Monday - July 13, 2009

Pushing the Limits

Shoe blogging.

It’s what I almost never do. Ever.

But I will write about good engineering. About how form following function sometimes allows for beautiful and simple design; the art of purity. This is not one of those times.

These shoes do not qualify as art in any way, shape, or form. They are remarkably ugly ... and they are just as remarkably effective. This is technology pushed to the edge, where the complex becomes simple because all the rules and the preconceived notions have been done away with. A futuristic design that could have been created 5000 years ago.

However, The Manolo, the ultimate and original shoe blogger, lover of form over function sometimes to the point of unwearability, would never label these things Super Fantastic. He would need a new phrase that was as antithetical to that concept as possible. Ultra Hideux!

And yet these may be the best running shoes ever made. They weigh almost nothing. They are more toe gloves than shoes. Foot condoms. They let you run as if you were barefoot, which is best for your body. Yet they give you better traction than barefoot, and protect you against rough ground, gravel, and little sharp things in the street.

Vibram FiveFingers are little more than flexible plastic soles with just enough cloth to hold them snugly on your feet. They have little individual pockets for each toe, making the FiveFingers into a sort of foot glove. The resulting footwear feel less like shoes and more like tougher, more invulnerable versions of your feet.

Traction is incredibly good, due to the grippy material, the separation of the toes, and the addition of siping, or tiny zigzag cuts etched into the soles that expand into little treads as the sole flexes.

The VFFs are also surprisingly comfortable. Each toe is snuggled inside its own little pocket, which is not only cozy, it also gives your feet a surprising amount of feedback about the ground you’re standing on. Your toes, freed from their typical leather prisons, act like a tiny topography sensor array.

Running in FiveFingers is much like running barefoot, except without the mincing “Ow-ow-ow!” moments as you hit a patch of gravel or sun-baked asphalt. You have to use the same stride (and the same, probably atrophied, calf and arch muscles) as you do when running with naked feet. The end result is good: By forcing me into a more efficient stride, the VFFs helped subtract nearly a minute from my admittedly slow per-mile pace. Also, a growing body of research suggests that minimal or no footwear will result in fewer running injuries. But it takes some getting used to if you’ve never run barefoot before. Start with very short runs, and work up gradually.

They cost about $75. Maybe Michelle Obama could start wearing these and make a new fashion trend? Rebrand them as Gorilla Toes, or Cling-Ons, since they give such a great grip. And who better to push Cling-Ons than the Worfette?

Posted by Drew458     on 07/13/2009 at 11:53 AM   
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff • Neat Inventions •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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