Can Barefoot Shoes be Stylish? (Part 1: The Contenders)
From Vibram FiveFingers to Alohas ballet flats, the superlatives that define seven pairs of barefoot-friendly footwear I road-tested, plus others I want to.
Hi! With an old ankle injury that never healed, flat feet, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, and a labral tear in my hip, I thought I always had to wear the cushiest, most supportive shoes on the market, until Somatic’s Dr. Rebecca Shapiro gently advised me that the muscles and joints in my feet (and the rest of my body) would never grow stronger and more resilient if I didn’t try barefoot shoes on for size. All I’d known about barefoot shoes in the past came from dubious sources (think Tao Lin’s Twitter page, lol), and I had never seen a single pair that didn’t aesthetically disgust me, so when my GP confirmed that barefoot shoes would provide the equivalent of hours of boring, rote exercises I’d have to do otherwise to strengthen my feet, I made it my mission to seek out the best-looking (and, yeah, feeling) barefoot-friendly shoes on the market.
I tried on seven pairs (six, all except the Vibram FiveFingers, were generously sent to me by each brand mentioned) and want to try more—below, I have thoroughly reviewed the pairs I’ve worn and list the pairs I want to soon, and in Part 2, I will style them and provide more potent musings on the barefoot “movement” and what I’ve noticed in my feet since beginning my transition! Let me know if you have any questions about barefoot shoes in the comments or my DMs and I’m happy to answer or consult the doctors I’ve talked to for more professional advice. Onward!
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Best Looking
I’ve been singing the praises of FiveFinger shoes for literal years but balked at actually trying them out once they became a TikTok-cosigned microtrend last summer until I realized that that’s pretty much only happening in NYC. One of the nice parts of living in Portland, Oregon, as I do right now, is that trends take years, if not half-decades, to filter down to the crunchy crowds around these parts, even something as gorp-y as Vibram FiveFingers flats. I’m the only person I’ve seen so far in the city wearing them, which I have been for weeks, clocking in tens of thousands of steps thus far.
Vibram actually accidentally sent me two sizes (I ordered one with my own money that got lost in the mail for weeks, and my replacement was oddly a size smaller than the original one that eventually showed up), and I recommend sizing up, even though that means the cross-foot strap might dangle awkwardly because it seems to be designed a bit too long for the rest of the shoe (I’m working on a solution for this [open to ideas!] and will show you what I mean in Part 2, when I style them). My toes feel AMAZING in these—I have Raynaud’s disease and thus usually poor circulation and numb extremities in any weather less than 75 degrees, but in these, my foot digits (?) feel flexible and full of much-needed blood, not needing to clench or curl at all to keep the shoes comfortable. The top strap and heel cutoff do chafe a bit as you break them (and your feet) in, so I have had to employ many a Band-Aid in this process, and the V-Soul style is definitely best worn on more forgiving surfaces like grass, wood, or carpet, but I’ve been pounding the Downtown PDX pavement in these and my feet haven’t exploded yet.
The biggest pro to these, of course, is their looks: the simple black colorway allows for the suggestion of a traditional Mary Jane shoe to be subverted by the wigglability of each separated toe, and I have worn these to job interviews (pray for me) and nice-ish restaurants alike without feeling weird at all. They straddle the line between disturbing and delicious, which, as you know if you’ve read basically anything of Esque before, is exactly where I like to perch. They set themselves apart from the other “freaky shoes” du jour by actually being functional and training your muscles to hold themselves together instead of simply looking perverse, which makes them big winners in my book.
Best for Working Out
If you want to stay as far away from the distinctive Barefoot Look as possible, the New Balance Minimus line will meet you where you’re at with sneakers that look as inconspicuous as any other pair the brand offers with a low drop, more toe room, and minimal padding. Order a full size to a size and a half up, as I learned to after my usual 6-6.5 morphed into a 7.5 with trial and error.
For my needs and aesthetic proclivities, the BOA version of these shoes is the big winner, augmenting a slip-on design with a sick lace-tightening system that is fun and easy to crank closed, making the first pair above the more accessible of the two. I also think it’s the more attractive, with bungee-like laces tethering wide, velcro-Sketchers-esque straps to the BOA mechanism and a white streak on the heel to break up the black fabric. If you’re a laces purist, though, the regular TR is perfect for you, and I love the above colorway’s tiny shocks of purple.
These shoes are sturdy enough that I’d feel comfortable hiking on them (or, at minimum, clocking in miles and miles on a treadmill or pavement)—their only downsides are that they seem a little more construction-heavy than all the other barefoot shoes I tried, which leads me to believe that they’re not as good for training your feet to strengthen themselves (though might mean they’re the perfect transition from regular shoe to more extreme styles), and the heel cup is fairly large, so there might be a bit of wiggle room if you have smaller backs of your feet like I do, a shortcoming easily remedied with the use of thicker running socks.
Best for Easy Styling
Alohas are another brand that, like New Balance, makes “regular” shoes well and therefore knows it can’t get away with shilling ugliness in its barefoot section. Alongside a few pairs of good-looking sneakers are ballet flats like the Nairas which easily stand up to their conventional counterparts, style-wise. I love the faded, subtly patinated brown leather colorway above and the way the fabric gathers in to the middle of the shoe with gentle ripples. These shoes could be styled with virtually anything and can pass for fancy-enough, no problem, the perfect solution to the problem of wearing barefoot shoes to a wedding or funeral and not looking like a dick.
Size up, as I should have: though the toe box is correctly proportioned for a barefoot shoe, the leather is pulled tight across it and can use extra room to let your toes breathe as they should be able to for this style. The soles are uncushioned but have a bit more solidity than the other fancier style I tried, so pebbles and such aren’t as much of an annoyance as you amble your way down the road. The biggest issue I have with these is that the skinniness of the elasticized strap means that it puts a bit too much pressure on the top of one’s foot (the metatarsals, I believe), which goes against the barefoot shoe philosophy and makes these harder to wear than they should be, but perhaps this problem would be solved by sizing up, as I recommended. I love the little silver hardware at the heel and think that if I were going to recommend any barefoot shoe to a fashion freak who refuses to compromise their look at any cost, even to their arches, it’d be these.
Best Formal-ish
These unexpected winners are from a local Oregon label that veers into overtly hippie territory with some of its designs but also offers some compulsively wearable silhouettes. I would feel completely comfortable wearing these to the most formal event I can conceive of being invited to (uh, like, this week’s Barefoot Shoe Expo? Invite me next year guys, I’m a convert!), they are a true neutral, slipper-style flat that would blend into any look (and I mean that in a good way—sometimes you don’t wanna be making that FiveFingers statement. Like at a funeral).
The sole of these is as flexible as all the rest but is a bit softer with an ever-so-thin layer of cushioning that doesn’t compromise the barefootedness of the construction but does feel great against the foot pads, though it also means that little things like cracks in the road and pebbles (which also easily find their way into the rather wide mouth of the shoe) do pack a punch as you traipse over them. The toe box is perfect, though you might actually be able to size down with these puppies, as I feel I have a ton of room to breathe, and that’s meant I’ve needed to tie the top cord fairly tight to feel secure in the shoes, which in turn, induces the same issue as the Alohas—metatarsal compression. The heels and toes of this style require absolutely zero break-in period, as the leather is BUTTER-soft, but the tie requires finagling and I wish it were thicker and/or stretchier though that would definitely compromise the look they’re going for, which I assume is Nicole Saldaña-inspired, at least to a degree. I would absolutely love to try other styles from this powerhouse of a small business—perhaps its ankle-strap flats?
Best for Summer ‘26
The above are the sandals I generously received from Xero alongside the ultimate winners below, and I was struck by how similar they looked to the Miu Miu bungee slingbacks that dominated a few summers ago, as well as their more-accessible runoffs via brands such as J.Crew. I am now wishing I’d waited a few weeks to discover the brand, because…
…Xero just released a very-appropriate collaboration with the very same J.Crew, iterating upon the Genesis Sandals I received with some fresh colorways—I especially love the gingham sole and mustard cord of the two shown above. This is the only shoe I haven’t thoroughly road-tested because It’s been just a hair too cold for full toe exposure (and I do live in a downtown area, so it would take a bit more than 75 degree weather to entice me into hiking around in thong sandals).
The soles of these shoes are basically a suggestion of a layer, meant to protect your feet from errant splinters and little else—advanced-level barefootism. I hope by the time it’s beach weather out here, my feet are primed to give them a fair shot, but in the meantime, it’s undeniable how good they look, the closest to their “regular” counterparts out of any of the styles mentioned and some of the most delightful, in my opinion. I would love to wear these with baggy jeans, cargo pants, or an athletic skirt, and Part 2 will hopefully see me doing their adorableness justice.
Best Overall
They may not be the most attractive of the bunch, nor the most exciting, but Xero’s new Prio Coasts are by far the shoes I have gotten the most wear out of in this roundup. They hit all the barefoot marks and need absolutely zero break-in time, with no irritating rubbing or painful tightness to be found and easily-adjustable elastic laces. Their slip-on technology is completely seamless, an enormous plus for someone with hip and back problems who is loathe to bend down for a shoe, and their soles are thick enough that they feel great even on bumpier terrain without compromising their flexibility.
I only wish for less conspicuous branding, more fashionable colorways (tap J.Crew again, perhaps? Or, ahem, me?), and a thousand more pairs for my greedy self, as I feel worried I’ll burn through these in about six months, wearing them as often as I do. The off-white, which I think is the best colorway on offer right now, does stain as easily as you’d expect it to, but I have yet to hand-wash the shoes as recommended—spot-cleaning them has yielded satisfactorily fresh results, so I have high hopes. If you can only afford a single pair of barefoot shoes and want daily drivers that will be kind to your feet without looking ridiculous or hideous, especially if you’re averse to laces, this is the single best pair I could recommend.
Most Wanted
Here are a few pairs I unsuccessfully tried to get my hands on, but loved for their looks and would still like to review someday:
I feel like the thick strap would be the perfect antidote to the metatarsal compression that caused me problems in the other ballet flats, plus these look like they could stand a bit more rough riding than the two I mentioned.
I’ve always wanted a metallic sneaker and these give the illusion of “regular” shoes (with all the stylishness that entails) while still, ostensibly, fitting all the barefoot metrics.
Another shoe I’ve wanted for awhile but known would kill my feet: the coveted deck shoe. I love this rich mahogany colorway and the thoughtful stitching details on these zero-drop, roomy toe-box comps.
The most luxurious-looking (and some of the most expensive) shoes on the list, I wonder how mules figure in to the barefoot scene, as I always assumed the slip-on style was inherently stressful on the feet, with all the toe power they require to stay on—as I said, I’d love to investigate further!
More adorable sneakers, these more Cali-style, Vans-esque, skeeter shoes—I like the chunky laces and the animal-print patterns are bait for the fashion set right now.
Yet another style of shoe I assumed I could never wear because I thought I needed constant arch support and cushioning, these huaraches look exactly like their “regular” counterparts and I would simply love to sport them all summer.
Lastly, a “barefoot” version of chukkas in the vein of Clarks Wallabees—not to repeat myself for the umpteenth time, but I didn’t think I would ever be able to covet this style due to the original’s rigid, block-like sole, but these are apparently flexible enough to fit the barefoot profile, and I’d like to try them on expeditiously.
Stay tuned for Part 2, where paid subscribers will get a look at how I’d style each of the seven shoes I have tried so far, plus more musings on the barefoot transition and what I’ve noticed in my feet since starting it!
<3 ESK
extremely relatable! just been going down this rabbit hole myself!
Wow this is great! I can’t wait to see how you style.