Comments on: The Living Barefoot Show – Episode 7 – We Interview Vivo Barefoot

By: Al Gauthier

Al Gauthier — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:06:04 +0000

Hi Pam, thank you for your comments. I have forwarded your comments to the Vivo Barefoot team.

By: Pam

Pam — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:50:16 +0000

I’ve had some experience with Terra Plana Vivo Barefoots I have to say some of it has not been good. In September I first ordered a size 41 women’s Lucy. It was the summer edition and it was on sale. The shipping charge was $20 for two day UPS. It was too small and I had to exchange it and paid $15 for shipping it back and ordered a size 42 (even though that should be a size 12 American and I am normally a 9.5 or 10). I had regular shipping for that (only $12). So I basically paid full price for the shoes. They work fine and I’m learning to walk with minimalist shoes.

In fact I like them enough that I bought 3 more pairs in size 42 (Odette, Womad, and Yukam). All three fit terribly. The Womad was more than a half an inch longer and I could not wear them. The other two styles I couldn’t keep on my feet. So I paid for shipping both ways.

Then I ordered a size 41 Womad from Amazon. Sadly the toe box was so shallow that even though I have very thin feet I couldn’t wear it because it pressed down on my toes so much.

So I order another 42 Lucy from Terra Plana. They were definitely larger and also had a higher heel counter than the original 42s, but with extra foam inserts I could wear them. (That seems to be defeating the whole purpose of minimalist shoes.)

So, on a trip to New York last week I actually went to the physical store hoping to try on several pairs. I really wanted the brand to work because I haven’t found very many minimalist shoes that have a nice wide toe box and a flexible sole and without extra support. Sadly at the store they only had about two shoes in my size (is size 9.5 or 10 really that unusual?). I bought one, but was very disappointed at the lack of stock. The one I bought (another Lucy) was again larger than the original Lucy and the sales clerk then admitted that the new shoes were larger than the originals. (But 41s still didn’t fit.)

Now I’m searching for an alternative (I have a pair of Kigos which are nice but not very wide) since buying Vivo Barefoot long distance just makes the shoes really expensive if they aren’t sized consistently.

By: Al Gauthier

Al Gauthier — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:05:54 +0000

Hi Cory, Thank you for your comments. I have forwarded your comment on to Vivo Barefoot and will post the reply here as well.

By: Cory

Cory — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:23:14 +0000

I understand that what you are doing at Living Barefoot is new, and that a lot of what you are doing is trying to promote a lifestyle and inform people of different options within that lifestyle. I appreciate all of this, as I am one of those people. However, I think you could have done better with this podcast by taking a bit more of a objective viewpoint.

Specifically, I was really disappointed that you did not get these people to talk more about their pricing. They stated that their new running shoe was going to be $160 – that is a lot of cash for a shoe that has very little to it. I know a lot goes into the design and that they are trying to build shoes in an ecologically friendly way, but at the end of the day, they are having them manufactured in China for a reason.

I think there is a real trend for these minimal shoe companies to be getting maximum dollar for their products because they know most of their customers are going to be people who can afford to pay more. But if they really believed that using shoes that mimic being barefoot is better for people, they would price them in a way that makes them more accessible to all.

You guys have a great opportunity to get this message to these companies!