @ 16:13
Comment from: Sparrow [Visitor] Email
SparrowEver since watching the Sesame Street clips that were posted here, I've been calling them "Monster Feet."

Monsters don't need shoes! We can do everything in our Monster Feet!
08/21/09 @ 22:28
Comment from: Marianna [Visitor]
MariannaI call them ninja toe shoes - mix'n'match!
08/23/09 @ 13:07
Comment from: Jim [Visitor]
JimMake the abbreviation even more concise: V5s. Salute to the old ads: "I could've had a V8!" [forehead slap]
09/29/09 @ 12:10
Comment from: Corin [Visitor]
CorinI think "V5s" (pronounced: Vee Fives) should be added to this list, I've seen it used several times now.

I like "happy feet", personally.
10/07/09 @ 15:05
Comment from: Justin Owings [Member] Email
Yeah I just added V5s!
10/07/09 @ 15:08
Comment from: dan [Visitor]
danMe and my girlfriend call them Floves, a shortened version of Foot Gloves.
11/27/09 @ 10:02
Comment from: Lew [Visitor]
LewFloves. Now thats funny
02/18/10 @ 14:35
Comment from: fivefingersfree [Visitor]
fivefingersfreeHere in SoCal we just call em 5's.
03/09/10 @ 02:09
Comment from: Travisimo [Visitor]
TravisimoSilver Back feet.
03/21/10 @ 00:22
Comment from: Kerry [Visitor]
KerryI calls these wonderful shoes my "ugly shoes".
03/22/10 @ 13:34
Comment from: bjorn [Visitor]
bjornmy dad has a pair of the blue KSO's and they are called the Avatar shoes
03/23/10 @ 21:53
Comment from: Monica [Visitor]
MonicaOur 3 year old calls them our "feet shoes", while I referred to my husband's as sasquatch feet until I got my own!
05/06/10 @ 15:17
Comment from: Cloud [Visitor]
CloudMy BFFs are my VFFs.
05/24/10 @ 17:55
Comment from: Youth NFL Jerseys [Visitor] Email
Youth NFL JerseysOur 3 year old calls them our "feet shoes", while I referred to my husband's as sasquatch feet until I got my own
06/15/10 @ 13:11
Comment from: morlee [Visitor]
morleeFloves. Now thats funny
07/15/10 @ 12:20
Comment from: NCA [Visitor]
NCAMy friends and I call 'em barefoot shoes.
04/30/11 @ 23:05