Shamma Sandals Classic All Browns Review

The Classic All Brown Shamma Sandals provide a leather-strapped alternative to Shamma’s velcro-strapped options, including the previously reviewed (and praised) Jerusalem Cruisers and Warriors; and Shamma Mountain Goats. The “All Browns” are very attractive, with great groundfeel, and a ton of customization options for just about all foot shapes, sizes, and fit preferences—a fantastic road and trail running sandal! Read on for my thoughts on the Classic All Brown from Shamma Sandals!

About the Shamma Sandals All-Browns

What Shamma Sandals says about their Classic All-Browns:

The All-Browns know about style. The All-Browns have the same great features of our other Classics, and have a deep brown sole to go with their Oil-Tanned Hide Laces. These running sandals are sure to turn heads as you cruise the streets and mountain trails in style. And now, they’re available with a rich brown hide leather footbed for even more comfort and style. Go brown, go All-Browns!

Weight — 3.6 (mens size 9) Total Stack Height — 6mm Vibram Morflex sole provides good groundfeel and flexibility. Barefoot Scale — Great for barefoot enthusiasts and a great training tool for new runners Ideal Uses — Road running, trail hiking, light-to-moderate terrain technical running Pros —

• Lightweight
• Good looks with its handsome leather construction
• Excellent ground feel
• Great Vibram sole
• Long leather strap and omni-directional center buckle provides tons of fit customization
• Priced below much of the competition
• Hand-crafted and made in the USA

Cons —

• Leather loop strap is more difficult to adjust than the velcro straps used in the Jerusalem Cruisers, Warriors, and Mountan Goats.

Photos of the Shamma Sandals Classic All-Browns:

Sole

Shamma Sandals’ All Brown Classics use the same excellent Morflex sole as The Jeruselem Cruisers and many other running sandals. Morflex is a micro-cellular sole, with one third the weight of rubber, but excellent resilience and a little bounce. The material feels like a very dense neoprene, is slightly squishy, and conforms easily to the shape of your foot. It has good grip and durability. Other sole materials from Vibram are—in order of increasing density—Woodstock, Gumlite, and Newflex. With each increase in density, the traction and aggressive treading is also improved and as you move up the Vibram selection of soles, they became more all-terrain capable. Among Vibram soles typically used, Morflex is the least dense and are most suited for road running. The Morflex sole in the Classic All Browns provides just a touch of give upon landing, but no so much as to qualify as “cushy”—just slightly cushier than the other types of soles used in running sandals. My favorite Vibram sole is still Newflex, which provides excellent density, durability, and traction, but Morflex is my second favorite for its smoothness, ease of running, and hint of forgiveness with form and rough terrain. Morflex is a fantastic sole for newcomers and the 6mm sole provides plenty of groundfeel but enough protection for anything you can encounter in on a road or light trail run.

Sizing

With my wide feet, the All Browns are a perfect fit. Shamma Sandals provides a wide sole shape around the toe section to accommodate many food shapes and sizes. If necessary, you can easily trim your sandals to fit narrower feet, but for me its one of the best

Fit and Materials

The entire shoe is constructed with just four materials: Leather, the vibram sole, and a bit of nylon and plastic for the buckle and countersunk toe post. My version came with the very supple and smooth leather topper. The combination of materials makes the Classic All Browns the best looking huarache on the market. Extra-long laces are provided with each pair of the classics and the excess can be trimmed after finding the right fit; doing so allows for a ton of customization as you can use more strap for big, beautiful feet or snip away a ton of strap material if you have flat or small feet. After I found the right fit, I cut away about four inches of excess strap material. There is a lot of customization with the Shamma buckle system and leather straps. You can move the main strap and plastic top buckle in four directions to get the best fit.

The central strap section that goes across the chasm between the bones of your big and index toe can be moved up or down the foot by threading the outer strap and the buckle can be shifted left to right by threading the inner strap. For me, I would recommend that you position the main strap straight and angled between your big toe and index (second) toe, running down the valley between the bones in your feet. This prevents rubbing and allows for a tighter fit. The leather straps are very comfortable to wear, both while running or hiking—easily among the most comfortable sandals I’ve ever worn (rivaling the very soft webbing material used in the Xeroshoes Amuri Z-Treks) and is a slight improvement over the tougher nylon webbing used in the Jerusalem Cruisers, Warriors, and Mountain Goats. As a side note: the nylon versions of Shamma Sandals feature a nifty suede strap around the heel area to provide a little extra comfort, but the Classic Cruiser sandals lack this feature because the entire strap system is comprised of soft leather, every angle of your foot is softly held in place. The toe post is countersunk into the sole material and resides nearly seamlessly underneath the sandal. There is a bit of reinforced-stitched nylon webbing that connects the toe post to the leather straps. This connection is very strong and durable. The nylon webbing is wide and flat and you can adjust how it holds between your toes with a quarter twist of the toe post. Give it a turn to twist the straps and make them narrower for tightly-packed toes or leave it wide and flat for splayed toes. Like everything else about the sandal, it’s very simple, but brilliant in its simplicity. The All Browns also feature a handy lace keeper. It’s a small elastic band that keeps your extra strap in place during runs, but still allows you to easily readjust your sandals between runs.

Compared to the Jerusalem Cruisers, Warriors, and Mountain Goats, which employ nylon webbing and velcro straps, the Classic All Browns take a little but more time to properly adjust and put together for a proper fit the first time around. This is because the leather straps need to be fed through the buckle and tightened, while the velcro straps of the other models can be easily snapped and unsnapped quickly and easily. It takes a bit of time to dial in the right fit, but once you found the sweet spot, it stays put. For this reason, the Classics require a bit more time to adjust, but overall have more customizability over its sister sandals. The Classic All Browns weigh 3.6 ounces in a mens size 9. They are slightly heavier than other Shamma Sandals, the Warriors (3.4 ounces) and the Jerusalem Cruisers (3.5 ounces). The extra weight is most likely due to the difference in weight between leather and the nylon webbing. In this weight class, the All Browns are among the lightest sandals on the market and are roughly on par in weight with the KSO EVO (my favorite non-sandal running shoe). They are lighter than Xeroshoes, Bedrock Sandals, and Unshoes’ Pah Tempe, but are heavier than Gladsoles.

Summary

The Classic All Browns from Shamma Sandals are an attractive running sandal for road and light trails. In my opinion, they are the best-looking huaraches in town. As reviewed with the leather-top, they can be had for $70 off Shamma’s website. Their good looks aren’t just for the eyes; they are also for your feet! The leather straps are comfortable, the fit is highly customizable, and the Vibram Morflex sole is smooth and light for many of your running needs. An excellent addition to a fantastic huarache lineup!