Weight Maven

One of the things that appeals to me about the paleo/primal movement is the concept that barefoot is better. The theory from an evolutionary perspective is that our feet are meant to have better contact with the ground to aid in balance, flexibility, posture, and so on.

Of course, actually being barefoot isn’t practical for most except hard-core barefooters. For the rest, there are many options for getting the feel of barefoot with some level of protection and/or fashion, many of which are actually geared towards barefoot running. Two of the more popular brands (see the comments here for more) are:

• Vibram FiveFingers: The ones with the toes built in.
• Vivo Barefoot: Does both running and dress shoes.

Me? I’m not looking for running shoes. I’d just like to find something I can wear to work (my soft-sole Minnetonka moccasins don’t make the cut!) that doesn’t cost and arm and a leg, is going to last more than a month, AND will fit my wide foot.

Based on a blog comment a while back, I did pick up a pair of Sanuk sidewalk surfers which I wore a lot this past summer. Love the comfort, but these are really casual shoes — many feature unfinished seams. Good for casual Friday, but not so much the rest of the work week.

Enter Soft Star shoes!

For $99, I ordered a custom-made pair of their RunAmoc shoes in black suede (shown above in chocolate). Granted, not exactly fashionable, but I’m guessing they’ll just look like a regular suede shoe or boot when worn with pants.

The shoes arrived the day before Thanksgiving. After spending the summer in Crocs, they certainly feel different on my feet. They are very light and the 5 mm Vibram sole is flexible but looks like it will hold up well for my use (it’s a sole meant for running off-road).

I’ll be trying them out over the next couple weeks and will report back. One note: if I had it to do again, might have gone with the leather over the suede. The suede seems to be a pet hair magnet!