Merrell Barefoot Vapor Glove First Look [Exclusive!]

If you came here looking for a first-look at the Merrell Barefoot Vapor Glove, well, I've got some bad news.  It's come to my attention that the shoes seen here on 9/5/2012 were pre-production samples that should not have seen the light of day (to the public anyway).  Merrell reached out and asked (very politely) to have the photos and the accompanying mini-review, taken down.  Their concern is from a legal standpoint — likely out of a need to protect trade secrets.

We live in a time when counterfeits run rampant and are shipped around the world to unsuspecting Internet buyers.  Technology is growing at a mind-boggling pace and information is shared globally with a few clicks of the mouse.  Thus, the only true way to protect intellectual property is to keep things secret — literally telling no one.

That's not easy in the day of the Internet.  Since Merrell asked nicely here to take things down — and will send final production pairs in a week or two to be shared here first, exclusively on BirthdayShoes — I decided to pull this post for the time being.  It wasn't an easy decision, but it's the right one.

We don't always pull first looks even when it might upset manufacturers.  In fact, pulling anything is the exception — we've frequently broken news on upcoming minimalist shoes models (before it was intended to be made public (e.g. here, here, and here among many other examples).  What more, the identity of tipsters is kept private by default.  It's absolutely important to keep this community a safe place of exchange — if that's ever in doubt please let me know.

And stay tuned!  Be sure not to miss when we officially show off the Merrell Barefoot Vapor Gloves by subscribing!