Keeping your feet firm on the ground

by: Lian Nami Buan

New shoes take a while to hug your feet comfortably, and they say, many things can happen in a while. Like leave nasty foot skin cuts, cause trips because of loose fit, slows down runs or walks because of weight and grip. But we can always go barefoot, although there are only a few who are brave enough to venture the world without shoes on.

Trinoma and Gateway Mall houses Rest-toe-run, a shoe salon which sells Terra Plana, and Sanuk shoes; two footwear brands that can give you the feeling of walking barefoot and stylish look that sets you apart from the mainstream others at the same time.

Not only does these lines, priced 2290, offer wide range of designs that best fits all-around women, they also fight fashion piracy because no way can small-time cribbers produce shoes and sandals that has the same effect on the feet.

Terra Plana
Holland Sculptor Charles Bergman founded Terra Plana on 1989 but to minimal avail. Galahad Clark will later set his eyes on the shoe designs to take Terra Plana into the world market. And so in 2001, this shoe company pulled off a breakthrough in the shoe industry with a unique stamp in them: FOOT-FRIENDLY

Vivo Barefoot is inspired by the principle that walking barefoot is the kindest thing you could do for your feet. It is made of ultra-thin and flexible sole to free the feet so it could walk and work while enjoying the advantages of being barefoot. But its ultra thin sole is also puncture resistant to protect your feet from bad landing or anything you might step on.

Dopie is designed for comfort and flexibility, its sole extends to be folded up to the toes to provide control and balance. Dopie is meant to expose the feet more, that’s why the strap can be removed to achieve perfect exposure of the feet to to the ground.

Terra Plana means flat land. The shoe company initially had the vision of creating flats that compliments the “thinking on your feet” inspiration. But even if we live on flat land, the world has more than what meets the eye, they thought. So they revolutionized their designs into making heels and boots, captivating enough to sell to a modern woman. Thus, the Juniper and Lauren.

Both Juniper and Lauren uses an ergonomic last to surround feet with comfort and without itchiness. Its 9 cm heel is made of lightweight material to take heaviness off of walking load. The footbed has a memory foam, a lightweight, shock-absorbing and breathable material to act as soft cushions for every steps.

Terra Plana shoes are styled accordingly – casual look, sporty look or couture. Every woman is bound to be seduced to wear the variety of skins these shoes don.

Sanuk
It’s not a shoe, it’s a sandal.

This is what the 6 south californian surfers behind Sanuk is preaching. The idea is to take a sandal sole and put a shoe upper made of cloth handstitched by the craftpeople of the company.

Sanuk is a Thai word meaning Happy. And these Californians took foot happiness back to basics – sandals. Because they believe that no footwear can be as comfortable and simple as the sandals.

They call the technique “Barefoot Untechnology”. They were inspired by Nike. The leading shoe company acknowledges that technological support devices on the shoe has made the foot weake. Too much support from the shoes leave the foot muscles unexercised, resulting to foot and ankle injuries. But just the same, Nike still sells the technological training shoes.

So what’s a surfer to do? Jeff Kelley, Sanuk founder, envisioned these shoes they claim are sandals.

Sanuk footwears are a hybrid of shoes and sandals, it allows you to flex and bend your foot the way you naturally have to. The softness of the cloth will allow your feet to be accustomed to shock, and to absorb it naturally. This way, foot muscles that support the arch are strengthened, supporting you to walk properly. The flat sandal bottom also do your posture good, it maintains an erect standing rather than slanted like what most shoes would do.

Women are most likely to go crazy over these bestfriend shoes, I mean, sandals.