Absolutely! Depending on the work environment you have this of course will be different, however shoes like the Vivobarefoot Ra II are very versatile and fit well into an office workplace. Wildlings also makes nice casual shoes with some style added to them.

Your shoes will start to stink very quickly! Too, you might encounter problems like blisters due to the rubbing and excess humidity/moisture when using barefoot shoes without socks.

This is probably because of wearing no socks with barefoot shoes on. Trust me, wearing socks with barefoot shoes is really important for managing stink. Merino wool socks help a huge amount with food odor too!

I use a do-odorizing spray every few days in my barefoot shoes to keep them stink-free as I use them for running and other sports as well as casual stuff.

My personal absolute favourites are the Vivobarefoot Primus Trail lineup but other good brands include Merrell, Vibram, and so forth.

There are plenty of options out there. Going for dedicated minimalist trail running shoes is best since if you try to trail run in a shoe like the Magna FG, well, you won’t have such a nice time.

No, the Nike Free shoes definitely do not have a barefoot feel. I had the Nike Free 5.0, Nike Free 3.0 Flyknit, and many other types of Nike running shoes. All of them exacerbated my foot pronation problem due to the large amount of soft foam at the heel.

Yes absolutely! With more freedom in the foot you are given more potential for your foot muscles to activate and move. My feet muscles got significantly stronger over the months and years of wearing barefoot shoes.

It comes down to personal preference. Vibram FiveFingers definitely gives more of that authentic barefoot feeling, while Vivobarefoot shoes are more socially-accepted due to looking more like regular shoes. I also found Vivobarefoot shoes to be more rug

It depends on your level of experience. I’m a big fan of the Vivobarefoot Primus Trail shoes and they’re what I started with. It’s important to start slowly. Watch my video series on how to start barefoot running for more tips and exercises!

No, in fact, minimalist/barefoot shoes are good for your joints/feel. I explain this in the video linked above – by activating the natural biomechanics of our feet and legs, our muscles act as shock absorbers and transfer the load from running much better.

‘Regular’ running shoes are much worse as the foam acts as cushioning and shock isn’t absorbed by muscles, rather it’s concentrates into the joints and ligaments in your knees, hips, and ankles.

For me, I developed very bad MTSS/shin splints from running with ‘regular’ shoes with bad technique. All the impact from running created havoc, however ~1 year of barefoot shoes made my 6 years of shin splints mostly disappear!

I run faster with barefoot shoes on. In all my sprinting tests, the added traction and higher comfort led me to running faster with shoes on. However, for long distances at lower speed this is much less noticeable and.

In my opinion, barefoot all the way! We evolved over tens upon thousands of years without ‘arch support’ and modern running shoes are counter-intuitive to our natural movement.
The book Born to Run (free with Audible free trial) is amazing and explains this in-depth.

‘Arches’ is a bit of an urban myth as it’s dependent on natural body geometry. However barefoot shoes greatly improve the strength and structure of the foot muscles, including the arch (Abductor Hallucis).
Again, the book Born to Run explains this in-depth.

It depends. For running on grass and soft, forgiving terrain, I really love pure barefoot to enjoy the variety of sensations and feeling. For rocky, rough, or hot pavement-type terrains, I much prefer running with barefoot shoes.

There are many brands to choose from. I of course am a big fan of Vivobarefoot casual shoes, however other grand brands like Wildlings, Xero, and Freet make great casual barefoot shoes.

My ultimate Vivobarefoot buyers guide has some casual minimalist shoes listed.

Everyone is different, but I really like the Vivobarefoot Primus Lite shoes. Everyone is different of course so consider options from Merrell, Xero, and Vibram among others.

My ultimate Vivobarefoot buyers guide covers everything across the spectrum!

Nope! I have been using my Vivobarefoot Primus Trail All-Weather every single day for the last 4 months and they have been outstanding.

No because there is still a lot of cushion between your foot and the floor. Usually barefoot/minimalist shoes are considered that way when the sole/tread is less than 3-5mm thick, though there are exceptions to this.

Vivobarefoot has a whole selection of vegan barefoot shoes which I’d recommend looking into, however there are many brands which don’t use animal products in their shoes.