I need wide toe box shoes.

nck

Barefooters
Sep 30, 2017
27
14
3
Spain
Hello I'm new posting here although I think I've been reading here for hours.

I've been using the merrel glove vapor 2 for two years, both ended up breaking in the textile. I draw the sole of my feet in a paper and putting the shoe over it I can see that my feet are much wider.

I'm currently living in Germany, so I'd like to get something that is not too expensive here. I tried the xeros shoes and they are way too narrow, even more than the vapor glove.

I never run but use them in my everyday life and I also go to hike with backpack for some days with them.

The only alternative I've found are the senmotic, for which I've read bad comments about their returning policies (I don't know if that's true), and the sole runner pure 2.

I don't want sandals or VFF because it's not good for work and also I'll be walking with them under -10ºC many days.

Can someone give me advice of any other model or tell me if those have really wide toe boxes (maybe 1-2cm more than the vapor gloves 2)?

Thanks a lot.
 
Merrells are indeed bit narrow.. Softstars has something really wide coming. Also, vivos are not that narrow, but probably only about ~½ cm wider.. But, no real experience, I use mostly fivefingers and sandals, other minimalist shoes have felt kinda lousy some way..
 

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Merrells are indeed bit narrow.. Softstars has something really wide coming. Also, vivos are not that narrow, but probably only about ~½ cm wider.. But, no real experience, I use mostly fivefingers and sandals, other minimalist shoes have felt kinda lousy some way..
Thank you for your answer flammee. I read about softstars but from europe it is too pricey to order them. They are already not cheap and then you have to add 20-30$ of shipping and probably around 20-30% from import duties and taxes. Then returning them if they not fit is a nightmare So sadly they are not an option.

I have a pair of vivobarefoot gobi which I used to ride a bike in really cold weather and I'd say they are even narrower than the merrels. I haven't tried other models but if someone else says they are big enough I could go to check a shop which is not so far away from where I live.
 
Have you looked into watershoes/watersocks aquashoes/aquasocks? They may be seasonal where you are, but you can always find them at www.SwimOutlet.com. See if they ship to Germany.

Like VFFs, they tend to smell after awhile, so you have to wash them.

Feel free to join the Germany Chapter (Chapters link above). Welcome! :barefoot:
 
Have you looked into watershoes/watersocks aquashoes/aquasocks? They may be seasonal where you are, but you can always find them at www.SwimOutlet.com. See if they ship to Germany.

Like VFFs, they tend to smell after awhile, so you have to wash them.

Feel free to join the Germany Chapter (Chapters link above). Welcome! :barefoot:
Thank you!, I think I already joined the chapter, at least now It says "leave the chapter".

Watershoes I don't think they work for me, at least what I've tried, they are to tight up in the top of the foot, and also I don't know if they provide enough protection for hiking.
Well, you could also take lace out of eylets at the front of shoe, that makes shoe feel a bit less restrictive at the front.
I just tried with the merreles but my pinky toe hits the side of the shoe just after putting it on the shoes, and if I also want to spread the toes it's much worst.
 
Thank you!, I think I already joined the chapter, at least now It says "leave the chapter".

If you want, you can enable your chapter to appear in your posting info box:

1.) Click on your member name at the upper right.
2.) Choose Personal Details.
3.) Scroll down to Primary Social Forum or Secondary Social Forums.
4.) Select your chapter's name.
5.) Scroll down to Save Changes.

Thanks! :)
 
If you want, you can enable your chapter to appear in your posting info box:

1.) Click on your member name at the upper right.
2.) Choose Personal Details.
3.) Scroll down to Primary Social Forum or Secondary Social Forums.
4.) Select your chapter's name.
5.) Scroll down to Save Changes.

Thanks! :)
Done.



On the topic, I just found a brand that I hadn't heard about and It also has some shops I could visit to try
them when I can more or less walk again:

Joe Nimble:
https://www.joe-nimble.com/?code=BaEr

They are expensive but look good enough, does anyone know them?
 
Done.



On the topic, I just found a brand that I hadn't heard about and It also has some shops I could visit to try
them when I can more or less walk again:

Joe Nimble:
https://www.joe-nimble.com/?code=BaEr

They are expensive but look good enough, does anyone know them?
Don't know too much about Joe Nimble, but their marketing company wanted to do some giveaway contests. They would only ship to the US. I told them that our giveaway contests are inclusive to ALL of our international members, and US only would not work for the BRS. I had to tell them no-go.
 
Well, I went to try the joe nimble. Some of their models are much wider than the others, but for me they weren't wide enough. I ended up buying a half size bigger.

But when I came home and tried them again I had the feeling I was stepping over a plastic making a lot of noise and no feeling of the ground at all. They are pretty comfortable and well made but even though they have a sole of 6mm they don't have any barefoot feeling in the green part of the sole, at least for me.
1672107_barfu__sohle_10775_1672-7.jpg


As they were really expensive I think I'll return them.
 
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Today I went to a vivobarefoot shop and ended up getting the stealth II swimrun, although I had to take a number bigger than what I usually use. They are wide but still not enough for me to wear them with the toes spread.
stealth_swimrun_5%7Bw=653,h=510%7D.png


I'm not completely sure if they are going to be a little bit too big, but wearing them with socks should be enough, at least walking around in the shop they felt ok, but no perfect. At least my pinky toe is not always smashing the side of the shoe, only if I spread the toes so that's a huge improvement compared to everything else I've tried.

The barefoot feeling is pretty good, more or less like the merrels I have, as long as I take the insole out. The quality I don't know if it's that good, they have like some small glue spots which don't look that nice, and for my experience with another model the durability is not the best, hopefully with this model is better.

I tried also the stealth II and the form is exactly the same, but a little bit lighter and probably with less durability, as it has a kind of a mesh where the water can come in and looks more flexible. Good for summer but probably bad for cold temperatures and rainy days


If my broken foot gets repaired one day... I'll try to get a huarache sandal kit for everyday life to have real freedom in my toes...
 
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Hello, I think you need something like the attached photo. I gave up entirely on buying shoes for the same reason. So I started to make moccasins for myself in 2012 then made them occasionally for others. This winter pair that I made are 100% waterproof; I could walk a foot deep in a stream while the interior stayed bone dry. With two layers of 8 oz leather and camel hair filling, they were also good for practically as cold a weather as it could get. The trick is saturate the leather with wax and oil. If you are interested, I can give you information on how to make yourself a pair. Otherwise, I do not see any news on the commercial front that would indicate that truly wide toe-boxed ergonomic shoes are on the horizon.
 

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Hello, I think you need something like the attached photo. I gave up entirely on buying shoes for the same reason. So I started to make moccasins for myself in 2012 then made them occasionally for others. This winter pair that I made are 100% waterproof; I could walk a foot deep in a stream while the interior stayed bone dry. With two layers of 8 oz leather and camel hair filling, they were also good for practically as cold a weather as it could get. The trick is saturate the leather with wax and oil. If you are interested, I can give you information on how to make yourself a pair. Otherwise, I do not see any news on the commercial front that would indicate that truly wide toe-boxed ergonomic shoes are on the horizon.
I'd love to get some information on how to build my own shoes. I read a post in the barefootrunning section on reddit, but it looked pretty hard to do.

How much does it cost aprox. in materials? Do you need a lot of "skills" to do it or with a lot of time is enough? If it's not that hard I'll totally try it if you give me some information and show my results.

Have you tried Senmotics https://www.senmotic-shoes.eu/ ?

From personal experience, I can only highly recommend them - they make the best "barefoot shoes" that I have seen. Super high quality, very responsive, good range of style options.
I read about them, but I've also read bad comments about their returning policies and in the photos they don't look like they are really wide, at least not more than vivobarefoot.
 
I'd love to get some information on how to build my own shoes. I read a post in the barefootrunning section on reddit, but it looked pretty hard to do.

How much does it cost aprox. in materials? Do you need a lot of "skills" to do it or with a lot of time is enough? If it's not that hard I'll totally try it if you give me some information and show my results.


I read about them, but I've also read bad comments about their returning policies and in the photos they don't look like they are really wide, at least not more than vivobarefoot.

Hello Nck,

Somehow I missed your reply post so this is a little bit late of a reply. Anyway, while there is a little bit of a learning curve to making shoes and your first pair may be a learning lesson, it is not too difficult. It is just time consuming.

The first step to making a pair for yourself is to measure your feet. I used to use successive measurements from old table cloth material to fit them around my foot until I had my patterns. However, I would definitely recommend just getting an alginate casting kit to make a plaster cast of your foot. You might as well have one regardless of whether you make your own pair or not. Nonetheless, having a cast of your foot while making the shoes will help to remeasure as you go along to ensure avoid blunders.

From there you just need to obtain leather hide (varies in price between countries). For waterproof moccasins, I used two piece thick 8 oz cowhide leather saturated in neat's foot oil (sunflower oil and/or wax might also work). However, I suspect that you cold obtain waterproofing without such thickness (you might want to experiment with different small pieces of variable thickness wrapped around paper towel and submerged in water first). I recommend the thread exchange for obtaining heavy duty polyester thread (size 415 or 554), plus some threading needles. You need to obtain leather cutting tools. Such as this one from eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/C-S-Osborn...822856?hash=item3adb44cec8:g:ZXQAAOSwHMJYDRl9

A rotary cutter also comes in handy. However, if you do not care whether it has a clean edge or not, you can just use scissors. A hole punch is sufficient. Then you need a grommet kit and grommets (5/16" or larger).

As far as cutting out the pattern, you will need three pieces. One piece is the toebox and tongue. The second piece stitches into the toebox and tongue on either side just behind the ball of your foot and wraps around your heel. The third piece is the sole, which just stitches around the bottom and is easy to replace.

These are the basics. If you are seriously considering making your own pair, let me know and I will post some more information.

- David