Happy Birthday to Lena Phoenix, Xero Shoes’ co-founder, COO and, my favorite part, my wife!
We hope you join our birthday celebration with any of these 3 bits of WAY cool news!
Lena’s Birthday Special Sale!
Know the dangers of distance running!
Parents, do you know the warning signs of “distance running?”
Are your children under the influence of the evil pushers of 5k racing?
We hope this video will help you save your children from the unnecessary suffering that this horrible addiction can cause. š
How do Xero Shoes compare to Barefoot Tedās Luna Sandals?
You may have read about “Barefoot Ted” in Chris McDougall’s book Born To Run, the book that really kickstarted the whole barefoot running boom back in 2009-2010.
Or you may just be searching for running sandals and find Ted’s company, Luna Sandals, as well as Xero Shoes and you want to know the differences.
Well, hopefully this will help.
1) Xero Shoes has more style and design options to fit your preference than any other company
Luna sandals are all “huarache” style, with a strap that comes in between your toes, and then wraps around your foot and ankle.
Xero Shoes give you that option, plus 2 others.
The Xero Shoes DIY FeelTrue sandal kit and Classic huarache sandal making kit allow you to make a sandal in that same style.
Our ready-to-wear huarache sandals — Cloud and Genesis — use a patented lacing system that still use a “thong”, but let you adjust the tension perfectly in just a couple seconds. And once you’ve done that once, you can get in/out of your sandals by just sliding the heel strap on/off your foot. This lacing system keeps the sandal snug and comfy on your foot, even if you’re running trails.
BTW, even though there’s a super soft lace between your toes, unlike a flip flop, there’s not pressure on the webbing between your toes because the lacing system holds ALL the way around your foot/ankle, so you don’t need to jam your toes into the thong like you do with a flip flop.
Also, if you don’t want anything between your toes, Xero Shoes offers 2 sport sandals styles — our Z-Trek and Z-Trail — which have a webbing pattern, similar to Chaco or Teva or Keen.
Finally, our Jessie sandal gives you a soft toe loop with an ankle/instep strap. It’s incredibly comfy and perfect for a stroll, a camp shoe, a night on the town, or anything in between.
In short, Xero offers you more style and design choices for your sandals, whether you use them as running sandals, hiking sandals, or just everyday wear.
2) Xero Shoes is committed to natural movement
One quarter of the bones and joints in your body are in your feet and ankles. You have more nerve endings in your soles than anywhere but your fingertips and lips.
What this means is somewhat obvious:
Your feet are made to bend and move and flex and Feel The World™.
Xero Shoes let them do that.
Our DIY sandals use a 4mm sole — either our exclusive FeelTrueĀ® rubber or Vibram Cherry — which is the ultimate in flexibility and barefoot feel.
Aside from really being able to connect with the ground with our soles, you can roll up XeroĀ Shoes and keep them in your pack or pocket — go out barefoot, and come back with some protection on your feet.
For a bit more protection, we have other options, too.
Our FeelTrueĀ® DIY kit also comes in a 6mm thickness.
Our Cloud sandal is 5.5mm thick total, but has 3mm of BareFoam™ in the forefoot for a bit of extra comfort.
The Z-Trek is just 5.5mm of FeelTrueĀ® rubber for great barefoot feeling. The Z-Trail has a 3-layer FeelLite sole with FeelTrueĀ® rubber at the abrasion points, a layer of TrailFoam™ to take out the bumps, and a layer of BareFoam™ under your foot for comfort.
The Genesis is 5mm of FeelTrueĀ® rubber, and Jessie is just 6mm thick.
When you look at the Luna sandals you’ll see that most models are much thicker, reducing the flexibility and natural movement as well as the ground feel.
3) Guaranteed Performance
All of our shoes and sandals are backed with an unmatched 5,000 mile sole warranty.
4) Vegan Friendly
For our huarache style sandals, we use soft, durable polyesterĀ laces that don’t stretch or contract when they get wet and dry out, unlike leather or hemp.
Our laces are round, meaning that there are no edges to rub on your skin.
PolyesterĀ is a very strong material — I’m still using the original laces in my 12-month old huaraches that I wear every day — and after getting wet, the laces dry really fast. And with round laces, you don’t have to worry about “which side is up” or getting them twisted when you use the different tying styles (some of the clever tying variations people have developed require round laces.
Plus, you can get our laces in a bunch of fun colors. And if you ever want to replace your laces or get other colors, they’re inexpensive.
For our sport sandals, we use a super-soft polyester webbing.
We don’t use leather footbeds which can hold dirt and bacteria. Our sandals are easy to clean.
5) Xero Shoes are affordable
Xero Shoes sandals range in price from just $17.95 (kids DIY kit) to $79.99 (Z-Trail).
6) Xero Shoes have SHOES
Finally, of course, Xero Shoes has taken our sandals and built them into complete line of casual and performance shoes, based on the same natural movement philosophy and even carrying over some of the sandal’s design elements.
In closing…
I hope that helps, whether you’re looking for a barefoot running sandal, a camp shoe, a hiking sandal, a casual sandal, the perfect travel sandals, we’ve got you covered.
Go to https://ctdev.guruslabs.com//shop/ to see more, to get your Xero Shoes, and to Live Life Feet First!
What are the benefits of barefoot walking and running?
I have a pair of your sandals and I really enjoy the freedom, strength and all around sensation I get running free!
My only hurdle has been steeping on rocks on the ball or knuckle of my feet and bruising an irritating the nerves. I have had bouts with mortons neuroma and whenever I land on that spot with a rock or hard object – I am back to my cushy runners. Maybe I am destined to be a shod runner or maybe in time my feet will toughin’ up? Any advice would be helpful!
Thank you!
Ben
Now, I’m not a doctor, and I don’t play on on TV (or anywhere else for that matter), so the best I can do is tell you what I’ve noticed since I ditched my shoes and started walking and running barefoot (in 2009).
I replied to Ben:
My experience has been that 4 things happened over time:
- My feet became stronger and more flexible (so they bend around the things that used to be painful). In fact, I was at a clinic for chiropractors not too long ago and the teacher said to his students, “If you have to, pay Steven to let you check out his feet… you’ll be amazed at how strong they are, but really relaxed and flexible.” Sadly, nobody paid me… but a lot of people did check out my feet š
- My reflexes seem to have improved, so I step off things that might be painful faster, and therefore they don’t hurt.
- My gait changed, so that I don’t have my weight on my foot until it’s a bit more flatfooted as I walk — with more surface area, there’s less force/stress on any specific part of my foot.
- I pay more attention (effortlessly) to where I’m stepping, so I don’t put my feet on painful things as often. It seems like a combination of using peripheral vision, plus feeling what’s underfoot more quickly.
I hope that’s helpful.
And I hope that’s helpful for you as well.
If you’ve been barefooting, what have you noticed about your walking and running over time?
Leave your comments (and questions) below…
The content of this post does not constitute and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have about your health or a medical condition.
Xero Shoes Barefoot Sandals now available through Rakuten
Our goal with Xero Shoes is to give as many people as possible the fun and benefits of natural, barefoot movement (with some just-right protection and a dash of authentic style).
To do that, we want to make Xero Shoes available wherever people are shopping.
Since people are looking for barefoot running shoes on many online stores, well, that’s where we want to be.
So, we’re happy to announce that you can get Xeros on Rakuten.com now.
Why would you buy there rather than directly from us? Well, no reason, really, since when you place an order for our barefoot-inspired sandals on Rakuten, we actually ship it from our office.
But some people search on Rakuten and would never find us in any other way, so we’re happy to be find-able on one of the largest online retailers.
Warning: Chia Seed Recall
There’s been a national recall on some brands of Chia Seeds.
This won’t affect you if you think Chia Seeds are something you use to make “pets,” but it might if you eat them.
The affected brands include Organic Traditions, Williams-Sonoma, and Navitas Naturals brand chia and chia-flaxseed blend powders.
Many of our readers heard about Chia from the book, Born To Run, which described it as one of the superfoods that the Tarahumara use to fuel themselves for epic runs. And you’ll often find barefoot runners with a handful of seeds, or a gloopy-looking beverage full of chia.
The Consumerist blog reported that many people are unaware of the recall of chia seeds, caused by the fact that certain chia brands are contaminated with salmonella and have sickened at least 65 people so far.
So, barefoot runners, and everyone else who eats chia, please check your supplies, and not just the seeds that are still stuck in your teeth from last week’s smoothie š
Barefoot Sandals are for more than running
The two most popular comments I hear from people seeing Xero Shoes barefoot sandals for the first time are:
“You can’t really run in those, can you?”
and
“I’m not a runner so I can’t use those.”
Make up your mind people! š
So, some people equate barefoot-inspired sandals with running, and others can’t fathom doing an ultramarathon without giant maximalist shoes with tons of padding and “motion control.”
It’s true that Xero Shoes were inspired by the huaraches sandals worn by the Tarahumara of Mexico, who make their sandals from scraps of tire and leather laces (they’re stiff and heavy, btw). And the Tarahumara are known for running long distances in their sandals. And it’s true that the early adopters of Xero Shoes were barefoot runners. And it’s true that we’ve had hundreds, if not thousands, of emails from customers all around the world who’ve run everything from 5k – 100 mile races in Xeros.
But that doesn’t mean you have to run in them. Lena, my wife, co-founder of Xero Shoes, and our COO… she’s a hiker, not a runner. But she mostly wears her Xero Shoes as her daily footwear.
I’m a competitive sprinter, and wear my sandals for daily wear — I haven’t had a “normal” pair of shoes on my feet for 5 years — and for all my drills and warm-ups on the track (for sprinting, I’m in a pair of spikes, which you need for traction and maximum speed).
I like to ask people, “Do you enjoy being barefoot?” And if they say Yes, I say, “Well these sandals give you the closest thing to that fun, free barefoot feeling, but with a layer of protection.”
And with that combo, our customers have done practically everything you can think of in Xero Shoes — walking, hiking, sky diving, paddle boarding, biking, kayaking, hanging out on the beach, a night on the town, even 100k ultramarathons through the jungles of Costa Rica.
Here’s a pic of Michelle, an awesome YogaSlacker (that’s people who can do yoga poses on a slack line), showing what she can do in Xeros!
Put on your Xero Shoes and go everywhere, do everything… naturally!
Barefoot Running Game Time!
Time for some fun… how many barefoot running words can you find in the puzzle, below?
Is running in our DNA?
One reason scientists study mice is, much as we may not want to admit it, we have a lot in common with our rodent relatives.
We share enough DNA and physiology that studying mice often reveals quite a bit about us humans.
So, does this recent study from Leiden University explain why many of us like to run?
In short, neurophysiologist Johanna Meijer set up a running wheel — yes, the kind you would put in a mouse, or rat, or hamster cage — in her backyard and, after enticing animals to come near with the help of some food, watched that they ran on the wheel. Not to get the food. Just to run.
Wild mice would often come back and run as much as caged mice — mice who usually have nothing else to do — would.
As Emily Underwood says of the study,
Rats, shrews, and even frogs found their way to the wheelāmore than 200,000 animals over 3 years. The creatures seemed to relish the feeling of running without going anywhere.
Maybe this tells us why we like to run.
Or maybe it just explains treadmill sales š
Running Shoes Insider Magazine – Secret edition!
After some sneaky social engineering, I got my hands on a copy of Running Shoe Insider, the magazine for running shoe makers and sellers.
Up until now I had only suspected what they were really talking about behind closed doors. But now we know!
Here’s a photo of the cover.
I’m sure you’re as outraged and amazed as I am.
Who knew that they actually KNOW they’re making and selling foot coffins!?
Pass this on to your friends, your family, the media!
(And, I really hope you get that this is a joke š )
Fostering honest and responsive relationships between businesses and consumers.
If you somehow manage to wear through the outsole on your Xero Shoes, we will replace them for a nominal shipping & handling fee.