I absolutely love Vibram Five Fingers. I bought my first pair way back in 2007 about 3 months after they were released. There were only two styles then. With or without a strap. Now there are so many different styles it’ll make your head spin! But why do I like them?
Here you can see my 4th and 5th toes hanging over the edge of the shoe.
Five Fingers are the only shoes I can wear that don’t pinch a toe somewhere. Every other shoe I wear eventually causes me pain. This is the number one reason I choose five fingers. Some shoes I can get away without pain if I skip socks, but with socks they will all start to hurt. My toes almost always run into the end of the shoe at some point.
In the Five Fingers I can even get away with wearing shoes. But my favorite part about the five fingers is that my toes can work independently. I spent a whole summer barefoot a few years ago. I refused to wear shoes anywhere but work.
I even got thrown out of a Whole Foods after going there barefoot for 6 months. Apparently it was a problem this time…
The sensations we miss wearing shoes are immense. The different textures and temperatures vary considerably from step to step. There is so much of our world we don’t feel when we’re wearing shoes. I don’t get all of those back in Five Fingers, but I get some and my foot gets to move in the way it’s supposed to.
Our foot is the foundation of our entire body. If our foot isn’t healthy, there’s no way for the rest of our body to be healthy. There are other minimal shoes out there I like. But there isn’t one I like more than the Vibram Five Fingers.
The biggest complaint I hear against the Five Fingers is that they’re ugly. I guess the only way someone could feel that way is if they hate the sight of human feet. I don’t understand hating your body so I think they’re the best option next to barefoot. Now if we could only figure out the cold weather minimalist footwear thing.
