Tune Footwear Tassle Loafer Barefoot Shoes First Look

Tune Footwear has officially launched! Their dressy loafer-style barefoot shoes are now available for sale via TuneFootwear.com for $99.

We previewed Tune Footwear back in late July of this year but that was prior to having seen the final product.  Today I'm going to take it a step further and show off a bunch of photos of the dark brown tassle-style loafers Tune sent me to check out — and in a week or two, Tim is going to follow up with a full review.

Let's dive in!

The Tassle Loafers

The model seen above and throughout this post is the Tune Tassle.  Tune touts the following as the benefits of their barefoot-minded loafers:

All styles of TUNE Footwear focus on three essential features needed to make for a truly healthy loafer.  Each  pair of Tunes has a wide FIT in the toe box, a FLAT sole, and FLEXIBLE base in an effort to help promote a natural gait and allow your foot to function, flex and feel the ground as if it were bare.

The upper of my pair is a pebbled leather.  The inside is also leather and you can wear these guys with or without socks.  I've mostly been wearing mine with socks.

The fit seems to run slightly small so you might want to size up.  I'm typically a size 10.5 and these are 11s.  They seem about right to my feet.

Take a look at'em below!

As you can see, the toe box is nicely rounded.  There's a good bit of toe wiggle room within these loafers.  They're snug across my insteps so my feet feel secured within the loafers.  Overall, the initial fit seems about right to me.

Anyone else reminded of Stem/Lemming/Lems?  Something about the toe box shape and sole shape just reminds me a bit of Lems.

The Soles

Tune's all feature a 13mm sole (Broken down into an 8mm outsole and 5mm insole).  That's not particularly thick and ends up being fairly flexible.  Take a look:

The soles curve in at the arch, so you might notice some pressure there when you put them on.  It's nothing major and I'd hesitate to call it support, but I noticed it, so worth pointing out.

The soles feature a tread pattern that is reminiscent of the Tune logo, but also reminds me of a bass clef, which I'm assuming isn't a coincidence given the name of the company, but I actually don't know.

Ground feel isn't too bad with the Tunes, but it's certainly not as much by comparison to other minimalist shoes with thinner soles.  That the Tunes are neutral in thickness from heel to toe and have an anatomically friendly last giving your toes plenty of room to wiggle — all in a dressed up leather package suitable for a business environment — well, ground feel is probably not as important here, anyway, right?

Worn with Khakis

I don't wear much classical business attire these days at Google, so I had to dust off a pair of khakis for photos here (Okay, I do dress up every now and again, but it's infrequent!).  That said, I think you can see that these loafers look right at home with a pair of pants.  Probably the only consideration you'll have to make is that your pants aren't too long and dragging the ground.  Hems are your friends when you wear shoes that lack a significant heel!

Take a look:

First look wrap

That's a wrap as far as taking a "first look" at these new leather loafers that are foot-friendly and ready for the office.

It's about time there was a barefoot shoe that was actually available for sale that was designed from the ground up to fit in at the office.  If you're chomping at the bit to try a pair, head over to TuneFootwear.com!  At $99, these are priced pretty competitively and I'd challenge anyone to find a more suitable shoe for men that would be right at home with slacks, khakis, or whatever business attire you find yourself in day in and day out.

If you're hoping for a full review before you make a decision, stay tuned — Tim'll be following up in the days to come!