Minimalist causal shoes

Allen Edmunds driving mocs

I should clarify:

When I say minimalist, I mean: very little midsole, or something to strengthen my feet. I'd gladly walk around barefoot if it were socially acceptable.

not a coach wrote:

I wanna buy new shoes to walk around in. They have to be stylish and very minimalist.

I already have a pair of Sanuk sidewalk surfers and am considering getting Nike frees. Any other options?

Try Crocs but they have to be orange. Ciao!

I don't know if they're considered stylish or not, but you could get a pair of Vibram Five-Fingers. You can't get much more minimal than those.

Try Vivo Barefoot shoes. Very stylish with no midsole at all. Just a kevlar outsole.

Second the Vivos. I wear mine a bunch. About as minimal as you can get and still provide some protection from dog poo and glass shards.

http://nymag.com/health/features/46213/

http://www.terraplana.com/vivobarefoot.php

What do you want them to cause?

nsmb wrote:

Second the Vivos. I wear mine a bunch. About as minimal as you can get and still provide some protection from dog poo and glass shards.

http://nymag.com/health/features/46213/http://www.terraplana.com/vivobarefoot.php

160 bucks? I would maybe buy them if they were half as expensive. Maybe.

Onitsuka Tiger!

http://www.shoemans.co.uk/acatalog/onitsuka-tiger.html

I personally train in the Tiger Tai Chi\'s which are the most flexible shoes I\'ve seen. You can literally tie them in knots. They also look cool. I use two pairs to train in and another just for going to class etc.

The AETA 090\'s look sweet too, not tried those yet.

Racing flats, fool. For walking around they don't have to be great, so just search on your size on sites like Eastbay.

For something a little more dressy check out the Patagonia Honeydew shoes http://www.rei.com/product/766078

The Sanuk Usual Suspects are as comfortable as the slip-on Sidewalk Surfers, but have laces and are fine in casual offices, restaurants, etc.

all black shox. you get a nice workout too because it feels like you are up on your toes all the time like those strength platform shoes. i usually have to ice my legs after wearing the shox casually all day and consider it a nice alternative to cross training.

When it's dry out, I wear mocassins.

Wal-Mart sells a good pair for 10 - 15$ in their Men's Slippers section, made by Penman's. Can't go wrong for 10 bucks!

People tend to think it's pretty cool and it's started quite a few conversations. I've even opened a few peoples' eyes to the pitfalls of conventional shoes through such conversations.

When it's wet and disgusting, I wear modified treated leather dress shoes of this style:

http://www.global-b2b-network.com/direct/dbimage/50277657/Men_s_Dress_Shoes.jpg

The ones I have are cheap, so they have a very flexible soft rubber sole. They tend to have wider toe boxes than most other stylish-type shoes, a plus.

The modifications I make are to

1) Remove the large heel to make the sole thickness uniform throughout. This part is fairly easy because usually the heel is just built up by layers of rubber glued together; you just get a knife and pry them off.

2) Water-proof the shoes. You can get water-proofing spray for leather shoes at any shoe store.

Unholy Cumulus: 160 bucks? I would maybe buy them if they were half as expensive. Maybe.

I think mine *were* a little more than half that price last summer. Didn't realize they were so much. There's one model discounted to $110. It's the one I have, different color and material - maybe I paid close to that, at the most. Prices may have gone up after the massive response to the NY Mag article... there's only one store in North America where you can buy them, and they were ridiculously swamped after the article, even closed for a few days to regroup.

Anyhow they're good, but I bet there's various martial arts shoes which get you much the same experience minus the kevlar for a lot less.

The Nike Streak XC look decent for casual wear and are fairly minimal.

I ordered a pair of new Vivo barefoot shoes from eBay for $60 shipped. They are being shipped from England. I have heard a lot of good things about them.

Ditto on the Wal-Mart mocassins. Got a cheap pair for Christmas for in the house, wore them outside and now I won't wear anything else. They have replaced my 8 year old chuck-style Zeroes as my everyday shoe. I have them in fake leather and camo, and they go with everything, lol.