Vivo Barefoot

Two weeks ago, a detailed article appeared in New York magazine that made many, including myself, rethink something we’ve taken for granted for so long — walking. In particular, walking in footwear. If you take a look at how the human foot is formed, and how we walked hundreds of years ago, you can see that modern shoes are completely counterintuitive.

Sneakers are designed to minimize heel strike and maximize toe spring. What ends up happening instead is we slam our heels on the pavement harder than necessary because we want to feel the feedback that is, ironically, cushioned by the shoes we wear. Of the solutions presented, the one I found to be the least radical is a line of shoes called Vivo Barefoot.

They offer 12 designs for men in a variety of colorways, and look like normal — albeit slightly boring — shoes. What sets them apart is they are essentially slippers fitted with puncture resistant soles. Wearers comment on being able to feel the grates on the street or the curvature of rocks on trails. If you’ve ever worn rock climbing, driving, or Nike Free shoes, you know what this feels like. The Vivo Barefoot seems to be a wonderful way to start regaining the muscle strength most of us never developed thanks to our fancy kicks.