The 3 Features of Minimalist Shoes

This whole thing started with an REI gift card. I no longer remember who or what or why I received it, but that gift card was my introduction to barefoot shoes, and all the ideologies around it. I wasn’t outdoorsy back then, atleast not in the weekend warrior meaning of the word, so I didn’t really need anything else from REI, besides some everyday shoes. One weekend morning, betwen errands, my mom drove me to the REI. Among their limited selection—mostly big bulky boots or hobby-specific runners—the Merrell Trail Glove 4, a slick lightweight minimalist shoe, stood out. It looked sleek, was ultra-light, and felt unbelievably comfortable and agile on all terrain!

At the time, I didn't know anything about barefoot shoes, but the salesman who helped me advised me to do my research and ease into them. It took a few weeks to adjust to walking in them and several more to feel comfortable switching from a "rolling" heel strike running form to an "elastic" forefoot strike while running.

The Merrell Trail Gloves I purchased were trail shoes designed to make palatable the logic of their notable KSO line of toe shoes. Barefoot shoes have three main features:

Wide Toe Box

A wide toe box allows the big toe and little toe to spread out naturally. Normal barefoot walking and running actually involves a slight outside-to-inside rocking motion to stabilize weight. Using the toes in this way strengthens toe abduction muscles that are often atrophied in many people. Wide toe box shoes can help prevent bunions from forming and reduce pain in existing bunions. After getting used to wide toe boxes, regular shoes feel like toe jail.

Zero Drop

The heel-to-toe drop for minimalist shoes is 0mm. The drop is the difference between the height of the shoe below the heel and below the toe. Conventional distance running shoes have drops between 6 and 16mm. With "normal" heel-strike running form, the raised heel makes it easier to "roll" through your stride. Zero drop shoes allow for a larger range of motion in ankle dorsiflexion. Simply put, these shoes engage your calves more while running. An additional benefit is that the increased ankle range of motion actually helps pump fresh blood through the legs (have you ever felt bloated, heavy legs after sitting on a long flight?).

Low Cushion

Minimalist shoes have deliberately thin soles, usually 7-12mm total. This reduced cushioning is not an issue for low-impact walking or the more elastic forefoot strike style of running. It promotes improved sole flexibility, allowing the toes to be more useful (imagine the toe crease on a leather shoe). Low-cushion shoes are also significantly lighter. Lastly, barefoot shoes intentionally improve "ground feel"—literally the ability to sense the terrain, which allows us to shift our weight more accurately and be more agile and sure-footed.

Some "minimalist" shoes only incorporate some of these traits. In particular, Altra makes highly supported zero-drop and wide toe box shoes that have become mass market favorites. Track spikes, a type of cleat for sprinters, are low-cushion for weight savings and actually have a negative heel drop. Crocs, Birkenstocks, and Tabis have become fashionable recently because of—or maybe despite—their iconic wide, comfortable toe boxes.

Barefoot running as a trend really gained momentum with the popularization of "Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen," a 2009 book by journalist Christopher McDougall. The book explored how the Tarahumara, an indigenous tribe in Mexico, could easily run marathons barefoot.

The naturalist fallacy occurs when we believe something historically common and natural is inherently good or healthy. I don't think this fallacy fully applies here—though it would be wrong to assume barefoot is automatically right, it's still a good starting point. Why don't we consider our own body's mechanics as subjects of biomimetic design? Human bipedal motion is incredibly impressive even among animals, and it took until 2024 to create convincing robot bipeds.

The case for barefoot running with forefoot or midfoot striking comes down to one main point: barefoot running is actually lower impact than heel-strike running. The overall force is roughly the same, but the peak force is lower because energy is elastically stored in more of the foot and calf muscles. After adjusting—mostly by strengthening underutilized muscles and building new neural pathways—people report fewer major injuries from running. I've heard people with toe strike report more minor injuries (muscle strains that take days or weeks to heal) but also report resolving career-ending chronic back and knee pain issues. As someone with flat feet, I've successfully increased my arch strength and even developed just a little bit of an arch!

Do I recommend barefoot shoes? Definitely yes, if you're willing to invest a month in acclimation. Back pain and knee pain are not inevitable. Fashion is growing to accept wider toe boxes, and these shoes look good on your feet even if they look strange on a shelf.

Barefoot shoes have been a passion of mine for a long time and have influenced my thinking. As a kid when I got these shoes, I thought it was strange that such a common everyday thing as the shoes we all wear could be... wrong. It was the first time I realized that medicine isn't as solved or complete as I thought, which made me question the sneaker industry's messaging. Barefoot shoes were also my first cautious step into the associated worlds of yoga, meditation, stretching, and mobility.