Well, my toes are officially abnormal. I was so excited about the Vivobarefoot Achilles, but sadly I had to put them back in the cute little bag they came in and send them home. Away from my crazy middle toe that cannot be tamed. My overall impression was good other than my toe issue. But unfortunately, because of my whacky anatomy, I really couldn’t run over a mile in these little cutie pies. Take home message for these shoes: Try them on before you buy!
Pros: Ground feel, appearance, easy peasy strapping system (somewhat uncommon in running sandals!), zero drop, 3.5 mm stack height, high quality materials, 4.2 oz weight, vegan. Love the furry friends! Split toe design provides good stability, no slippage when running.
Cons: Split toe design is not for everyone. Case in point, check out my misbehavin’ toe below. Split toe design will take some getting used to for all you folks with a smaller space between big toe and middle toe and will require a period of breaking in. Blisters could result during the break in time.
HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD TROUBLE WITH THE SPLIT TOE/CAGE DESIGN? I’D LOVE TO HEAR! PLEASE TELL ME I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE WITH WHACKY FEET…
Bad toe!
Hi saw link to your blog from xero shoes. Been running w barefoot shoes for 2 years now. I started with the vivobarefoot and vff shoes. I got the achilles when it first came out. I found the toe separator to be too wide , to remedy I took a box cutter and cut out some of the plastic so that my toe fit within the space. I now exclusively run in softstar runamocs (I find both vffs and vivobarefoot shoes too structured now) but I still use the achilles as flip flops for the beach. If you cant get a refund consider doing what I did , just make sure to use some sandpaper to file off any rough edges so you dont give yourself blisters. Good luck with the blog!
I’ve heard GREAT things about the runamocs, they look so soft! I’m excited to try those some day
Great colors too. Unfortunately, I already returned them, I got them from onlineshoes.com so I’m hoping they will accept my return. Thanks for visiting!
Yeah give the softstars a go. you are lucky living in Portland. You can drive down to their shop in Corvallis and actually try their shoes on before you buy them. btw they do have several vegan shoes (like the Moc3) but the majority of the shoes are still leather (I use the traditional runamocs). If you ever buy a pair, encourage them to make more vegan versions like I do!
Wow!! I had no idea they were in Corvallis; or maybe I did and I just forgot. Great idea, I will definitely mention the vegan ones if I go down there. Thank you!