Bystander Comments on Your VFFs and Barefooting

[BearFooted]

I think here in Seattle poeple are too afraid to comment on them.  In Seattle you don't talk to Strangers it is against the law.  I get tons of people who follow me around trying to get glances of them with out being too obvious.  They will look down at them for a second or two to make sure what they thought they saw was true.  They never seem to be able to work up the guts to say "Whats is that?"  People notice the loud color ones more.  Most people really don't notice the Trek LS, Bormio and more "casual/dress" styles  they blend in to well.    Usually the only people who will comment are Store Clerks.  I guess they are used to interacting with the customer.  They usually seem interested in them since they stand on their feet for most of the day.

Personally I find it more annoying that people try and get glances of my shoe by following me around then just asking me flat out what the heck I am wearing and why.  I always notice when poeple are trying to be inconspicuous about looking.  I have even started telling poeple who are trying to look.  I noticed you are looking at my shoes.  They are called "FiveFingers" by Vibram.  Usually that starts the conversation.

[RunningTim]

On my very first BF run in a public place the other week, I got a "he's nuts!" look from a lady I passed. I just smiled and said good morning

[toh-shu]

thankfully not a single negative comment yet. Not really too many comments from random people in general either. People just notice them, look for a little bit then continue on with what they are doing. I wore them to a  doctor appointment a while ago when i had just got them, he didn't even really notice until his intern came in and within 5 seconds of stepping in the room went "oh wow! those are the toe shoes" then my doc actually noticed and of course the standard questions ensued. As they looked at them and i showed them the bottom i just explained what i used em for and how they felt yada yada yada, very positive responses. Today standing in line at the bank waiting to deposit a check this little boy was playing with a little ball of paper while waiting for his mom to finish what ever she was doing. He dropped it right in front of my feet. He went down to get it as I bent down to pick it up for him, and i watched him get wide eyed and just stop moving and stare for a couple seconds. He looked up at me as i gave the ball of paper to him and he stepped away. then the rest of the time i was standing in line i just watched him try to sneak glances at my orange/black ksos every few seconds. It was pretty funny, little kids are always so curious. Surprisingly my friends have also taken a liking to them. The first time i wore them around my friends it took a second for them to notice, then i explained them with he usual spiel and they all thought they were pretty cool. Now every time i wear them they just look and say "oh you are wearing the funky toe shoes today"

[BlackFoxSees]

^ HaHa, little kids always have the best responses.

My favorite comment came from ~3 year old boy. He was holding his dad's hand and walking with him in a grocery store when I walked past. The kid just stopped, his jaw dropped, and he gets that amazed big-eye stare that kids do. Then he points at my feet and practically yells, "SSHHOOOOOOESS!"
The dad just said, "Yep, buddy, shoes," and picked him up without seeing what had his son so excited.

The weirdest comment I've heard of personally was actually the response of a Vibram wearer to a question. (second-hand account)
A while before I even thought about trying VFF's a friend of mine encountered the 1 guy on Purdue University's campus who wears them. He wears the blue camo KSO's, so he probably get a lot more comments than I do with my black ones.

My friend: "Are those things comfortable?"
KSO guy: "F*** you."

 

[aixperience]

hm, wearing my black KSOs around campus is usually fun: as mentioned above, people will stop and look twice, maybe drop a comment to their friend or something - I have never actually been approached by anyone but my friends. but I guess that is unlikely in germany, people are to uptight.

[Peter]

My friend: "Are those things comfortable?"
KSO guy: "F*** you."

Ha, ha!  I love that.  (I think I've responded that way in my head a few times ...)

[vice69]

people at the gym ask about them a lot. comfortable? expensive? can you wear them outdoors?

[PB Junkie]

The comment I get A LOT is "don't your feet get cold?" my standard reply is they don't get cold unless I'm just standing around outside.

[RunningTim]

My girlfriend's 6 year old nephew said to me today "You're wearing feet!"

[toh-shu]

finally got some not so accepting comments. last week this girl i always talk to in one of my classes informed my that she hates my toe shoes and that they are really freaky and i look like a frog. i told her not to look down at them then.  then the next day i told her to turn around and put my VFFs up in front of her and wiggled my toes, i laughed when she freaked out. today i wore my nike frees to show good graces haha also after telling me they were cool the first time he saw em one of my good friends told me he also hated my shoes and gave me a bit of shit for em that day. i thought i explained the reason for the weird shoes but i guess not, so that evening i linked him the "why toe shoes" page here and told him to read it, become informed and f*ck off if he still did not like them.

[AMD64Blondie]

Comment from one of my neighbors in my apartment building:"Oh,you're wearing those freaky toe shoes again,aren't you?".

(She had on a pair of regular tennis shoes..quite disturbing..bah humbug- regular shoes.)

[jayesel]

Today I had an interesting comment from a kid (about 3 or 4). Me and my girlfriend were walking by and this kid slows down slows down looking at my shoes.  He looks up at his dad and says: "COOL!" his dad pulls him along and they keep walking past us. As we walk by I hear the kid exclaim something to the effect of: "Did you see his shoes? They look like... crazy shoes!"

[Rockpup]

"Did you see his shoes? They look like... crazy shoes!"

Another convert 

[nowster]

I'm currently finding that nobody notices the Speeds... except this evening a young lad (I'd guess about 5 or 6) clocked the toes and was giving a "wow" type stare, but didn't say anything. A smile and a wink, and I was on my way.

[toh-shu]

heck ya! my new gf saw my vibrams for the first time today, and while she thought they were weird she didnt mind them at all and we walked around at the mall for a while together and of course i wore them and she didnt care at all. so success!