Somewhere in America, the following conversation is taking place …
Guy 1: Have you heard of the “Fila Skele-toes?” They’re those crazy new toe shoes!
Guy 2: Oh yeah I saw those billboards driving to work the other day off I-70. Those things are weird lookin’.
Guy 1: Dude, I went into JCPenney the other day and tried on a pair. They’re amazing! They’re actually really comfortable. Apparently you can run barefoot in them.
Guy 2: But they’re shoes, right?
Guy 1: Well yea, I guess so. Anyway, they’re this totally new shoe design that allows your foot to be closer to barefoot but still have something to protect you from stepping on glass and rocks and stuff. I picked up a pair for forty bucks.
Guy 2: My wife hates them but I love them.
I’ll stop.
We’ve covered the release of Fila Skele-toes toe shoes a good bit here, having reviewed the originals, the Skeletoes 2.0, and most recently the Fila Freely-toesSkele-toes Voltage. And while I’m in not overtly anti-Skeletoes, seeing their four-toed shoes as being a sort of competition to Vibram FiveFingers or perhaps a low-cost gateway shoe into the world of minimalist footwear or toe shoes, I have to say Fila is being not the least bit obnoxious with their latest billboard campaign.
Take a closer look at the photo above (Thanks, Jared!) and you’ll see that Fila is billing their Skele-toes as “Toetally Original.” What, didn’t you know that Fila was the first to bring to market the toe shoe?
So I hope you can forgive my sarcasm here—it’s just a bit shocking to see Fila using the word “original” in their marketing of the Skeletoes. You see, and if you are just learning about toe shoes this may be news to you, but Fila’s Skeletoes are “also-rans” that first hit the market in early 2011 — that’s a whopping five years after Barefoot Ted ran the Boston Marathon in Classic FiveFingers (the first toe shoes).
What’s really going on here? Well, I can only imagine that Fila’s executives are beside themselves giving toe shod “low fives” (low “fours?”) over their witty marketing campaign here (and I do like the pun, don’t get me wrong!) — after all, isn’t Fila being sued by Vibram for being “toetally” not original?*
And I’ll really stop there and ask, what do you think?
* I really don’t know if Vibram has a case of intellectual property infringement here.
17 replies on “Fila Skele-Toes “Toetally Original”?”
I hate Fila, and their knock-off toe shoes. Everytime I see someone in skeletoes I just roll my eyes and glare. They make crappy products all around, in my opinion. I will never give them another penny.
While I fortunately got a pair of KSOs straight away without wasting any money on Skeletoes, I still definitely believe there is a market for it.
Gizmodo Australia summarized the Skeletoe quite nicely: “It’s like the Vibram FiveFingers and the Nike Frees had a baby.”
In my eyes Vibram should be happy about Fila basically doing big time merchandise for free for the skeletoes (indirectly). If people look stuff up about skeletoes on the net, they’ll sooner or later find sites where reviewers highly recommend VFFs over Skeletoes. And trust me, when seeing those weirdo “shoes” in the streets, they WILL look them up online.
That is just absurd!
I have to say I’ve been seeing these around the Nashville area for about a month now, and it bugs the crap out of me for the same reasons. Although I must admit that I expect honesty in advertising about as much as I expect to develop the ability to fly. In the long run I think Vibrams will always come out on top because they make a better product, and most people who start with skeletoes will inevitably upgrade.
that’s an obnoxious claim. Of course, most of advertising is obnoxious and dubious claims, but that one’s really pretty hard to defend.
These are toe-tally original. Do you see any other four toed shoes on the market? I briefly tried Fila’s first Skeletoe offering and found them to be too stiff. I did find the combined toe pocket as a benefit, due to my overly short and crooked pinky toes, but after trying them I just forced myself to get used to the KSOs I already owned. Since adapting, I now have zero pinky toe discomfort in any of my pair of VFF and I am up to 11 pair. Fila and their toe-tally Skeletoes are trying to steal market share away from Vibram with their price point and advertising campaign. I just feel sorry for all the unknowing people that buy into it and end up with a inferior product.
it is good.
keeping the guys at VIBRAM on their toes!
knowing that FILA is on their backs,
hopfully will make vibram produce
some new stuff, not just 5 new versions
on the old TREK sole…..
we live in a capitalistic world,
what did you expect?
a legal rival to vff just had to show up.
and FILA is a PERFECT 2nd PLACE!
and just a thought… what if it finds
out that the chinese factories that works for vibram, also works for fila….
mmmmm……
it’s all rubber, glue and press machines, you know.
Totally (toetally?) agree with you there. Fila’s massively marketing these here in Germany, too, and I really hate-hate-hate how they constantly pretend that these are new (never seen before!) and unique and original and totally THEIR idea and noone else’s, nosiree.
I have nothing against the shoes themselves – never tried them, no desire either, I’m happy with my VFFs and don’t need knock-offs -, but the campaign’s just shameless.
I’m just waiting fot the day when somebody’ll point to my VFFs and ask if they’re Skeletoes. Or, worse, tell me that they’re knock-off Skeletoes. Grrr. Competition’s good and all that, but I hope Vibram’s gonna put a stop to this.
It makes me so mad I could use words I can’t put in type. I want to know how many Vibram sales they have taken from people like the ones who are continualy approaching me saying things like, “My son/daughter/wife/I tried a pair on at Kohls/Dick’s/JCP and don’t understand why you like them. I couldn’t feel the ground/bend toes/etc.like you have stated… Why would you spend money on them?” or “I just purchased a pair of those from the before mentioned stores and hate them”. While irritated, I try to kindly point them in the right direction of a VFF retailer and explain they are knock off’s. I’ve also in recent months heard similar things about VFF’s until digging further only to find they unknowingly bought fakes and had fitment or quality issues ruining their five toed minimalist expierience!!! I’m only one person and I can’t count on all my fingers and toes these recent instances… It literally angers me because of my passion around the barefoot way of life and minimalist shoes I adore.
Could be that Fila is doing Vibram a favor.
I would have never jumped into Vibrams at their pricing point. I first saw them like 2 years ago and was intrigued, but the price was just to much for a footwear experiment. So, just last week I found a pair of FS-Ts on sale for $30 and figured what the heck!
They were comfortable for walking in, but sitting around in them was a bit much. The problem is that going back to my normal shoes after them was a bit tough. I have some foot issues to go along with being overweight and after wearing the FS-Ts for a couple of days with no foot issues, I tried to go back to my normal shoes and the issues came back and seemed greatly exaggerated.
You are probably wondering where Vibrams come into this… well, after wearing the FS-Ts for almost a week, I decided to check out Vibrams because I want something I can be comfortable in all day at work. So, I went out and bought a pair of KSO’s and I couldn’t be happier. They are great for walking, standing, and even just sitting at my desk.
So yeah, I wish I hadn’t spent the 30 bucks on the FS-Ts, but if I had not, I would have never bought the KSO’s.
@TLou,
I happen to pretty much agree with your perspective completely. I really really wish Vibram would offer an entry-level pricepoint for FiveFingers. I think if they could offer Classics at $50 and KSOs at $60 you’d basically be at the point where people would enter into the toe shoe market without fear.
It’d make huge Vibram fans happy, too, because we could get some of the most minimal VFFs at great prices.
When I find VFF Classics for $50 I am usually very pleased. I agree that would be an excellent price point for them, but alas I do not see a price break in the future. It also appears that Vibram is abandoning it’s thin soled models, or in the least they are greatly reducing the offerings. It saddens me that you currently can only get an all black Classic. I have 8 pair of Classics and not one is that color. I am just not an all black person and also Vibram is well know for their sizing nuances where all black varieties are concerned. I do hope the added competition drives costs down some, but also pushes Vibram to be innovative again. I greatly dislike the Trek sole, which seems to be Vibram’s area of focus these days.
barefootin, I understand, the dental hygenist at the dentist’s said to me the other day about my Sprints: “Those are from Adidas right?” Answer: “What, they are so NOT Adidas!!” I gave him a Vibram business card (on which I wrote birthdayshoes’ address), explained everything, and he said he was going to order some that very same night. Has I not been there he would have gone for the Adidas.
Justin,
Agreed! Our local retailers luckily price under retail. It’s nice because a pair of KSO’s are $62 before any discounts, this pricing makes it much more attractive to first timers.
Horse Rider,
I keep business cards of good local retailers from the major cities I travel to with me at all times and include the BDS information on them as well. My wife keeps a stock from our locals. The only bad thing is we have to go into the stores to replenish our stock of cards and rarely leave without buying VFF’s…..
I am not crazy about the fila skeltoes. I used to have people ask me all the time if we carried the “toe shoes”, asking about the Vibrams. But now when I get that question and I mention the Vibram FiveFingers they are like “Doens’t the Shoe Carneval sell those for like $40?”, talking about Fila’s. No one seems to pay any attention to the FiveFingers anymore, even though they are better shoes.
I have just recently entered the world of barefoot/minimalistic running. I bought a pair of skeletoes 2.0 a few weeks ago after trying on both the skeletoes and the adipure… i could not find a vibram retailer! In my opinion, both brands have their pros and cons! I do ALOT of obstacle racing , and the tougher sole on the skeletoes makes for a more comfortable shoe for gravel/rocks/hills, …as well as the $30 price tag. That said, my VFF’s (KSO) are my favorite all round do everything everywhere (that wont wreck them). YES the VFF’s are a better shoe overall, but there is still a place for a cheaper alternative and Fila has done a much better marketing job.
When we were in Florida recently these billboards were plastered everywhere! “Toe-tally” absurd is more like it. I got a laugh out of it, so did my 10 year old daughter. I don’t believe they are the originals. I admit to owning some of them, only because my 5 yr old son has an easier time putting them on then tnhe Vibrams, he has a 2 pairs of them., but now I’ll get him a pair of the kids Sprints. And i did buy my Hubby a pair of the Fila’s just to get him to try them, he wouldn’t even try any of the toe shoes on, so I bought some, he tried them and so far he likes them! Next step for him is the Vibrams! So there is a little bit of goodness to the fila’s! By the way, running total pairs of Vibrams: 7 pairs.