Why barefoot shoes could be big business in 2025
Clark sees Vivobarefoot as one of many brands tapping into the growing wellness movement, as people seek to optimise every aspect of their health, from sleep to nutrition to exercise. “All of these things are ultimately just about getting as close to feeling a bit more human, feeling more present. Vivobarefoot is the below-the-ankle solution to the natural health mindset.”
Will it last?
Vivobarefoots look a little different to the Zero, but nonetheless, Demna’s co-sign is sometimes impactful when it comes to silhouette. The designer was an early proponent of the chunky sneaker when Balenciaga’s XXL dad sneaker, the Triple S, exploded onto the scene in 2017. Arguably, it was a precursor to the chunky soles we see in the sneaker world today, from On’s Cloud Monster or Hoka Ones. “There’s only one way you can go when you’re up and that’s down, right? So I do anticipate a shift to [barefoot],” Clark says. “And obviously, it’s going to be helped with moves from the likes of Demna.”
“I definitely think we’re seeing the return of a more delicate shoe, which dovetails with the FiveFinger trend,” Graham concurs. “If the Mschf [big red] boots were the peak of the big shoe trend, now we’re coming back down the other side of the mountain.” You can see this trickling into the mainstream in the sneaker world, she adds, where low-profile sneakers like the Puma Mostro, Speedcats and the Adidas Taekwondo are becoming more popular.
As we’ve seen before, footwear silhouette trends ebb and flow. Even sneakers like the Jordan or Dunks finally fell out of favour recently after decades of demand. Are barefoot labels worried this is a flash-in-the-pan?
“I think the [barefoot] trend will continue to grow, although whether they’ll stay cool or not is another matter. People pile onto trends so fast these days that niche appeal can get flattened by the mainstream quite easily,” says Graham. “I still love my FiveFingers, and they’re super comfy, so I’d be down to buy another pair. But I will wear them less if they become too ubiquitous. I guess that’s Vibram’s real challenge now that the shoes are growing in popularity. How can they ensure the hype is sustained?”
Marani is conscious of the risks of the trend cycle but confident in FiveFingers’s non-aesthetic benefits. “We don’t gift products, so the influencers wearing FiveFingers, they bought on their own,” she says. “It’s really life-changing, the way they feel, without their toes squashed and overlapping. This is what we’re trying to do as a brand. We want to leverage the fashion trend, but at the same time, we want to keep focusing on performance and making sure that people understand what the product is about.”
As for the Balenciaga pair, the brand confirmed the Zero sandal will retail for AW25. “The Zero seems more like a concept shoe rather than something practical that you can wear around a lot,” says Graham. “But I haven’t tried them on, so perhaps they’re very functional too? The thing about Vibrams is that the shoe is born of practicality — it was a gorp shoe for outdoorsy types before the fashion girlies sunk their teeth into it. So I think the genesis of the style is different, even if both are in fashion’s foot family.”
“My upstairs neighbour who works in shoe design DM’d me after seeing me post the [Zero] on stories and said they are incredible from an engineering standpoint. They are. They are hanging on by a toe coil!” Satenstein says. “Perhaps they’ll produce it in full coverage commercially? In that case, I think the Zero has legs — or rather, feet.”
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