Through the information on our blog, you’ve decided to buy your first pair of barefoot shoes. You love how comfortable and freeing they feel. You’re looking forward to having your shoes for a while to come, but just how long should you expect barefoot shoes to last?
How long your barefoot shoes last depends on how often you wear them and how much area you cover. If you run regularly, you should get about 1,700 miles out of your shoes before you need to replace them. For more casual walking, your barefoot shoes might last upwards of three years.
In this article, we’ll talk more about the factors that can affect the lifespan of your barefoot shoes as well as how to make your shoes last longer. You’re not going to want to miss it!
The Factors That Impact the Lifespan of Barefoot Shoes
Before we take a deeper dive into how long you can expect your barefoot shoes to last, we have to talk about the factors that can extend or reduce the shoe lifespan. Keeping all these points in mind will make it easier for you to determine how long your own pair of barefoot shoes should be good for.
As barefoot shoes have become quite the trend, your offerings are more expansive than ever.
Many brands have popped up that specialize in minimalist footwear, including Unshoes Footwear, Xero Shoes, Vivobarefoot, and Vibram.
Like when buying traditional shoes, with barefoot shoes, some brands are better than others. The general expectation is that the more money you spend, the higher the quality of your shoes. If you bought barefoot shoes for $100 or more versus $40 for your shoes, it’s not too hard to figure out which pair will probably have to go first.
Shoe Materials
Barefoot shoes are often produced with flexible rubber soles or synthetic compounds. The midsoles may be an open-cell foam, which is less dense than closed-cell foam, so your barefoot shoes have that lightweight appeal. Some minimalist footwear brands use hunting leather for the midsoles, so the favored material really does come down to the manufacturer. Suede leather is a popular choice for high-end barefoot shoe outers. Otherwise, your shoes might have synthetic outer materials.
The difference in quality is certainly noticeable depending on what your barefoot shoes are made of. For instance, suede leather is dense, so it’s waterproof and weatherproof. You’ll find that the leather hides stains, scratches, and scuffs as well as cleans easily so your shoes stay in good shape longer.
Those high-quality materials are what you want in a good pair of barefoot shoes, as they will certainly last.
How Often You Wear the Shoes
Besides the shoes themselves, how you use them can also influence their lifespan. Like would be the case for any type of shoe, the more often you wear your barefoot shoes, the quicker the shoe will begin breaking down. If you love barefoot shoes so much that you wear them daily (and really, who can blame you?), your shoes likely won’t last as long as someone who wears theirs once or twice a week.
That’s not to say you should keep your barefoot shoes collecting dust in a closet, as that’s a waste. After all, other factors go into shoe longevity besides the frequency of wear.
Running vs. Walking
Another such factor is what you do in your shoes. If you walk casually, your barefoot shoes may last longer, even if you often wear them. Compare that to someone who pounds the pavement in barefoot running shoes. You’re putting your shoes through a lot, so you’ll probably have to replace them faster.
Terrain
The last factor that can determine the lifespan of your barefoot shoes is the terrain you run or walk on. Softer terrain like carpet or grass feels great in your barefoot shoes, and this terrain doesn’t wear down the sole as fast either. Harder terrain, including sidewalk, asphalt, and even hardwood will begin to degrade the sole in quick order.
Suppose you wear your barefoot shoes daily, but just to drive to the office and then home, that’s a lot different than wearing the shoes just as often and running a mile on asphalt. In the former scenario, you should have your shoes for longer.
The Average Lifespan of Barefoot Shoes
It’s not too difficult to tell when it’s time to replace a traditional pair of shoes. Your insole wears down, the upper falls apart, and the midsole degrades as well. The soles are thinner with barefoot shoes, which tends to prolong their life expectancy compared to your regular running shoes.
This is admittedly great news, but the way a barefoot shoe breaks down over time does make its life expectancy harder to gauge. Keeping the above factors in mind, if you walk daily on the sidewalk, in about three years, a rubber barefoot shoe sole might break down to the point where you seriously need to think of replacement. A Quora poster shared photos of their barefoot shoes afer three years, comparing the differences in sole longevity between a canvas pair of Xeroshoes and Vivobarefeet shoes.
In a pair of Vibrams, such as their beloved FiveFingers line, you could run in these barefoot shoes for about 1,700 miles before expecting the sole’s tread to wear down enough that you need to replace them.
What is the time equivalent of 1,700 miles? If you run five miles, you’d get 340 uses out of the shoes. For a daily runner, that’s less than a year. If you’re still running five miles but only a few times a week, you’d get well over a year out of your shoes, maybe even longer.
Now let’s say you only run two miles when you go on a jog. You’re more than doubling your number, with about 850 uses. That’s two and a half years if you run every single day of the year. Not bad!
Tips for Making Your Barefoot Shoes Last Longer
You’re quite fond of your barefoot shoes, so you’ll want to do what you can to get your money’s worth and make them last. To wrap up, here are our favorite tips for promoting barefoot shoe longevity.
Buy a Second Pair
Since you love barefoot shoes so much, buy a second pair. This other set of shoes doesn’t have to be the same shoe or even the same brand. The more barefoot shoes you have, the less you’re relying on one pair, so that pair stays in great shape for months or years.
A good rule of thumb for all shoes is to not wear any pair twice in a row.
Keep Them in a Dry Area
Your barefoot shoes are probably water-resistant, but do you really want to put that feature to the test? Not if you can avoid it. Any spots in your home that get rather moist can accelerate the degradation process. Put your shoes in a dry place instead.
Use a Shoe-Cleaning Kit
Unless your barefoot shoes say so explicitly, tossing them in the washing machine is a terrible idea. Even on a gentle cycle, all the rushing water and push and pull of the washer can wear down the materials of your shoes.
When your barefoot shoes get a bit dirty, use a shoe-cleaning kit like the Crep Protect Cure Shoe Cleaning Travel Kit on Amazon. For less than $20, this kit includes everything you need for quickly polishing your barefoot shoes. You get a microfiber cloth, a cleaning solution with jojoba and coconut extracts, and a hog-haired bristle brush featuring more than 17,000 bristles.
Use Deodorizers
Barefoot shoes don’t require you to wear socks, which gives you a greater sense of freedom, but also more stink. Try to wear socks sometimes.
If your shoes smell like a sweaty gym, deodorizers will also be your best friend. Some deodorizers are ball-shaped and go inside your shoes. You twist open the ball to activate it and let the deodorizer work its magic.
Conclusion
The lifespan of a pair of barefoot shoes can be about a year to three years, depending on how often you wear them, whether you run or walk, and the terrain you traverse in your shoes. To make your barefoot shoes last longer, don’t forget to wear other shoes sometimes (including other pairs of barefoot shoes) and spot-clean with a toothbrush.