“They feel like I have a toe massage … well not when I first got them, they stung a little when I first got them.”
What follows is a guest review by a new blogger for BirthdayShoes — Alex! Alex has been testing out Vibram’s KSO Kids FiveFingers for the past month or two and despite some adjustment (the “stinging”) now would recommend them to his friends. Photos, video review by Alex (best review in months!), more after the jump!
Video Review KSO Kids FiveFingers
Note from Alex’s dad (The interviewer above): In the video review, Alex and I erroneously mentioned that the soles aren’t non-marking, but according to the Vibram website, the soles of the children’s KSOs are non-marking. That’s means they are good to go for tennis or basketball courts.
Review of the KSO Kids FiveFingers by Alex’s Dad, Geoff
As a parent who drags my children along with me on all sorts of adventures, my two favorite things about kid’s Vibrams are their weight and their performance.
The Vibrams weigh about 5.5 ounces — that’s nearly half the weight of a typical pair of kid’s shoes. That means my seven year old son Alex can cover a lot more ground — and I mean noticeably more — before he’s worn out.
Regarding performance, most children’s shoes are climbing impediments, but in his Vibrams, Alex is able to scamper up and over all sorts of things (trees, boulders, kitchen cabinets) that he’d normally prefer to tackle barefoot. He’s also more agile — I may be imagining it, but he seems to have far fewer trips and falls while wearing his Vibrams than while in his heftier footwear.
The Vibrams are not without their challenges: Alex experienced the same irksome rubbing on the tops of his feet that a lot of people seem to have with a new pair of Vibrams (he described it as “stinging” in the video). Also, when he first got them, Alex had a difficult time getting them on. Even with my help, it was a challenge. The first time around, we spent an uncomfortable 15 minutes trying to shove each toe in its proper slot. Alex couldn’t do it on his own until at least the fourth or fifth wearing, and he couldn’t do it quickly until very recently. As he mentioned in the video, this was initially a problem at school, where he often needs to take shoes off and put them back on.
If you get these for your child, I’d encourage you to refrain from sending him or her off to school in them until the discomfort has gone away and he or she has mastered putting them on. If your child wears them everyday, that may take a week.
A more lasting negative is one that the Vibrams share with all kids’ shoes: I don’t know how long he’ll fit in a pair. He’s been in these about two months, and he may have another three or four months before he outgrows them. This is especially painful when, at $60, they cost about 50% more than the play shoes we’d normally buy for him.
Sizing and Being a Super Hero in Toe Shoes
If you are ordering some children’s KSOs online, they seem to run true-to-size.
Lastly, when other children notice the FiveFingers, expect your child to be elevated to super hero status. Children think these things are amazing. This is actually a small problem in our home, as Vibram doesn’t have a size that fits my four year old daughter. She’s a pretty good sport about it, but whenever Alex dons his, she’ll wistfully remark, “Someday, I’ll be big enough to have my own Vibrams.”
About the authors — Geoff is the founder of GuildQuality and an Atlanta-native who has put over 500 miles on his bare feet running around Atlanta. Geoff organizes barefoot runs in Atlanta via meet-up. If you’re local to ATL, check out his site FreeYourFeet.org. Alex is a growing seven year old who has just begun a career in blogging!
7 replies on “KSO Kids FiveFingers Review”
Our son (age 7) got his first pair back in March when they came out. We bought them one size big to alleviate the growing out of them so quickly. He has worn them for 6 months, almost daily, to school, outings, even to church. I have to say they have held up better than any tennis shoes (expensive or cheap) that we have purchased. We usually get 3 weeks to 3 months out of a pair of shoes before the sole falls off or they get holes in them. So in the long run, the Vibrams cost about the same or less depending on how many pair of shoes we have to buy our son in a 6 month time period. We just got him a new pair of Vibrams, b/c he had holes in the top of the toes of his Vibrams. His only complaint is blisters on the back of his heels for the first couple of weeks. We remedy this with Injini socks. Thanks for the review, I wish more parents would consider this footwear so that their children grow up with healthier feet.
I bought a pair of them for my 4 year old, he has big feet lol, he absolutely loves them. He wants another pair for his birthday. He also wants a Vibram T-shirt, which is a problem. Anyway, we never had a problem with blisters, and when he wants, he can put them on himself. He wears them to school, and everywhere else. Now I need to find toe socks in his size.
So adorable! He is precious. Is this the first kid’s VFF review?
My son is 10 and an avid runner. He loves his VFFs and after a couple weeks he was running 5Ks in them. He recently ran 4.4 miles in the Klondike Road Relay and didn’t miss a beat. I just ordered a pair of Merrell trail gloves for him to wear on a daily basis – to encourage the barefoot stride when he doesn’t want to wear the toe shoes as the weather is turning cooler, but plans to continue running in his VFFs.
We had the same challenges initially putting them on, but he has worked past that and can slip them on with ease.
I got a pair of KSOs for my 5yr old. He calls them his “fast shoes”. I had to modify them a little bit though as he has WIDE feet. LOVE them now, but I wish they had made with speed lace, laces or even just open like the classics so that you can get them on and off more easily.
HI, my son is 10 years old. I bought him the slip on lightweight vibrams () his feet were too big for the children’s ones. 🙂 He has been wearing them for almost 6 months, and he loves them! I need some feedback, and or “reassurance” and information to pass on to my former mother-in-law.. to be able to intellectually combat her unexperienced knowledge on children’s feet and growth with Vibram’s. This is the situation… Last time we saw my sons paternal Grandmother, recently, she has started pointing out that his big toe has a gap from the rest of his feet,that he didn’t have that before he started wearing the Vibrams, and spoke that his feet have changed, and she is “concerned” because of the large gap between his big toe to the other toes. She does not “approve” of my choice in shoes. :).
I work at a minimalist running store that focuses on VFFs. A few notes:
1. I have found consistently that Kids KSO’s run small, not true to size. On my 3 kids and on all other kids that come in we always have to size up from what the VFF sizing chart says they “should” be.
2. An awesome feature of the Kids KSO, that I don’t even think was meant to happen but works out very well, is that the toes kind of curl up. This allows the kids to size up from what is fitting them and they won’t trip or anything. This then makes the pair last longer with growth!
3. I always tell adults when they come in and are having trouble putting them on, about to give up, that if my 6 and 8 year old can do it then they sure can! It definitely makes them more apt to giving it a real try.
4. You were one of the lucky ones that got kids socks! Why isn’t VFF making these anymore? Our store only has a couple larges left =(
5. If your child has outgrown the Kid KSO, just get them a small pair of women’s. Our biggest sellers for older kids have been: Bikila LS, KSO, SPEED (and yes the blue ones for boys! they look awesome!), and KOMODO.