Vibram FiveFingers Speed For Sale in the U.S.!

The FiveFingers Speed is Available Now!

Hallelujah!  It's finally here!

The Vibram FiveFingers Speed a.k.a. the retro-styled, laced-up, limited-release Vibram toe shoes are finally available for purchase in the United States!

CitySports has them here for $99.95 (with free shipping)!

Current sizes available (as of 5/31/11 11:30 AM EDT) are Men's black/white 40 - 47 and women's teal blue/white 37 - 41.

More about the once-elusive Vibram FiveFingers Speed after the jump!

We first got our feet into a pair on their international release back in Spring 2010 (An eternity ago in the world of minimalist footwear).  You can read our review of the FiveFingers Speed here.  For the U.S. release, the FiveFingers Speed will be available in black and white for men — black laces (The international version had white laces — this being the only apparent difference); teal and white for women; and white and blue for women.

Here are some technical specs:

• Geared towards everyday use — this is my preferred use of the FiveFingers Speed as it just looks too stylin' for me to risk messing up with heavy activity.  That said, there are many people running in the Speed without problems — even considering it the best VFF around!
• Weight is 5.9 oz (for a men's 43)
• 2mm EVA Insole with the Bikila outsole — note the lack of extra cushioning that you get in the forefoot area as with the Bikila.  This means you get a bit better ground feel.  I think I can wiggle my toes better in the Speeds, too, for that matter.
• Fit is similar to the Bikila and Bikila LS, which I'd peg as every so slightly smaller than the KSO.
• Machine washable!  Yep.  No problems on the washability — just let them air dry.

If you need to compute your sizing, here's a Bikila chart:

If I had to sum up the Speed in a two-sentence review, here's what I'd say:

The FiveFingers Speed is the best-looking, most stylish and comfortable knock-around, everyday pair of toe shoes in the Vibram line-up.  What more, they're laced for a snug, custom fit and can double as do-anything-you-want-in-them shoe for running or playing in a pinch.

I paid a crazy amount for my first pair of Speeds and have never regretted it — they were so expensive due to the international purchase and shipping!  Thankfully, now, the Speed's can be purchased with free shipping for $100 at CitySports.

Can you tell I'm excited?  Just happy that others will finally have access to this awesome flavor of FiveFingers!

To celebrate the arrival of the Speed, BirthdayShoes sponsor CitySports gave away a pair of Vibram FiveFingers Speeds to a lucky birthdayshoes.com email subscriber!  has agreed to give away a pair of Vibram Speeds to one BirthdayShoes email subscriber just as soon as they are available for purchase.

The Contest has ended!

Yes, the winner has been selected — CONGRATS JULIE! — so if you've not been contacted by us at birthdayshoes.com, sorry you weren't the lucky, random winner!  However, you can still grab a pair of Speeds.  They're finally here!

The contest winner will be selected at random from the pool of BirthdayShoes.com email subscribers as it stands at the contest's end.  The contest's end will coincide with an announcement that City Sports has the Vibram Five Fingers Bikila available for purchase online.  This is expected to be sometime in the next few weeks!

All existing, active email subscribers prior to this contest announcement are automatically entered into the drawing so long as they are still subscribed by email as of the contest's end.  If you aren't yet subscribing to BirthdayShoes by email, in order to enter into the drawing, simply sign up for an email subscription to the BirthdayShoes blog feed and be sure to activate your subscription!  Only one email address per person is allowed — we reserve the right to delete these emails from the list (read: Don't cheat!).

The confirmation email sometimes gets hung up in email client spamtraps, so keep an eye out for it (it should arrive somewhat instantaneously)!  Email subscription is free and your email will not be sold to third parties!  What more, unsubscribing is simple and fast.

The randomly selected winner of the giveaway contest will get a free pair of the Vibram FiveFingers Speed provided by City Sports!  One note: if it's a male winner this will be a black/white pair.  If a female, it will be teal/white.

Let me end by saying "thank you" to City Sports for sponsoring this VFF giveaway and supporting the Vibram Five Fingers fan community!