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The origins of the first five-toe shoes — the "barefoot shoe"

Five Fingers were the brainchild of Italian designer Robert Fliri. Fliri first had the concept of a foot glove "barefoot shoe" in 1999. He had been spending a good deal of time outdoors, periodically taking off his shoes. It was from these experiences that he conceptualized the foot glove, remarking that, "We have five toes: when they can move and grasp the ground independently, and when you can really sense the surface under your feet, your body is able to do what it is designed for by nature. That is a powerful feeling."

Despite the intuitive power of barefootedness, Robert Fliri's concept of a five-toed foot glove languished until a fortuitous meeting with Marco Bramani, the grandson of Vitale Bramani — the founder of the Italian company Vibram (pronounced "Vee-brum"). As the legend goes, Bramani believed that "Five Fingers" (So named for the Italian word for "fingers" being the same as that for "toes") might make a novel choice of footwear for use on sailboats or in other activities that required greater ground-feel. Bramani brought Fliri into Vibram to develop Vibram Five Fingers.

Perhaps what makes this story particularly interesting is that prior to making Vibram Five Fingers, Vibram had only ever made rubber soles for over 70 years for other shoe manufacturers. In this sense, it's somewhat remarkable that their first entrant into the shoe industry is simultaneously only a marginally a "shoe" from the perspective of history, mostly just Vibram rubber sole, used most popularly for running (not boating), and perhaps most incredibly revolutionizing the sports shoe industry!

Funny how these things happen.

Vibram Five Fingers start taking off

In 2006, when Vibram Five Fingers were just starting to make waves as a novel, but strange approach to footwear, "Barefoot" Ted McDonald contacted Vibram USA requesting to try out the Classic Five Fingers for running. Tony Post, the ex-Rockport Boston Marathon runner turned Vibram USA CEO, spoke to McDonald and agreed to have him run the Boston Marathon in Vibram Five Fingers (source).

Vibram Five Fingers continued to pique the curiosity of anyone who saw them, slowly growing in popularity both among fitness enthusiasts wanting a more "barefoot feel" and also with runners, of which a niche group of barefoot running enthusiasts such as "Barefoot" Ken Bob Saxton already existed.

Runners really began to take note in 2009 thanks to the publishing of Christopher McDougall's Born to Run (Go here for a full review). In a nutshell, Born to Run takes a serious look at ultra long-distance runners and races; an indigenous long-distance running tribe, the Tarahumara Indians, living in the Copper Canyons of Mexico; and the high-incidence of running-related injuries cast against the past few decades of high-tech, ever-more engineered running shoes — why are running shoes that are designed to prevent or reduce injuries not working?

As luck would have it for Vibram Five Fingers, Barefoot Ted is one of the main characters of Born to Run, running both barefoot and racing along the Tarahumara Indians in the Copper Canyons of Mexico in Vibram Five Fingers. Needless to say, readers of Born to Run were left inspired to ditch their Nikes and either run barefoot or minimally shod. Not too surprisingly, it wasn't long before Vibram Five Fingers as a barefoot running shoe started going mainstream.

Why are Vibram Five Fingers good for running, anyway?

How could a shoe with no arch support and no cushioning be good for running? Wouldn't that hurt? You barefoot running people must be crazy!

These are common questions for Five Fingers-shod or barefoot runners. It's a given in our modern culture that you must wear running shoes, trainers, or sneakers to safely move around outside. It's assumed that asphalt is hard and dangerous to run on without lots of cushioing. It's even assumed that heel-striking is natural.

Like many commonly held beliefs, these preconceived notions about running are very likely false. For example, it seems that there is an inverse relationship between the amount of cushioning in your shoes and just how hard you're willing to strike the ground. This really isn't surprising when you think about it. Imagine runnning barefoot on a hard surface. You would land as gingerly and gently as you possibly could.

Comparatively, add a bunch of foam underneath your foot and everything changes. It suddenly doesn't matter so much how you land when running on hard surfaces because the foam helps absorb the impact on your foot and mutes the sensations of a varied, non-uniform ground. Consequently, people running in cushioned shoes tend to take longer strides, strike the ground hard, and strike the ground at their heel. The shockwave spawned by this striking then shoots up your ankle and leg. Further complicating the matter is that adding thick heels to your shoes changes your natural running gait from midfoot/forefoot to a heel-strike.

It's not that you can't run gently in modern running shoes, it's that you both don't have to and many find they simply can't (due to the forced heel-strike and the resulting shockwave).

Running barefoot or without much protection/cushioning as with minimalist footwear like Vibram Five Fingers works so well at encouraging gentle, natural running because the lack of cushioning and support forces you to run lightly, with less impact. and, in turn, with less or no injury (More on How to Run here). That's how the theory goes, anyway, and the science is finally starting to bear that theory out.

In the end, everyone is different. Indeed, our uniqueness is one of the best arguments for barefootedness over wearing traditional, mono-toed shoes — we all have different, unique feet! Modern sports shoes are innately mass-produced, one-size-fits-most designs. The more engineered a particular shoe design, the less likely it is that that design will work for your feet. Meanwhile, your feet are custom built for you. Think about that.

So how, if barefoot is best, do Vibram Five Fingers "fit" into this?

A pile of the open-topped Classic Vibram Five Fingers, the original "barefoot shoe" from Vibram and the most minimal, outdoor-use VFF available.

Vibram Five Fingers are the revolutionary, modern shoe paradigm-destroying product they are less because of what they are and more because what they are not. They are just a thin bit of rubber strapped to your foot, complete with individual toe slots. No arch support. No cushioning. This minimalist design puts your foot very close to being in it's natural, barefoot state. Five Fingers allow your foot to express itself dynamically — meaning toes can move independently and the foot can flex, bend, and twist, engaging all the muscles and tendons of the foot similarly to how the foot would work barefoot. The thin layer of rubber in Five Fingers also allows a good deal (though not all) of ground feedback to transmit to the foot.

Of course, Vibram Five Fingers are not perfect — they do reduce ground feedback and are still a "one-size-fits-most," mass-produced foot glove. It's just that they mostly let a foot do it's thing as it would naturally while providing a bit of rubber protection — oh, and they afford the outward appearance of being shod (Five toed shoes are weird looking, but they are at least somewhat socially acceptable by simply being something on your feet!).

Where is this all going?

Vibram Five Fingers have exploded the traditional footwear paradigm and are at the forefront of the minimalist footwear movement. As minimalist running has taken off, other shoe manufacturers have taken note and alternative "barefoot running shoes" or just close-to-barefoot casual shoes are starting to show up everywhere.

In short, a return to a more natural state of movement through "freeing your feet" is here to stay. As more and more people discover the "barefoot alternative" of Vibram Five Fingers, or simply the kid-like freedom of being barefoot outdoors, the traditional footwear that has dominated the sports shoe industry over the past few decades just may go away — or at least reduce in scope. Who needs over-engineered, over-hyped, over-marketed, over-cushioned foot casts on their feet anyway?

Wouldn't you rather let your feet be free?

If you want to pick up a pair of Vibram Five Fingers, here's a model cheat sheet that will help you start narrowing down the options. Also, you can search posts about Vibram Five Fingers (as well as by specific models) here.