I think this answers the question…
Category: Barefoot Shoes
Can I get you a 3-D printed deck chair for your trip on the Titanic?
It’s the newest, greatest, thing to ever hit footwear. 3-D printing!
Under Armour is launching 3-D printed shoe components made with their “5-axis simultaneous machining center.” And New Balance returns the volley with 3-D printed midsoles made with “selective laser sintering.” Other “Big Shoe” companies are also fast tracking 3-D printed products.
If there were ever a reason to say “OY!” this is it.
Hearing these companies extoll the value of custom-made 3-D printed orthotics, insoles, and midsoles is like hearing doctors rave about “new tools for blood-letting,” or exciting new “humour-balancing” technology, or “genetically improved leaches!”
If the fundamental premise is faulty, no amount of “new and improved” will fix it.
And we know that the fundamental premise of orthotics and support have no merit and only provide pain relief in a TINY percentage of users. We know that a $500 custom-made orthotic isn’t inherently better than a $20 Dr. Scholls insert.
So why the big deal over what’s just an evolution of custom-made products that don’t work?
Well, first, it appeals to our narcissism. We like to believe we’re special and unique and, therefore, something made for our snowflake-like specialness MUST be better.
“Sure all those OTHER insoles and orthotics didn’t work,” the shoe-buying sucker customer says, “but that’s because they weren’t made FOR ME with materials mined in the multiverse with quantum gravity nano particles!”
It’s not true. But we like to believe that.
Second, it plays into the marketing tactics “Big Shoe” has been using for almost 40 years:
Every 6-12 months they roll out their newest, greatest, most unicorn-like magical technology. And they assure us, “THIS technology — not the last 10 that we sold you — will make running more pleasurable than sex, bring you one step closer to Nirvana, and pay off your mortgage.
People don’t seem to care that they present ZERO evidence that this new technology actually reduces injury or improves performance. Just like they didn’t care before.
This kind of product development and marketing is “The Shoe Company that Cried Wolf!” And, yet, unlike in the parable, most people don’t seem to stop responding to their cries.
Instead, consumers wait, salivating like Pavlov’s pooch, for THE NEW THING! and ignore and forget that the last new thing was no better than this one.
Oh, and when Big Shoe doesn’t have a new technology to roll out, they go to plan B: CELEBRITIES! “Wear the new shoe that FILL-IN-THE-BLANK ATHLETE OR RAP STAR wears and you’ll be just as cool as them… REALLY!”
I don’t know about you, but once I started living barefoot and in Xero Shoes, it’s as if I became immune to this kind of marketing. It became transparent and lost it’s power.
Of course, once Nike starts making “DNA-inspired shoes based on sequencing your genome, made from your stem cells, and available while you wait at the nearest Foot Locker,” I’m sure I’ll change my tune.
Why you want flexible footwear
m c schraefel (yes, that’s how she writes her name) offers not only an awesome review of our new Umara Z-Trail sandal, but a great explanation of WHY you want flexible footwear.
As you’ll see, it’s not rocket science: Almost 1/4 of all the bones and joints in your body are in your feet. Your feet are made to move, to bend, to flex, and to FEEL the World.
Most sport sandals are stiff, thick, and heavy and don’t let your feet do their job.
Whether you hike, bike, walk, run, do yoga or Crossfit, or just hang out, we know you’ll love the Z-Trail as much as m c
Click here to see the Z-Trail for Men. Click here for the Women’s Z-Trail.
Introducing our newest sport sandal – Umara Z-Trail
We’re extremely proud to announce our newest Xero Shoes product — the Umara Z-Trail sandal.
Why are some people calling it “The Ultimate Sandal 2.0”?
Well, last year’s Z-Trek seemed to be the Ultimate Sandal… but the new Z-Trail takes it a step further. It gives you an unparalleled combination of:
- Protection
- Comfort
- Light Weight
- Flexibility
- Durability
- Versatility
- and Affordability
What makes the Z-Trail special is the 3-layer FeelLite™ sole.
The bottom has our FeelTrue® rubber for great grip and abrasion resistance.
The middle layer of TrailFoam™ provides an incredible amount of force absorption and protection.
Then, the top BareFoam™ layer adds a perfect amount of comfort.
And the FeelLite™ sole still maintains enough flexibility to allow for natural movement and just-right ground-feel.
You can see that this is still flexible, but not quite as much as the Z-Trek. I like to think that the Z-Trail is about protection and comfort first, and the Z-Trek is about connection first. If I’ve been wearing my Z-Trails around for a while, enjoying the comfort, when I then put on the Z-Trek, I think, “Oh, right, I can FEEL things again!” So I go back and forth between them, depending on how much I want to feel.
Let’s talk about weight! This is maybe the best part.
It’s about 20% lighter than the Z-Trek. But that’s nothing. Let’s compare the Z-Trail to a traditional sport sandal:
Check out these two reviews:
Are you crazy to wear Xero Shoes
Tackl.com says you may be crazy!
We say “crazy like a fox… a paleo fox… a Tarahumara fox… a fox with strong feet.”
Xero Shoes Z-Trek was featured as one of the “7 Craziest Running Shoes on the Market Right Now.”
Our friends Ultra Mel & Jon hear all the time that they’re crazy when they show up for a 256k ultramarathon across Madagascar with just a pair of Xero Shoes… but the story is WAY different when they finish the race, healthy, happy, smiling… and with all their toenails and no blisters.
Xero Shoes + Yoga = ?
Grace Menendez teaches yoga and is a personal trainer.
And now she adds “Xero Hero” to her list of skills 😉
Says Grace:
As soon as they arrived I strapped them to my feet and took these bad boys for a walk around New York City. It was LOVE after first wear! Most shoes require a break-in period, but these required none. They are immediately comfortable! They stayed pretty snug even after my feet began to sweat and I had no blisters after wearing them all day.
One thing I love is that Grace discovered how Xero Shoes can become your step-by-step coach:
If you’re not accustomed to the minimalist sole, it may take a bit to adjust to feeling almost every pebble under your foot. While this seems like a bummer, it mostly just makes you more aware of your gait. I began to walk more evenly and gracefully, becoming much more aware of where I was stepping. Ideally the more you wear them, the stronger your feet will become!
And, of course, Grace put her Z-Trek sandals to the biggest test: “How do they look with a cute dress?”
I’m not sure it’s the barefoot-inspired sandals that are what’s cute in that picture, but I thing Grace proved her point 😉
Check out the rest of Grace’s review of her Z-Treks on her blog.
Stand Up Paddle Boarding Sandals
Some people love the feeling of sand between their toes.
Others. Not so much.
Same thing with stand up paddle boarding. Some love to SUP bare footed. Others want a bit of protection, especially if they’re somewhere that they have to jump off onto a less-than-ideal surface (think coral, or rocks, or ewwy-gooey things 😉 ).
We’ve heard from Xero Shoes customers who wear their sandals on their boards. Others just use them to get to and from the water (stick ’em in your pocket when you’re on the board).
Similarly, we’ve got a bunch of sea kayakers, canoeists, and rafters who’ve taken their Xeros on some pretty sweet water.
You, too?
Send us your photos and let’s see.
Xero Shoes Sponsors the Warrior Hike
For the second year, Xero Shoes is a proud sponsor of Warrior Hike.
What, you may ask, is Warrior Hike?
Well, I can’t explain it better than what it says on their website:
In 1948, Earl Shaffer told a friend he was going to “walk off the war” to work out the sights, sounds, and losses of World War II. Four months later, Earl Shaffer became the first person to hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.
Following in Earl Shaffer’s footsteps and in recognizing the therapeutic effects of long distance hiking, Warrior Hike has created the “Walk Off The War” Program which is designed to support combat veterans transitioning from their military service by thru-hiking America’s National Scenic Trails.
Here are some pics that just came in from the Ice Age Trail and the Continental Divide Trail. More coming soon.
Some of the Hikers wear their Xeros as camp shoes, giving their feet some breathing room at the end of a day in boots.
Others are through-hiking IN their Xero Shoes.
Livestrong.com reviews the Amuri Z-Trek sport sandal
A few weeks back, we sent a pair of the Amuri Z-Trek sport sandal to Shelby Pratt, the Senior Customer Support Manager for Livestrong.com.
What does she think of our lightweight sandals?
Well…
“These shoes did not seem like they were going to handle much when I first tried them on. A few cleverly placed straps, some thin yet comfortable material for the sole and nothing more. Forty-five days of daily wear, which included hiking over various terrain — beach sand, river crossings, rocks, gravel, manicured city trails and a few trips off into the woods with no path at all — proved that not only do these shoes hold up to the abuse, they have become my favorite light shoe. The compact, minimal design, allows them to fit into the smallest pack, and washing them was as simple as a quick spray-down with a hose. The Z-Trek could be used as trail shoes and still look nice enough to wear with a skirt at a barbecue.”
Thanks, Shelby… we’d love to join you at that barbeque, or on the trail for a hike!
Maximalist Running Shoes / Minimalist Thinking Skills
File this under “Things that make me go AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!”
This just in, another article about barefoot vs. minimalist vs. maximalist that really just demonstrates unclear thinking.
The article: “Maximalist Shoes: The Latest Running Craze?” would be better if it started without the question mark.
But, more importantly, it makes the same mistakes you’ll see over and over and over and over (pardon my repetitive redundancy and repetition).
First, in conflates barefoot with minimalist by including both ideas in the same article without delineating the differences.
For the record: Barefoot = NO SHOES
Minimalist = SOME SHOES
(I’d argue, of course, that Xero Shoes are as close to barefoot as you’ll get, and dramatically closer than any “minimalist shoe”)
No barefoot runner, myself included, has ever suggested that the benefits we think come from being barefoot are attainable in a minimalist shoe.
Interestingly, the article says that world-champion runner, Leo Manzano:
… still sometimes runs barefoot to keep his feet strong
The article focuses on Leo, who now wears Hoka maximalist shoes for some of his training.
The real dishonest thing about the article, though, is using Leo’s experience getting benefits from maximalist shoes while simultaneously bashing barefoot.
Why is an anecdote about Leo more relevant than any of the similar anecdotes from the barefoot world? Leo, it says, got rid of his plantar fasciitis wearing Hokas.
Okay… but was it the Hokas that did it? Was it something different he was doing in the Hokas? What about all the barefooters who’ve gotten rid of PF by taking off their shoes? What about the people for whom PF simply cleared up on its own? What about the people who had PF symptoms but were really suffering from tight calves?
Why do articles continue to quote doctors who say that “barefoot = injury” despite proof of that claim, and allow stories about “maximalist = healthy running” without any proof.
I’ve had the pleasure of watching Leo run before he turned pro. He’s a great runner. As I mentioned, a world-champion. He is not like the vast majority of recreational, or even competitive runners. So what Leo does is, possibly, completely meaningless for you and me (especially me, since I’m a sprinter).
It’s no secret that running shoe companies have NEVER in their 45 year history proven that their products reduce injuries — 50% of runners and 80% of marathoners get injured every year, despite the changes in “technology” in running shoes. You would think that, given the $6 BILLION spent on running shoes every year, that some company would want to prove, once and for all, that their shoes are, at the very least, better than other shoes.
Still hasn’t happened. And my bet it is on: never will.
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If you somehow manage to wear through the outsole on your Xero Shoes, we will replace them for a nominal shipping & handling fee.