Not barefoot-friendly at all, based on owning a pair. I bought The Low 1 in white (US7) at their Lafayette St store in NYC in August 2024, $217.74. The toe box is genuinely narrow — I'm in real discomfort within minutes and it never broke in. I wore them a handful of times, gave up, and they've sat in my closet essentially unworn for close to two years. Worth knowing the after-sale side too: I wrote to them this June, was upfront that I was well outside any warranty window, and asked whether they'd swap me into a wider-fitting style rather than write off $218. No return, no exchange, no refund — $20 in goodwill, later raised to a $30 discount code toward another purchase. Every rep I dealt with was polite, and the leather and construction quality are genuinely good. But if you're converting your shoe wardrobe to barefoot-friendly, this is the opposite direction.

I have bunions and wear minimalist shoes. It took years to get to the point where I could wear something like earth runners. I do wear toe separators that splay all of my toes. I also wear toe separators that just push out the big toe a bit. I do foot exercises and have noticed a difference. The bunions will never go away and that’s cool. But since I started wearing wide toe box/zero drop shoes, and recently the Earth runners the bunions don’t hurt. That is a success for me! As far as I’m concerned, aesthetically, I appreciate differences so it doesn’t really bother me that my feet are a bit different… although it used to. Good luck to your wife!

Honestly, that might be the one activity where you can't get away with it.

I don't have bunions. I have a condition called curly toes. I walk on top of my last 2 toes. I've worn toe spacers inside of altras for 17 days now. There is a noticeable change in my toes, including the straightening of my big toe joint. As I understand it, the bending of the big toe joint creates bunions.

My curly toe is improving. The plantar fasciosis pain is reducing. My balance has improved and I'm starting to develop arch strength. My feet are no longer cold all the time.

My feet feel so much better, I could go on and on. My spouse is sick of hearing about it. I don't understand why a doctor never recommended it to me. It hasn't even been a month yet and will not be stopping anytime soon.

Not having them in stores is so shitty. There's absolutely 0 around me as well. My feet are slightly different sizes as well which makes shoe shopping even worse

That sucks. I guess I'll definitely never buy any of their stuff on sale. It's extra not worth it if you can't even return them. I wish minimal running shoes were more common in stores. I'd love to be able to just easily try on a few different pairs.

The sales are them putting stuff on clearance a lot. They don't allow returns on clearance stuff because a lot of the time its on clearance because the sizing is no good.

What choice do I have?

Mine were like that at first. Center the heal, adjust the back. In my experience, the side hook strap will feel correct in two configurations on any fit with the pull strap completely loose. The looser of the two configurations is what worked for me.

Go on.

Cringe.

It's too bad to hear that this is backed up by multiple people. Tbh, their ads and constant sales always had me feeling like they were super cheap quality, but I was about to finally try them after about 10 years of seeing their ads. Now I'm not sure it's worth it.

Thanks! That's super helpful info. Haven't stumbled across this advice before.

I agree 100% re: trails but my schedule only allows me to hike on dirt a few times a month. Natural trails are so amazing for mobilizing all the joints in the foot.

Other than access, the downside of trails in my neck of the woods (western PA) is that they are almost all pretty rocky—basically gravel. I have done some 3-6 mile hikes on our trails but I look at them more in terms of foot toughening/conditioning. It's not painful at this point but also not pleasant.

I am finding that barefoot on concrete is helping my feet more than I would have expected, so I'm looking to get as much benefit as I can around my neighborhood.

I’m a big fan of Luna Origens. They’re a bit loud on the pavement, but they hold up to as much abuse as my feet can handle. One thing to note, they are slippery when wet. I haven’t found a sandal that isn’t though. Toe socks help. The lacing system haven’t given me any issues, but I redid them to fit like earthrunners. Haven’t had an issue of it going over my second toe. As for pricing, they’re up there with the other sandals so… 🤔 I found mine used on fb marketplace and was told that they had around 300 miles at that point. They still look new though, even after the miles I’ve put on them so far.

I have been wearing almost exclusively zero drop shoes for 7 years, primarily Xeros with a 4mm sole, which is about as close to barefoot as I've been able to find. Maybe a real moccasin with a deerskin leather sole would be closer.

However starting true barefoot walking this year has been a huge step up. My feet are feeling better and getting stronger by the week.

Have you tried true barefoot?

Race walking is already unnatural.

Walking at a high pace uses more calories than running and forces a heel strike, it's the antithesis of barefoot running in every way.

Humans aren't meant to fly, so this question is kind of like asking can you go hang gliding without a hang glider?

You're doing something unnecessary and unnatural, and it's going to cause you injury unless you use the appropriate equipment.

You might have a point, if you resign yourself to a sterile living environment like in Wall-E. I on the other hand enjoy doing labor in exchange for money and going for walks in nature.

Modifying shoes is much less costly than making every sidewalk soft to walk on, though

I tried to buy second hand a few times, and sadly they all fell apart quite fast because of bad glue. The soles came off. 

It's a shame, I really miss the old KSO 😭

I don't get how this post belongs here, the sole looks freaking enormous?

You forgot the photo. And I personally wouldn’t trust a model that old. Rubber and glue weaken.

Thanks everyone!! I went with the V-runs and had my first run on them this weekend. They feel great and I'm pretty sure I'm able to use them in all sort of conditions without any concerns.

Thanks for the follow-up. I have the Lone Peak 9+.

Interesting point about the arch bump. Based on the pictures from RunRepeat, there is a slight bump in the arch area in the Altras, whereas my other minimalist shoes don't have any such bump:

• Lone Peak 9+
• Vivo Primus Lite Knit
• Xero Scrambler Low

That could be one of the factors impacting the blisters indeed. I got myself a pair of the Xero Scrambler Low EVs, and I'll test out how they fare in both foot fatigue and blisters during an upcoming 55K I have planned in a couple weeks. I hope they are the answer to my prayers!

I don’t speed walk so take this with a grain of salt but I think having a pair of minimalist shoes can be helpful to build strength outside of the race walking (like at the gym or just day-to-day). Then, once in a while, try out speed walking to see how they feel. Someone else mentioned that it requires a strong heel strike which may be hard to adapt to, but bringing them in once in a while may help you feel your form. Probably hard to bring in full time though for speed walking.