Tag: footwear

Make sure that you use footwear which is comfortable and appropriate for your chosen activities. Nothing has the ability to spoil your entire activity like wearing uncomfortable footwear!  Shoes are extremely personal.  Just because a shoe is well regard doesn’t mean that it will be good for you.  There is no substitute from trying on a pair of shoes/boots, and then wearing them for an extended period of time. Even if your footwear doesn’t need to be “broken in”, you should spend time wearing them before you take them for some extended activity / adventure. Most people find running shoes to be be the most comfortable footwear. As sensibilities and product offerings have expanded, running shoes are appropriate in many situations.

I will note that for outdoor activities, hiking, backpacking, etc I strongly recommend using trail runners rather than traditional hiking boots or shoes. If you look at the experience of people on long distance trails, you will find the majority of people are using trail runners and the percent using trail runners increases each year. For example, here is a review of shoes worn on the AT in 2022.

I have a number of posts related to selecting and using footwear:

• Barefoot and Minimalist Shoes – Fair bit of science suggests a very good approach but you have to build some muscles and transition slowly
• Trail / runners – best shoes for most activities though needs to be replaced after 400-1000 miles
• Sandals – lets your feet breath and dries quickly
• Crocs / Water Shoes – Can be useful in wet conditions. Some people hike in them?!
• Trail runners vs Boots – boots have their uses, but in many situations trail runners are a better option
• Hiking Shoes
• Hiking Boots – durable, maybe protective, blisters without right socks
• Socks – to protect your feet
• Footwear in Very Wet Condition
• Footwear in Cold Conditions

My Choice

I have found that “barefoot” style shoes that have minimal soles and zero drop heels work best for me. Around 2005 a friend encourage me shift from landing on my heel to the front of my foot and use minimalist shoes. The transition produced some soreness as the leg muscles I used changed, but once I made the shift I found that my knee pain disappeared and the number of miles I could comfortably walk more than doubled. For several years I used ultra minimalist shoes (Vibram 5fingers and Luna Sandals), but I kept stubbing my toes. For several years I switched to trail runners and Keen sandals thanks to their toe cap. My foot placement is better these days, I am back to Luna Shammas Sandals. Today my footwear is:

• Inov-8 Trailfly G 270. Trail runners: Near perfect fit for me. Toe box is a bit smaller than ideal, but large enough. Good traction. Have gotten ~1500 miles on several pairs before they need to be replaced. Original was available is all black.
• Shammas sandals: Good traction, super light weight. Great trail feel. Use them hiking, running, and everyday life.
• Vivobarefoot Gobi 2 Desert Boots: ok traction and acceptable looks even if I have to wear a suit while traveling

I often wear light weight Darn Tough wool socks, but use Xoskin xo-toes in conditions that might produce blisters (long runs / extended hiking). In cool, wet conditions I sometimes use a Rocky Gore-Tex over-socks. When I was doing a lot of sub-freezing outdoor activities I used coolmax liner toe socks combined with insulated vapor barrier socks. I am no longer climbing or doing hard core winter trips so I have no need for specialized shoes and boots for these activities. The last pair I had were some insulated Keen boots which worked quite well.

Good Fit

More than most other clothing types, the “best” foot wear varies a great deal person to person because feet are quite different, and these differences have a direct impact on how well a shoe would work for you. I used to have a terrible time finding shoes which fit me because I have a very narrow heel, a small volume foot which a modest arch, and  need a large toe box because I have both hammertoes and morton’s toes.

Backpacker had a nice article which is still on archive.org about  understanding feet and footwear which is oriented toward boots, but has a lot of valuable information such as the wet foot test. You might try to find a local store that has been trained in the FitSystem by Phil Oren.  Or go all the way and get a gait-analysis.

There is a nice video about Customizing shoe fit by relacing.

The sites runrepeat.com and sizesquirrel.com can help you sort through a variety of shoes to find one that matches the criteria, particularly size / shape you are looking for.

Weight

The weight of your shoe ends up making a big difference in the amount of energy you expend when walking or running. I recommend people wear shoes that are as light as practical.

for every 1 lb of footwear, it’s like carrying an extra 6.4 lb of weight on your back

[Legg SJ, Mahanty A. Energy cost of backpacking in heavy boots. Ergonomics.1986 Mar;29(3):433-8.]

Inserts

A number of my friends swear by Superfeet inserts, but they are not for everyone. Some people have issues with overlapping toes. There are a number of products to keep toes separated.

Blisters

Jackie and I have been blister free, even for extended journeys like 500 miles of the Camino from SJPP… but we seemed to be exception. Many (most?) people get blisters on extended trips, especially people wearing hiking boats. Most people were able to manage their blisters and continue to walk. A significant number of people we met on journeys like the Camino needed to add a zero day and/or take a taxi or bus to shorten their daily walking to give their feet time to recover.

The first step is to try to prevent blisters. Blisters develop when your skin is exposed to friction, especially when wet or hot. Most important is to remove friction, specially lateral shear forces (good short video). This means that you shoes need to be roomy enough for your toes to splay without being so large that your feet slide around. If you shoes / boots are stiff, you will need something that provides a cushioning. Wearing two socks, a thick wool sock turned inside out, and a thin synthetic liner sock is one of the most effective solutions. More information about this on my recommended socks page. You also want to keep your feet dry when possible. This is typically best achieved by wearing fast drying, well ventilated shoes or sandals. Avoid waterproof shoes and boots. In rain they don’t really keep your feet dry due to feet sweating, and they hold moisture when it’s dry.

Second, as soon as something doesn’t feel right apply treatment, don’t wait for a blister to appear. Sometimes changing your laces or adjusting your socks is all that is needed. Most of the time adding something to protect you skin. My experience is that KT-tape and Compeed blister bandages are the most effective treatments. Duct tape works pretty well. Some people swear by “hiker’s wool” but I have no experience with it. I don’t find Moleskin very effective.

Third, if you develop blisters treat them. Start by draining them and then clean gently. Next you need to make sure they don’t get worse. One option is to leave a small thread in the blister to allow it to drain and then put a breathable protective bandage over them. The method I use is to squirt a bit of superglue (I bring some single use tubes) into the blister. This keeps the loose skin from tearing and makes a durable barrier which protects the tissue under the blister.

For more information about caring for your feet, read the book Fix Your Feet.

Our feet are well engineered and actually do a better job at removing stress from knees and hips than cushioned shoes. Traditional shoes with heels forces you into an unnatural position which is more likely to result in injury. There are a number of experienced long distance hikers and ultra-runners who use minimalist sandals or trail running shoes, logging thousands of miles / year for decades without injuries. If you have been using traditional shoes and want to give minimalist shoes a try, go for it, but don’t rush it. Learn about proper form and transition slowly as you build the muscles to move in a new way.

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My Experience

I was born with deformed feet. I was in casts for the first couple years of my life and then custom orthotics until my 20s. I had significant problems finding shoes that were comfortable. When I ran more than a mile or walked more than 10 miles I would have knee and/or hip pain. In 2005 a coworker who was trained in the Alexander Technique encouraged me change how I walked and use minimalist shoes. The transition produced some soreness because I was using new muscles and needed to stretch my Achilles tendon, but once I made the shift I found that my knee pain disappeared. As my strength and fitness improved I was able to carry my backpack for 45 miles on a long summer day and run a marathon without pain. Well, at least no pain in my knees or hip… my leg muscles were sore for a couple of days after the marathon :).

Since 2005 I yearly log around 2500-4000 miles walking, hiking, backpacking. Since 2012 I also have been yearly logging 1000-1500 miles running. All of that with minimalist shoes or sandals. Other than some stubbed toes while wearing sandals or 5fingers, I have just one foot injury.

I developed plantar fasciitis in 2020 when I pushed my feet too much. I ran increasing hard everyday, tried jogging with a 40lb pack, and switched to new shoes that I now know don’t work for me.

To recover I spend several months wearing a cushioned running shoes. Within a couple of months the actuate pain was gone, but my feet were still hurting, especially first thing in the morning. After six months I decided the cushioning wasn’t resolving the issue. I switched back to my minimal Luna Venado Sandals. Within a couple of months my feet were back to normal and I was able to start to run regularly. After a while I tried the Xeno Mesa again and noticed my feet were not happy. I am not sure why, but Xeno shoes (and sandals) soles just don’t work for me.

I typically wear Shamma sandals, but when I need shoes for rugged conditions I switch to Inov-8 Trailfly 270 which are zero drop, but with a 12mm stack aren’t exactly minimalist. I wear a pair of Vivobarefoot Gobi II when I need to be dressed up.

Why Minimalist / Bio Mechanism

There have been numerous articles such as You Walk Wrong (slightly questioned in Your shoes are killing you), Going Barefoot is Good for the Sole, Why You Should Spend Time Walking Barefoot Everyday, A Moderate Approach to Minimalist Shoes, and a podcast by Peter Attia with Irene Davis from the Harvard/Spaulding Running Center which promote the benefits of going barefoot or wearing minimalist shoes. 

The Harvard Skeletal Biology Lab has a lot of information about foot strikes and biomechanics. For example a paper about how Foot strike patterns and collision forces in runners were less with barefoot runners. The book Born to Run tells the story of people who run barefoot (or in minimalist sandals) for their entire lives. Other studies have suggested that while running is more efficient on the balls of our feet, that walking with heel strikes is more efficient. Another interesting paper is on The Effect of Running Shoes on Lower Extremity Joint Torques. It’s should be noted that a running stride is different from a walking/hiking stride.

As I have read numerous studies I am convinced that people who grew up going barefoot or wearing minimalist shoes are better off than people who grew up wearing traditional shoes. When properly trained, I think most people benefit from minimalist shoes when running. When walking, the benefits from barefoot / minimalist shoes aren’t as compelling for people whose feet have been constrained by traditional shoes for a few decades. The combination of weak muscles and limited toe splay might make it challenging to adapt and fully benefiting from minimalist shoes.

I have noticed after years of using minimalist shoes than when I am feeling foot pain, I am typically using bad form. The pain is like a warning light I am doing something wrong. Most recently it was the outside of my left foot was sometimes sore. After some self observation I noticed I was rolling that foot a bit to the outside. For the next few days I was more intentional about foot placement. The pain went away.

Fully Barefoot

Some people go fully barefoot not just when walking, but running, backpacking over terrain which many would expect to be painful.  There are a variety of resources such as barefooters.org. barefootted.com,  and The Barefoot Hiker. I don’t have anything to add on this topic because I don’t got barefoot except in my home and at the beach. There are numerous studies demonstrating that unshod and minimalist running involve different biomechanics from each other (examples here, here, here and here). While there’s not as much literature involving walking, the same appears to be true.

Five Fingers

vibram fivefingers has been a cult hit. The soles of five finger shoes looks like the bottom of our foot, down to a separation between the toes. There is a nice beginner’s guide to five fingers for people getting started with these shoes.

There were many things I loved about wearing Five Finger shoes. The first was a sense of freedom, and the sensory experience on walking in them. I felt more connected to my environment. I felt more free. I also loved that I stopped getting blisters between my toes.

The major problem I found with Five Fingers was that I was regularly stubbing my toes. A more traditional shoe spreads the force of impact over all the toes making it much less likely that one toe will be traumatized. There were some additional minor issues. The first was several members of my family teased me about how ugly the five fingers were. Second, they take longer to put on because you have to line your toes up. Finally. the original model used a mesh on the upper that let trail dust into the shoes. After an hour or so the dust would start to function like sandpaper forcing me to stop and clean off my feet. I found the Five Finger Spyridon addressed this problem. I used the Spyridon for trail running, hiking, and backpacking for several seasons.

Minimalist Sandals

After Born to Run was published, there are a number of companies that started making minimalist versions of Huaraches sandals such as Shamma, Earthrunners,  Luna, Unshoes, and Bedrock. There are also so minimalist sandals that don’t have the toe-post including unshoes pah tempe, feelgrounds pathway, xeno, and some of the sports sandals from paisley running sandals.

Minimalist Shoes

The most minimal shoes are the classic, sole-less, suede moccasins. When I starting using minimalist shoes there weren’t many options. Besides moccasins the only choices were ballet slippers, track shoes, the martial arts oriented Feiyue shoes and Terra Plana which seem to be the predecessor of Vivobarefoot which made tennis shoe with a replaceable sole that zipper on/off. All of these shoes were ok for walking around town, but all had serious traction issues in the back country. My first minimalist shoe made by Terra Plana.

I believe Inov-8 was the first company to make minimalist shoes specifically made for outdoor sports. These shoes had zero drop,  relatively thin soles and lot of flexibility. I went through 14 pairs of the moderately “heavy” Inov-8 Flyroc 310 before trying other trail running (and for me backpacking) shoes.

These days there are lots of companies that make minimalist shoes which are sports / outdoor oriented. Main stream companies like New Balance, Merrell and Nike have minimalist models. I have enjoyed running in the Merrill Vapor Gloves. Of course Vivobarefoot continues to make excellent shoes. Vibram has expanded from 5finger to the minimalist Furoshiki sneaker – but I hear they are too narrow in the toes. Xero Shoes are popular with many people, but hurt my feet. Peluva also makes a five toed shoe. LEMs Shoes are beloved by many.

Dressing Up

There are a number of small manufacturers that make minimal / zero drop shoes that are appropriate for more “dressed up” situations such as business meetings or a night out. Besides Vivobarefoot, I have tried LEMs Shoes,  Soft Star, Tadeevo. Other shoes that would be worth a look include Ahinsa, Freet Barefoot, Hike Footwear, Joe Nimble, Jim Green and Sense of Motion. Carets make a zero drop shoe (though not minimalist) classic dress shoe for men. Arcopedico makes some attractive minimalist shoes for women. In today’s evolving sense of style, historically “casual” shoes which can be minimalist like espadrille, driving loafers, etc are often acceptable, if not fashion forward.

Other Material

• anya’s review covers barefoot shoes
• toesalad (dated now, too many ads) are dedicated to minimalist footwear
• Primal Hacker has a decent articles about barefoot shoes.
• Barefoot vs common footwear: A systematic review of the kinematic, kinetic and muscle activity differences during walking
• Walking in Minimalist Shoes Is Effective for Strengthening Foot Muscles

Historically people wore heavy weight boots for backpacking, trekking, etc.  Your feet need to be protected, and what could do a better job that a  heavy boot which will help prevent sprained ankles and give excellent support? 

Actually, most boots don’t give good “ankle support”.  The sides of the boot are flexible.  Only extremely stiff boots like the modern, hard plastic telemark ski boots or mid-calf jump boots actually provide good ankle support.  What actually helps protect your ankle in good quality hiking boots are a high quality heel cup, a well formed foot bed, and good traction.  This helps prevent your foot from suddenly shifting which is the source of most ankle injuries.

A special case for using boots is when you need your feet protected in a dangerous environment. The classic example of this is steel toed boots warn on construction sites.

Historically hiking boots were very heavy and used full leather on the uppers. These days, boot uppers are often a mixture of leather, nylon, and even plastic. If you need truly heavy duty boots I would recommend full leather boots with a Norwegian welt made in Europe, ideally by Italian companies like Scarpa.

Most of the companies which “back in the day” used to only sell 5lb all leather boots make light weight hiking boots and shoes. These boots and shoes tend to be much more durable than trail runners and “walking” shoes. They also tend to have stiffer soles which is useful when facing terrain which benefits from a good “edge” and lateral stiffness.  There are a number of old favorites which see to make popular light weight boots and shoes:

• Garmout
• Keen
• Kuru
• Lowa
• Merrell
• Scarpa
• Vasque

Most people can get away will lighter weight boots. I converted to using trail runners around 2001, so I can’t provide recommendations about specific products.

There are some people who strongly advocate for the modern military boot, noting that it has been significantly improved from the boots of years gone past that were appropriately disparaged. A detailed longterm review of Belleville Boots.

Appropriate socks help keep your feet at a comfortable temperature and play a large part in preventing blisters.  Blisters come from the combination of friction, moisture, and temperature. You want socks which wick moisture away from you feet and minimize the amount of friction between the sock and your foot which is often best accomplished by using two socks. I think nylon and wool are the best materials for socks, and cotton is really terrible.

My Choice

I primarily use Darn Tough Ultralight No-Shows which have lasted >=4000 miles before needing to be replaced. and recently added in Xoskin anklet toes socks which seem to resist odor reasonably and are effectively preventing blisters between my toes. My first pair develop a hole that was easily repaired after 640 miles. At 800 there are some small holes in the highest friction area (between my hammer toe ) but they are still working well. On my forth pair… average 1200 days of use, way less than my darn tough dock but longer than a pair of trail runners but longer than most toe socks I have tried. This has been mostly wearing sandals… I expect they might last longer inside shoes. In cool and wet weather I will sometimes wear light socks combined with Rocky Gore-Tex over socks. In cold conditions I have found vapor barrier socks to be extremely useful.

Sock “Fit”

Keep in mind that there needs to be enough room in your shoe for your feet and the socks you select. Socks which are too thick for your shoes will crowd your feet and result in blisters just as quickly as your feet sliding around.  I would strongly recommend trying a variety of different socks and figure out what works best for you. Socks are cheap and will often mean the difference between a miserable blister plagued trip, and one with comfortable feet.

Double Socks for Hiking

Conventional wisdom for people wearing hiking boots is to wear a heavy wool sock, with an very light weight inner liner. Dr. Murray Hamlet of the Army Cold Weather Research Center confirmed this with an extensive testing of a variety of sock systems. The first set of these tests was documented in the report Impact of Sock Systems on Frequency and Severity of Blister Injury in a Marine Recruit Population.

Hamlet and team found that a thin liner sock made of CoolMax, and a thicker sock made of wool&polypro (fuzzy side out) had a significantly reduced the frequency of blisters. This is because the slipping is happening between the socks rather than between the foot and the sock. TechSpun sells the socks designed by Hamlet.  Besides TechSpun there are a variety of companies which sell high quality wool or wool blend backpacking socks including Bridgeport, Dahlgren, Darn Tough Socks, Fox River, SmartWool, Thorlo, Wigwam.

Lighter Socks

People carrying lighter loads and using trail runners or walking shoes often prefer socks that have less bulk. Since lighter shoes tend to flex with the foot, an inner / outer sock combination isn’t as critical as when using boots. Some people find double socks are helpful with trail runners. Some low bulk ways to get double socks include using a pair of knee high stockings + a light outer sock, two pairs of nylon dress socks,  WrightSocks DoubleSocks, or X-Socks (I have no experience with).

Single socks I would recommend for trail runners include Darn Tough running socks, xoskin socks, Injinji toe socks, Smartwool Adrenaline, asics running socks, Inov-8 Mudsoc (coolmax), and the Bridgedale X-Hale Multisport Socks (multi-fabric blend).

Extreme Conditions

I have a pair of posts which address footwear (which includes socks) in particularly wet or cold conditions.

Cheap

Use a double pair of nylon dress socks.

For most conditions provided you are carrying less than approximately 40 lb, I would strongly recommend trying trail running shoes because they can be quite comfortable and will be lighter than the more traditional hiking shoes or boots. I have heard people express concerns about hiking in trail runners. I will observe that if your survey people who complete the long trails like the AT & PCT you will find the vast majority wore trail runners. I wrote up a brief comparison of using trail runners vs boot.

There are lots of good trail running shoes on the market these days.  There are a number of factors you should consider when looking at a trail runner:

• Fit: If the shoes don’t fit you, skip them. You need to find shoes which fit the shape and volume of your foot. Pay particular attention to how well the heel box hold you and if there is enough space around your toes. Some people buy shoes that are 1-2 sizes larger than normal, in a narrower width to give their toes maximum space.
• Foot Support: You should start with a wet foot test to figure out what cushioning and control features you might want. But keep in mind that the Cochrane meta analysis indicates that control features don’t seem significant reduce injuries. Advocates of minimalist shoes would argue that you should address this issue through effective conditions rather than using a crutch for the rest of your life.
• Type of Sole:  The sole of the shoe will determine what some of terrain you will have good traction and how durable the sole will be. Softer materials typically have better traction on hard / flat surfaces but wear more quickly. Deep / aggressive soles with lugs are the best for variable terrain, especially when there is loose materials.
• Ventilation: In most cases you will want a highly ventilated shoe to let your feet breath. There is a trade off for the ventilation which is external moisture can get in, and extreme ventilation (light mesh) will not protect your feet from thorns and other pointy plant material.

If there is an athletic shoe manufacturer that seems to make shoes that fit you well, I would look to see if they make a “trail running” model, and try that. If there is no manufacturer that you are more inclined, you might see what shoes are recommended by the wet foot test at runners world and/or check out the descriptions and reviews on running warehouse. The following are some of the popular manufacturers that I have had experience with.  Note: the models listed in the next section are likely out of date.  I have found shoes that work really well for me, so I typically am not following shoes too closely anymore:

• Altra: Maybe the most popular sure among light weight backpackers. Good traction, wide toe box. Offer a variety of stack hieghts/cushion options. The Altra Superior was my default shoe between 2017-2022.
• Hoka: Very popular with ultra-runners and long distance backpackers. Lots of cushion. I personally don’t like them because the stack is too high for me. I like minimalist shoes.
• Inov-8: Inov-8 was one of the first companies to make minimalist shoes for the outdoors. They developed a significant cult following popular among fell runners, ultra-runners, ultralight backpackers, and with some adventure racers. Their lightest shoes are about as close as you can get to going barefoot while having something on your feet. One really nice thing about Inov-8 is that they have committed not to make gratuitous changes to models, and will keep making old models until it is no longer economically feasible. I wore 14 pairs of Inov-8 315 flyrocs… the last pair was the same as the first. The Trailfly 270 G became my standard shoe in 2022. I get ~1200 miles before they wear out, around 3x more than most trail runners.
• La Sportiva: Makes trail runners and good approach shoes (like TX line)
• Montrail: Velocity line on trail runners were quite popular with the light weight backpacking community. In particular, the  Hardrock and Vitesse models. Montrail tends to have a more generous toe box than many other manufacturers. In the past years Montrail seems to be losing their way makes shoes which doesn’t seem to compare favorability to previous years designs.
• New Balance: Seem to have been one of the earliest manufacturers that embraced trail runners by introducing the  M801AT. This was a great line of shoes, but NB kept change the design.  They were good through the M804-807 depending on who you ask but but the M808-809 really sucked. Hopefully NB will learn the lesson and not play with working designs until they break them.  I don’t have experience with NB current shoes, thought I might give one of their minimalist shoes a try soon. New Balance is one of the few manufacturers which offers there shoes in a wide range of widths… so if you have a particular wide or narrow foot, I would start with New Balance.
• Norda: New company that I have no personal experience with. Have read they are taking a materials first approach to improve durability for shoes which last >1000 miles.
• Salomon: Makes a number of shoes lines which might be of interest including the XA, Speedcross, and Amphibian. Salomon shoes tend to run wide through the entire shoe. The fast lacing system is interesting, but it limited customizing fit by changing lacing and it’s hard to repair in the field.

Manufacturers that I don’t have a lot of experience with recently, but are worth a look include Adidas (Supernova), Asics, Brooks (Trail Addiction), Mizuno (Wave Ascend), Nike, Saucony (Peregrines), Topo. There are also a number of minimalist trail runners.

The site runrepeat.com has excellent reviews

I have other notes about footwear.

There are a number of people who have found using sandals or water shoes to be highly effective.  They provide excellent ventilation for your feet, and are ideal when you are in wet conditions because they don’t hold water against your feet.  The downsides of using sandals or water shoes are that your feet get really dirty and most sandals don’t protect your toes.

I really like Luna Venado Sandals for street running and walking on city streets. I have used them in the back country, but they don’t have a lot of traction. If I am in the back country I often switch to a pair of Luna Oso Flaco Sandals. Enough ground feel that they don’t feel “dead” when I run in them, but enough traction to use in the back country. Bedrock Cairn 3D Sandals are the best pure hiking sandals I have found: grippy on the top and bottom but a bit dead feeling. Fairly compact for packing, weights about the same as a minimalist trail running.

Keen  makes a wide range of shoe including sandal like shoes with a toe guard. I wore them for many use to protect my toes. Last time I looked the Clearwater was their lightest model. Many people seem to love the durable but heavy Chaco Sandals, which are a bit like taking a the sole from a really heavy duty boot and put sandal straps. I don’t use them because they have a very pronounced arch support ridge which hits me in exactly the wrong place. Teva and Xero Shoes make a wide variety of sandals which can be used for a wide variety of activities. Beside Luna and Bedrock, Earthrunners, Unshoes, and I am sue a number of companies make minimalist versions of Huaraches running sandals. Mayflyultralight made an ultralight sandal which doesn’t have a strap between your toes. There was a nice set of mini reviews of minimalist running sandals on reddit.