Whether it’s the feeling of your toes kissing the morning dew of the grass or the sensation of plunking your feet in the hot sand at the beach, going barefoot is truly a delight. You’d love to replicate that pleasant feeling each time you go out. Which shoes are the closest to being barefoot?
The following shoes deliver that barefoot experience:
- Gost Barefoots (Ultra)
- FYF
- Skinners
- Leguano Classic
- Vibram EL-X FiveFinger
- Softstar Moc3 RunAmoc
- Sockwa X8
If you’re new to the world of barefoot shoes, then this is the guide for you. In it, we’ll define barefoot shoes, contrast them from barefoot sock shoes (yes, there is a difference), and discuss the benefits of these shoes. We’ll also go over the best barefoot shoes for that sensation of shoe-lessness. Keep reading!
What Is a Barefoot Shoe?
Let’s start at the very beginning, shall we? If you’re searching for a shoe that replicates that barefoot feel without actually ditching the shoes entirely, you’re probably looking for barefoot shoes.
A barefoot shoe is one with a wide toe box so your feet have room to move and breathe. The sole is extraordinarily thin, between 3 and 10 millimeters depending on the brand. You do have heel cushioning present with a barefoot shoe, but it’s not much cushioning. The drop from the heel of your shoe to the toe is zero, another trademark of barefoot shoes.
Some people think barefoot shoes and minimalist shoes are one and the same, but the two terms are not interchangeable. A minimalist shoe is one that has a slight heel-to-toe drop. It’ll be between 4 and 8 millimeters, making these shoes different than barefoot shoes, which have no such drop.
What Is a Barefoot Sock Shoe?
Now that you’re clearer on what barefoot shoes are, it’s time to introduce you to another type of shoe in this same vein, barefoot sock shoes. At first glance, when looking at a barefoot sock shoe, it almost looks like the wearer forgot to put their shoes on when they left the house this morning.
That’s because barefoot sock shoes look so convincingly like a sock that the shoe part almost seems nonexistent. We can assure you that that’s far from the case. Barefoot sock shoes are indeed footwear. You put them on like you would a pair of socks, slipping each shoe onto your feet instead of tying the shoe. These shoes don’t even have laces.
The fabric or material of a barefoot sock shoe is stretchy like a sock is, yet you tend to get moisture-wicking protection as well. The sole may be made of polymer or similar material, so you have plenty of grip and support, even if it doesn’t look like it. One of the top benefits of barefoot shoe socks is their portability, as you can roll them up like everyday socks and stash them somewhere convenient.
Why Do People Wear Barefoot Shoes?
The thought of buying a pair of barefoot shoes certainly intrigues you, but why do people wear them over traditional sneakers and running shoes? There are plenty of reasons, so let’s cover them in more detail now.
Training Feet Muscles
When working your muscles at the gym, you rarely pay attention to your feet, right? Well, minimalist footwear can indeed strengthen the muscles here, notes this article from The Running Clinic.
The article cites a barefoot shoe study published in the journal Clinical Biomechanics, which you can view here. The participants, 47 in all, were between 20 and 45 years old and all frequent runners. They each regularly used athletic shoes when running.
For the study, the runners switched to Vibram FiveFinger barefoot shoes, one of the biggest brands of this type of footwear. The participants exercised at least three times a week, training their calves and feet. All participants had greater leg and foot muscle volume after six months when wearing barefoot shoes by as much as 8.80 percent.
Postural Benefits
Are you trying to improve your posture? The heels of your shoes can be working against you! When you go heel-less, such as with a barefoot shoe, your posture moves forward, says VivoBarefoot in a post on its blog. This encourages your head, neck, shoulders, lower back, hips, knees, ankles, and toes to move into a similar position.
Lightweight Feel
It’s hard to deny that barefoot shoes are incredibly lightweight. Some are 7 ounces and under and certain brands make barefoot shoes even more feather-weight than that.
Embracing the Minimalist Lifestyle
The minimalist lifestyle is about cutting back on what’s extraneous. Shoes will all the bells and whistles like laces, chunky soles, and thick uppers certainly fit that bill. By switching to barefoot shoes, your footwear is more in-tune with your lifestyle.
Comfort
For others, wearing barefoot shoes is a comfort thing. They like the space their toes have in the toe box and the slim, barely-there heel. You too might find after you try barefoot shoes that they feel more comfortable than any footwear you’ve worn in the past.
To Be on the Cutting Edge
Barefoot shoes have been a growing trend for years now. Those who appreciate being on the cutting edge of what’s trendy might thus try barefoot shoes just to see what all the fuss is about. Unlike some trends that come and go in the blink of an eye, barefoot shoes deserve this acclaim as they’re a great footwear choice!
Great Alternative If You Don’t Like Shoes
Some people just don’t like shoes. Perhaps the feeling of their feet being constrained is unappealing, or the shoes weigh the wearer down. For these people, barefoot shoes are much more appealing since it’s like wearing no shoes but safer since their actual feet aren’t touching the ground.
Which Is the Best Barefoot Shoe for That Barefoot Feel?
Are you ready to dive into the best barefoot shoes that are the closest thing to being barefoot? We’ll provide shopping links as well as review every shoe on our list. In the next section, we’ll discuss the criteria we used to determine which are the best barefoot shoes to get that coveted barefoot feel.
The beloved Paleos and Ultra are a Gost Barefoot mainstay. These barefoot shoes are intended for use in water and on land so you can roam more of the earth and feel like you’re not wearing shoes the whole time. With adaptable laces, strong chain mesh, and thin outer soles, there’s a Paleo for you from Gost!
Our first recommended barefoot shoe is technically a barefoot sock shoe. FYF by the Barefoot Company is an acronym short for #FreeYourFeet. They call their FYF shoe “the world’s most reduced, high-tech footwear,” but of course, that’s for you to decide.
The Dyneema fabric used in the FYF barefoot sock shoes, 46.5 percent in all, protects your feet with abrasion and cut resistance. The material also reduces coefficient friction so you can quickly slip your sock shoes on. Knobs at the bottom of the shoes maintain grip so you don’t slip.
Another cool feature of the Dyneema fabric is that it’s resistant to UV rays. This means your FYF shoes won’t fade even if you walk around in the bright sun all day. With hydrophobic properties, the shoes are water-repellant so they don’t soak through very easily. Even if your shoes do get wet, they stay lightweight and will dry fast.
The bending fatigue of the fabric is high so you can flex and move your feet the way you want to. That kind of freedom is what makes barefoot shoes so attractive to you in the first place!
We also like how the Dyneema fabric of the FYF shoes is quite thermally conductive. This means that when your feet begin to sweat, the material will take the heat from your feet so they can cool quicker.
When the time comes to clean your FYF barefoot sock shoes, the Dyneema fabric can handle dry-cleaning as well as cleaning liquids such as alcohol.
Other features of the FYF barefoot sock shoes are pockets for each toe and minimal seams for your comfort.
Skinners
The second brand of barefoot shoes that is like walking without shoes is called Skinners. These too are barefoot sock shoes. Don’t worry about protection, as each pair of Skinners has a thin sole that’s 3 millimeters. That’s enough to keep your feet safe when doing everyday walking or exercising.
The adaptive fit means these barefoot sock shoes contort to your feet for a customized feel. Each Skinners shoe is 2.8 ounces so you can bring them with you when traveling for work or that big upcoming vacation.
When your Skinners barefoot sock shoes start to stink, toss them in the washer, cleaning them at a temperature no higher than 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
Designed to withstand more than 403 miles apiece, these durable shoes are made without dangerous chemical compounds like phthalates and BPAs. Also fun is how you can buy your Skinners barefoot sock shoes in all sorts of colors, including red, neon green, pink, and teal blue.
The Leguano brand hails from Germany and specializes in barefoot shoes and barefoot sock shoes alike. Their Ieguano Classic deserves a rightful spot on this list. These unisex barefoot shoes are waterproof, as Leguano recommends using their Classic shoes for everything from boating to kayaking and paddle-boarding.
Lightweight like you’d expect barefoot shoes to be, the Ieguano Classic dries quickly when exposed to sweat or water so your day can go on uninterrupted. The rubber sole prevents pain from exposure to sand, shells, rocks, or stones while still maintaining that great barefoot feel. The soles are anti-slip as well.
I wrote a full review on Leguano Sneaker witch is a similar model. You can check it out here
Vibram EL-X FiveFinger
We talked about FiveFinger before, and now it’s time to introduce you to what could be your first pair, the Vibram EL-X FiveFinger barefoot shoes. Made for fitness and training, these barefoot shoes feature a polyester fabric upper, rubber midsoles (3 millimeters), and a 2-millimeter anti-microbial sockliner from Drilex. The shoes weigh 4.23 ounces.
You won’t find a thinner sole from this brand than those offered in the EL-X. You also have excellent ground feedback because of that very sole, the XS Trek, as it’s practically nonexistent. These shoes were engineered and designed to maintain comfort and stability, even on terrain that’s rather unpredictable.
Vibram says the EL-X shoes tend to run small, so get a bigger size than what you normally wear. Further, these shoes are for men only.
Softstar Moc3 RunAmoc
Softstar calls their Moc3 shoes “as barefoot as you can get…without being barred from stores and restaurants.” That’s right up your alley!
These Oregon-produced barefoot shoes are designed to ward off odors so you can go longer without cleaning them. The Moc3 barefoot shoes feature reflective strips so you’re visible on cloudy days or in dark conditions. The Vibram sole gives these shoes awesome reliability, and with a 2-millimeter drop sole, that barefoot feel is very much present in these shoes.
The LITE leather uppers, which are the real deal, are perforated so your feet can breathe. Yes, leather has never been this sporty before! Beneath the leather uppers are Breathe-O-Prene liners made for preventing dirt and dust accumulation. The liners also wick away moisture so your feet are less sweaty and stinky.
The Moc3 shoes weigh under 5 ounces. Underneath the shoe is a patterned footbed that enhances flexibility and lets you enjoy the feel of what’s under your feet. The Moc3 shoes are recommended for beginners new to the world of barefoot shoes who wish to transition into the footwear and strengthen their feet in the process.
Although they’re not barefoot sock shoes, you can indeed roll up your Moc3 shoes when they’re not in use just like they were socks! You can also wear them with socks if you’d prefer.
You can check out my full review of the Moc3 here!
The last pair of barefoot shoes we’d suggest for the closest thing to being barefoot is the Sockwa X8. Sockwa calls these shoes their “best yet.” The weight of the shoes is between 4.8 and 7.7 ounces with a very thin sole; according to Sockwa, “it’s the thinnest sole on the planet.”
You can crush these shoes down and wash them in your washing machine without destroying them, as the X8s are built for durability. The Lycra tongue stretches and breathes with your feet, as does the aeroprene upper.
The Criteria for Barefoot Shoes on This List
So what criteria did we use to determine which of these barefoot shoes was the best? Our thought process was to select shoes that encompassed as many of the following factors and traits as possible.
Lightweight
If you want shoes that are like being barefoot, then that means you’re craving the feeling of being unencumbered. Thick or otherwise bulky shoes will not work for you. Every shoe we presented you here today is lightweight, around 4 ounces or more, so you’ll forget that you’re even wearing them in the first place.
Second-Skin Fee
Also allowing you to be unencumbered in barefoot shoes is that they feel like a second skin. You should be free to wear these shoes without socks if that’s how you prefer them and still feel like you’re hardly wearing shoes.
The material of the shoes, be that a stretchy sock-like fabric or even real leather, should sit against your foot in a comfortable way that’s never painful.
Barefoot Sensation
A barefoot sensation is in part about the weight and style of your shoes, yes, but that’s not everything. You also need a barefoot shoe that lets your feet feel the ground underneath you so you get those sensations of stone or sand or grass without exposing your feet to the elements. Barefoot sock shoes especially can do this well.
Awesome Quality
Although specialist brands are a little more expensive, we chose shoes that are only made of the most premium, high-quality materials. This enhances the durability of the barefoot shoe so that you can go longer with your shoes, sometimes even thousands of miles!
Portability
One of the best parts about barefoot shoes and barefoot sock shoes is how portable they are. Since they’re lightweight, they don’t take up room in your gear bag on the way to the gym. You can also roll up most of the barefoot shoes we discussed today like they’re socks, which is very handy.
Barefoot Shoe Owner’s Guide: Tips for Usage
Finally, we want to share a bit of a guide within a guide with our tips for wearing and adjusting to your barefoot shoes. Although switching from full-fledged athletic sneakers to barefoot shoes is quite a process, once your feet get used to barefoot shoes, you might not ever want to go back.
Learn the Right Way to Put on Barefoot Shoes
Although it’s quite easy to wear barefoot shoes, you do want to ensure you put them on properly. This will maximize the comfort and the barefoot feeling. You’ll also keep your shoes in great shape for longer.
Here are the steps to follow for proper usage of barefoot shoes.
- First, put your barefoot shoes down on the floor or the ground so they’re completely flat.
- Slip your foot into the barefoot shoe, allowing your toes to align with the pocket for each toe (provided your shoes have toe pockets). Begin with your big toe and continue to the smallest toe.
- Take the heel of the barefoot shoe and pull it up. Allow the heel cup to fully encircle your heel.
- Repeat for the other foot.
Wear Them Incrementally More and More
It’s okay to try on barefoot shoes for the first time and it be a totally different experience than what you anticipated. This is a brand-new style of shoe you’re wearing, after all. You’ve never walked this close to the ground or with such minimalist stylings before. Like we said above, it will take time to adjust. Be patient.
Don’t plan on a full day of wearing your barefoot shoes right out of the gate. You want to wear them in short periods, no more than 30 minutes. Once you feel comfortable, double your time to 60 minutes, then 90 minutes. Soon, you’ll reach the point where you can go a half-day in barefoot shoes, and eventually, even the whole day.
While you’re wearing your barefoot shoes, it’s not just your feet that are adjusting, but the rest of your lower body as well. Everything from your feet to your ankles, calves, knees, and thighs must accommodate to the zero-heel drop and the minimalist sole of your new shoes.
On top of that, the way you move in barefoot shoes will naturally change, and this too will strain your muscles until they adapt. You might be in pain at first, which is normal. Limit how long you wear the barefoot shoes but don’t give up. You’re building strength each time!
Buy More Than One Pair of Barefoot Shoes at a Time
Our last usage tip is to double how many barefoot shoes you buy at one time. This is a good chance to try several of the barefoot shoes on our list to see which is your personal favorite.
We advocate for owning several pairs of barefoot shoes for a few reasons. For one, you’re not reliant on one shoe for your barefoot shoe adjustability experience. Trying different styles of barefoot shoes, such as a barefoot shoe compared to a barefoot sock shoe might help your body and feet adjust faster.
Also, when you can switch between two pairs of barefoot shoes, both will be less stinky. You’re extending the life of the shoes as well, giving each pair an off day while you wear the other so they don’t wear down as fast.
Recommendation! In addition to a sporty barefoot shoe, you could add super light barefoot dress shoes to your shoe wardrobe. Here is a barefoot dress shoe we recommend 🙂
Conclusion
Barefoot shoes allow you to feel like you’re going barefoot but have the protection of shoes. With barefoot shoes and barefoot sock shoes alike, that barefoot sensation is present with thin materials, millimeters-thick soles, and a stronger groundfeel.
We hope the shoe recommendations in this guide help you select a fantastic first pair of barefoot shoes. Remember that adjusting to barefoot shoes is not an overnight process. It can be painful and difficult, but by keeping it up, your feet and ankles will be stronger for your efforts.