My wish: a foot-shaped answer to either Vans or Converse.

Nyah

Barefooters
Oct 29, 2010
293
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I wish a minimalist shoe company would make a foot-shaped answer to either classic Vans or the Converse OneStar/AllStar. These shoes are heavier than running shoes. That 'extra' weight is from a relatively thick, solid, gum-rubber sole which makes them good for skateboarding, cycling, court sports such as tennis, basketball, general sports such as cross-fit, weight lifting, etc - all kinds of activities that mono-directional shoes are NOT good for. Collectively, these sports make up a big portion of physically-active society. Because Vans and Converse (now owned by Nike) are publicly-traded companies, they're not going to do it even if their competition does. So Altra, Xero, Lems, this is your moment. Let's see some shoes that fit this 'niche' (it's actually huge!).
 
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Closest I've found at least in terms of looks are the Lems Primal IIs that have black uppers and white lowers. I do think it'd be cool to have a pair with the same sort of flat bottoms as Vans or Converse but wider in the toes.
 
I just discovered that Altra was recently bought by VF, the same conglomerate that owns Vans. Could this mean anything toward having a Vans-type shoe (shoe with a flat, heavy, durable gum-rubber sole) with an Altra-style (foot-friendly-shaped) toebox?
 
Also found a new shoe - Vivobarefoot Borough

Looks nice. But expensive.

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I wouldn't doubt that those Vivos are expensive. Even more skeptically though, I have to wonder whether the sole has the kind of durability that I'm talking about, considering that Vivo is all about having a reduced sole. Their Motus shoe is supposed to be intended for court sports, but user experiences are not finding the sole very durable. I've also not seen a Vivo that was foot-shaped to the extent that I'm talking about: Their back end is too wide and, none of the forefoot's extra width has been allotted to the big toe, as if they started with a conventional shoe, cut it down the middle, spaced the two halves out and then added the extra to the middle.
 
I have a pair of the Lems Primal 2 now and can say that they're not very useful for skateboarding. This is because of two reasons:
1. They're not flat-soled, which is especially a problem under the toe. This particular Lems model has a toe-spring which drops below level when you 'flatten' it out. This, like on all shoes that feature a toe-spring, leaves your toes feeling disconnected from the skateboard deck. Trust me when I say that you don't want this for skateboarding.
2. The sole is made of a rubber that isn't very dense, thus it has me very skeptical that it could ever be as durable as the relatively heavy rubber sole that classic Vans and Converse All-Star/One-Star uses. Maybe the Lems rubber needs to be tested on this before I can actually be definitive on it. Color me skeptical though.

I also examined and tried on the Lems Mariner 2 shoe. It has a nicely flat sole which completely avoids the toe-spring problem that exists on the Primal 2. I would've bought it instead of the Primal 2, except that I don't like non-ventilated, leather shoes. If anyone wants to test the durability of the Lems rubber sole under skateboard conditions, I recommend that they do it with the Mariner 2 shoe rather than the Primal 2.
 
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