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 FeelTrue® 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 Xero 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 FeelTrue® 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 FeelTrue® rubber for great barefoot feeling. The Z-Trail has a 3-layer FeelLite sole with FeelTrue® 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 FeelTrue® 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 polyester 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.
Polyester 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!
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.