Oct 22, 2019 | 1 comment »
Carets returns with a new Wingtip based on the FER with a classy and intricate design, brogue details, and some smart upgrades from last year’s FER!
Carets sent over a pair of these FALCON Wingtips to review. Read on after the jump!
Sep 3, 2019 | 9 comments »
Shamma Sandal’s Chargers have been one of my favorite sandals of the last few years. Now in 2019, Shamma has made tons of new updates and design changes to this best-selling sandal.
And since I'm such a fan of Shamma's take on huaraches/minimalist sandals, Josh sent me the current model of Chargers to put to the test—which I did by running around in Iceland!
Read through to see my thoughts on the new iteration of the Shamma Sandals Ultragrip Chargers!
Apr 18, 2019 | 7 comments »
It's been on my mind recently—a big anniversary of sorts coming up.
Only, as these things go, I thought about it and forgot it.
What's the big deal? Well, yesterday marked the 10 year anniversary of BirthdayShoes.com.
I launched BirthdayShoes on April 17, 2009. Here is a look back at the lead-up — something I sent to my siblings as I deliberated on what domain to register and just what angle to take:
As I think I've mentioned to you guys, I'm hellbent on creating a site dedicated to vibram five fingers. It could be a total flop, who knows, but it'd be kinda fun to build it and see what happens. I was honed in on the domain betterbarefoot.com with the intention of shifting from the notion that "barefeet are better than shod feet" to "it's hard to be barefoot around town" to "five fingers allow you to practically barefoot around town" -- then I realized, this was entirely too complicated and I'd be better off just going straight the point, which is FIVE FINGERS ARE COOL AND YOU SHOULD GET SOME! Start there, and explain why later -- and the why is all post-hoc justification anyway. So now I'm leaning to the domain name birthdayshoes.com ...
I registered birthdayshoes.com on April 16, 2009. Then, on April 17, 2009, I made a grand announcement over a chat with my big brother:
BirthdayShoes' first "real" article came on April 19, 2009, with "The Painful truth about Sneakers." and was folllowed up two days later with my original review of the FiveFingers KSO.
Ten years is a long time. Over that time, a lot has happened:
And boy have I had a lot of shoes come my way.
Like so many things in life, I never would have predicted all the strange and great ways BirthdayShoes has affected my life. From the people I've met to even the work opportunities it's sent my way, my fear about whether this site might be a "total flop" has never been realized.
What does the future have in store? Plans are still underway to update this site's aging (painful! I'm sorry!) design and pump some fresh blood into this site. Thank you all for supporting BirthdayShoes. Special thanks to all the reviewers over the years and especially Jarvis, who has really kept the train chugging along.
... And for the few of you who have been here from the beginning, thanks for sticking with it.
Apr 10, 2019 | 11 comments »
My favorite winter boot of all time is back for its fifth generation! The Feelmax Kuuva 5 aims to improve upon its long legacy of being the lightest waterproof boot in the world with a softer leather, a new waterproofing design, tougher brass hardware and other materials.
Alongside the Kuuva 5, Feelmax has also released a new water-resistant Kuuva Trek hiking shoe. Shorter than its winter boot counterpart, the Kuuva features the more flexible and shorter collar of previous Kuuva boots and a very flexible sole. Kuuva provided both of these shoes to review for BirthdayShoes readers, so without further adieu, read on!
Mar 27, 2019 | 7 comments »
The Prime Trotters' Wingtop Oxford is a beautiful, handmade, zero drop, dress shoe for minimalist wearers looking to take their barefoot benefits to the office, ball, or urban adventures! Prime Trotters sent me a pair to test and review and what you'll soon see is how they are worthy of a look if you're looking for a handmade, barefoot-friendly dress shoe.
Read on for my full review.
Jan 16, 2019 | 2 comments »
Sockwa is known for their ultra-minimalist approach to barefoot shoes. Sockwa, not surprisingly, takes a "sock-like" approach to their designs—their shoes take a sock-like design and add a simple, thin, flexible sole for durability.
Sockwa sent over a pair of the Sockwa X8 to review. How'd they turn out? Read on!
| $5 gets 2 stix mailed to you. More info & options here. |
birthdayshoes [about] is dedicated to feet, which is to say barefeet, or feet as they were designed to be—unshod and free! As a way to foster foot freedom, birthday shoes is spreading the word about toe shoes — Vibram Five Fingers — the ground-breaking "barefoot shoes" or "foot gloves" that allow wearers to roam the earth as [Your Belief System] intended. Free your feet!
Note: This site is not owned, operated, or otherwise affiliated with Vibram or Vibram FiveFingers. The site is intended for entertainment purposes only. Per FTC regulation, it should be assumed that products reviewed on BirthdayShoes were provided to the blogger(s) for free or at discounted cost. Though this is certainly not always the case, we'd rather be in compliance with FTC rules & regulations governing bloggers and product reviews under the assumed "most biased" letter of the law. That said, if it's not immediately obvious, this site is a fan site for minimalist footwear such as Vibram Five Fingers, which is to say that there is a stated bias in favor of these products. Despite our stated bias, between the hundreds of user-submitted stories, the thousands of forum posts (both positive and negative, warts and all!), and the in-depth resources and guides, we do our best to provide in depth information on all products reviewed. In the end, though we strive to be a helpful resource and believe in integrity and honesty, we expect you to do your part — reading the research and making educated decisions (Read: take responsibility for your actions!). We have also passed on reviewing products (not VFFs per se) that were provided to us for free but did not "cut the mustard." If you have any questions about this disclaimer, please contact us!
©2020 by Justin Owings
