What's your story?
BirthdayShoes was founded by sharing stories from people like you. How has your life changed — from the ground up?
BirthdayShoes was founded in 2009 on the simple notion that you can improve your life one step at a time, from the ground up.
Minimalist footwear, "barefoot shoes," huaraches — or plain old bare feet — are simple solutions to help people get a little closer to the world in a literal way. Experiencing walking, running, moving when your feet can feel more of the world and move more naturally — that experience can be lifechanging.
Don't believe me? Just look around at the stories on this site. If you can imagine it, people have done it — barefoot or shod in the most basic of footwear. There's humility in putting less between you and the world around. There's power in sharing real experiences. That's why I'm asking for your help:
Tell your story. 📣 How have you been improving your health, your fitness, your life? What's your story?
Here are three ways to make BirthdayShoes better.
1. Share your story.
Do you have a great photo of you being active in the world? Are minimalist shoes part of that fun?
If you're up for sharing what you've been doing — and can tell a story about it, ideally with a photo or two — you've come to the right place. Drop an email with your thoughts, your story, to justin [at] birthdayshoes.com with the photos attached.
Please include in the email where any pictures were taken, a few sentences about your experiences, your observations, etc. — plus any other things you're up for sharing ... that's the good stuff we like to put together and share here.
If minimalist shoes (or sandals) feature prominently or are just a supporting character, include a mini review so that others can learn from your experience. When it comes to reviews, share what you like about the products — and what you don't like too.
Here's an example of what a good photo might look like (note it includes all of the person and not just the feet. Feet shots are neat but feet without the rest of the person tell an incomplete story!
justin [at] birthdayshoes [dot] com constitutes both an acknowledgement that you possess the full rights of submitted photos as well as a general release of all rights to the pictures to birthday shoes dot com. Basically, submission means you own the photos and are giving them to BirthdayShoes.com to publish. Your email address will not be published!2. Send us news, scuttlebutt, or rumors!
Who doesn't love to hear the latest news in barefoot? We try to cover breaking stories, new product releases, leaked upcoming shoes, huge promotions and big sales, and more. If you've heard something that you think would be interesting to others on the blog, contact us!
3. Get even more involved.
BirthdayShoes is a side-project. It's no one's full time job and is currently being kept up in the spare hours of folks who are busy with work, school, families, or whatever. The site has had over three million unique visitors since it began in Spring 2009 and these days, it takes a lot of work just to keep things moving — to say nothing of keeping up with all the reviews, news, and other stuff we like to share.
If you'd like to get really involved and have some basic knowledge about HTML, an eagerness to do some blogging, can take a good photo, and want to look behind the curtain, well, we could use your help. I could use your help.
I can't promise fame and fortune, but you'll get some great experience seeing what it takes to run a successful blog on the internet. If that sounds interesting, drop an email about who you are, what you're all about, and how you think you could contribute to justin [at] birthdayshoes [dot] com.
🦶🤝,
Originally published April 27, 2009. Updated May 2025.
