If you have big flat feet you could look like Daffy Duck?
I am thinking about buying those for my wife, but she is still in the, “those are hideous” phase so I may have some work to do. I wore then all weekend and LOVE them! Plus, what another poster said about everyone wanting to talk about them…is very true, I was talking about my “shoes” all weekend!
I’ve had mine for years, and there have a been a few different threads here about them. I wear them as often as possible, but especially like them for wake and knee boarding, as I’m not crazy about the feeling of a slimy lake bottom between my toes.
I’d love to get a pair, but my webbed toes (syndactyly) on my left foot rule out the little toe pocket things. They would be great for use on a boat.
They look silly, but that’s not the reason I hate them. I can see them being useful for certain athletic activities, but my problem is with people wearing them when they’re not appropriate. Wearing them out in public, unless you just finished a hike or run, is silly, but I’ve seen people wear them like they’re a fashion statement. Wearing them to the gym for a run, do functional training or power movements is fine; wearing them for anything else there is only mildly less stupid that the moron wearing sandals.
Some of us wear our clothes to be comfortable, and to prevent arrest for public nakedness. We don’t actually give a flip what you or anyone else thinks of our choice of footwear. 
People used to say the same things about GASP athletic shoes.
Shouldn’t they be called Five Toes?
btw, they look weird so I think I will get a pair.
You were “told no”?? 
On what grounds?
Man, that bolded part made me laugh.
My mom had a party lsat month and some guy came who was wearing these. I’m a runner so I was fairly familiar with them anyhow, but the thing that struck me as odd was that he was wearing other shoes when he first arrived and then changed into them. That to me screamed I am Being Different and Edgy.
I have a pair of Vibram Sprints and I love, **love, *love ***them for running in. I have fairly trashed joints all through my lower body after a decade of Irish dance as a young’n, and I could never run in typical athletic shoes without my knees and hips screaming at me. These shoes seem to force me into a much more natural gait that results in minimal joint pain during and after.
However, I also wouldn’t wear them out and about for anything but, say, running errands, because they are *very *casual and you *do *look kind of ridiculous. I did wear them to the pharmacist’s to pick up my penicillin on Sunday, but that’s just because I bruised the shit out of a pinkie toe on Friday night, and the Vibrams put less pressure on it than anything else I had around.
While they don’t have the lining of a traditional athletic shoe that can soak up sweat and get groady that way, you also don’t have socks to pick up sweat and dead skin, so it’s possible for your shoes to get funky if you’re not proactive about taking care of them (at least from a smell sense–dunno about fungi). However, they’re machine-washable, so I just chuck mine in with the rest of my sweaty running laundry. I hang them from my shower bar to dry, and then they’re ready to go!
The normal sole extends forward to cover the bottom of each toe and curve up around the front of it.
I would assume because they’re too casual.
Oh, and I just remembered I had a couple of photos on my phone.
Here is what my silly, silly feet look like. And here is what the shoes end up looking like when you go running after a lot of heavy rain. brittekland, you should be able to see how the sole wraps up around the toes.
The way you run barefoot is different than when you are wearing traditional shoes and is the key to injury-free running. Traditional running shoes with big, soft soles allow you to land fully on your heel and pole vault yourself forward over your straightened leg. That allows all of the shock to travel up through your foot to your ankle, knee, hip and back. In a barefoot style stride, you instead land on the ball of your foot while your leg is still bent at the knee and ankle. This means your leg acts as a shock absorber and the impact is not as hard on your joints.
In addition, heavily padded and supported footwear means the muscles in your feet can stay soft and mushy. By walking barefoot, you give your foot a workout which strengthens those muscles and forces your foot to work properly.
The five-finger shoes give you the benefit of walking barefoot without having to worry about all the sharp, pokie things on the ground that hurt to walk on.
See, I can’t even stand toe-socks, so I’d probably hate these.
Phlosphr – what’s the big deal if your wife doesn’t want a pair? Why do you have to “work on her”? Maybe she’s like me and likes her shoes to be cute. (And no, not all cute shoes are uncomfortable)
Dorky as hell but I own two pairs :).
No protection against stubbing toes. And I know someone who broke a toe hitting something while running in them.
Too little protection against big rocks on the ground, but will minimize the impact of gravel and sharp things.
I love going barefoot, and also tend to injure myself (roll my foot outward with sometimes-frightening results) while walking in shoes. I realized that I never had that problem when walking barefoot.
I meant work on her in a loveable, affectionate way - she’d never actually get a pair, she’s firmly in the, “cute” shoes department. 
I love them! My husband bought a pair a few months ago and instantly loved them. He’s been running in them preparing for some obstacle course run thing in September, the Tough Mudder.
We are also walking in the Komen 3Day in September, so I thought I’d give them a try to see if maybe I could walk one of the days in them. I purchased a pair of the Treksports a month ago or so and I love love love them. I’ve been hiking and walking in them, and jogging a bit. My shins are usually the first part of my body to complain whenever I jog or run, but I have absolutely zero shin pain when wearing them. My husband was right, they make running fun. (I know it is anyway to a lot of you crazies out there, but it’s never been my thing.)
We went whitewater rafting a couple of weeks ago and they were the perfect shoe for it. This past weekend we were just relaxing on the river and canoeing etc. and they were great for that as well.
I’ve noticed a couple of hot spots, mainly on the balls of my feet, but I’m confident I’ll break my feet in enough to where that will no longer be an issue.
And as popular as it may be, wearing athletic sneakers outside of the gym still looks stupid.
I think it’s awesome that Vibram Five-Finger Shoes is, in fact, the ad popping up for me with this thread. I mean, it’s kind of a ‘duh’, but still… 