Thank you for sharing. Something to emphasize about Wildling is that they are very conscious of the materials they use. They use recycled materials, and more importantly for me, some of their shoes don't use toxic / synthetic materials like polyester. This really sets them apart from other minimalist shoe companies.
Suggest giving the Xero HFS a go. Comfiest barefoot shoes I've owed (previously had Vivo Primus and Lems Primal. I have in black and think they're pretty stylish.
Hi, thanks for the awesome review. I am quite new to the channel, so I have to ask: Are you indeed an orthopedic doctor? You give a vague statement about one should wear toe spacers (with which I agree) but then you add a caption on the screen that says "always" which left me a bit puzzled. Aren't you concerned about the possible induced muscle atrophy in case one would indeed "always" wear toe spacers? I already resorted to wearing them for about 30-40 minutes a day, and focusing on actively spreading/stretching my toes during the day - whether I am sitting or walking. What do you think about this?
I am a doctor of physical therapy and I do wear them in my shoes daily. As opposed to a product that restricts the natural function of the foot that would induce atrophy by rendering the muscles incapable or obsolete, toe spacers restore the natural alignment of the foot and optimize the efficiency of the muscles. I suppose it's correct that if one were to literally never take them off it might become difficult to actively splay the toes without them. My "always" comment might be a bit of hyperbole
@@DrHoulihan Thanks for the reply and thanks for the additional info as I learned something new here! Of course, I didn't really wanted to sound like I think you recommend to wear toe spacers 24/7, but for me it was surprising to find you recommend wearing them for a considerably long time like e.g. during a whole workday or so. But it makes sense that if a toe spacer allows for sufficiently adequate movement of the toes while maintaining the right alignment, that would mean those muscles have enough stimulus, do enough work and thus not losing the capability to actively splay the toes. Makes sense, and thanks again!
I have high arches but I have tight calves and plantar facillitis, I relieve it by stretching my calves with a slant board, but now I have a mortons neuroma. Should I get looking at zero drop options? Wouldn't zero drop have no support for my high arches? It would take pressure off the ball where the mortons neuroma is. Thoughts?
Correct zero drop would take pressure off of the neuroma and as far as I know most of the zero drop shoes are going to have less arch support. Do your arches bother you without support?
I can tell you two things from a life time of running in all different kind of terrains, once your knees are damaged (like mine with cartilage damage). 1st: if you continue running, you'll end up semi crippled, 2nd: if you use shoes without cushioning (even for walking after the damage) you'll make the damage even worse. The other bit of advice is give up running when your 50 and use bike instead, I kept on running until I was 62 and then next day after a good 8 mile run (last 4 miles 7 min/miles) I could hardly walk. No indication, no prior warning, they just went; sometimes you get a warning that something is going wrong (which many fanatical runners like me would have ignored anyway, I suspect). A year after that my left foot arch collapsed, probably due to the compensating way I was now walking. The next mistake I made was following the suggestions of another runner and use bare foot shoes for walking, this exacerbate everything and then some. Six years later and now I require the support of shopping trolley to get round the supermarket just to make it tolerable, I can walk on pavement for around 5 minutes, I can walk on soft surfaces like grass and sand for a couple of miles but that's about it. I bought a pair of Cloudmonster running shoes a month back and found that they make it significantly easier to walk on hard surfaces, you can draw your own conclusions from that, Cloudmonster are about the most cushioned shoes you can get.
where do you get your toe spacers ?? and wide toe socks ?? or socks with separate toes. Im new to this and all i can find is super expensive. Im in spain. I have flat feet so i hope this is gonna be my solution to it all lol
I get the toe spacers online, there are a bunch of different companies with their own websites (correct toes, the toe spacer, etc) but Amazon has them too. Injini is the brand of toe socks I have (also online) but there are others as well. You can try websites like Ebay too to find these products
I'm not sure why I'm finding it so difficult to find 10.5US / 43.5EU across all the barefoot sites.. Does the barefoot sites make 43.5 that anyone knows of?
I'm 37.5 normally. my toes are really closed so i do wanna wear toe spacers. the shoes I want come in 37 or 38... s idk if i should go for 38 or it would be too much....
I live in New Mexico and it gets up in to the 100s here in the summer but it hasn't been that hot yet since I've owned them. I have worn them with and without socks though and they definitely feel cooler with socks on
I have vivo primus lite 2 (probably similar to 3) and US 11 correlates to Euro 44 for the vivos whereas US 11 in the wildling correlates to euro 45 so the wildlings are a little bit roomier than the vivos
@@DrHoulihan Thank you!The fact that my usual 42.5 translated to vivo 41, and now possibly even less in wildling is quite interesting. Did you use the online sizing guide to figure out your size?
'...definitely big enough to accommodate your foot...' Not in my case. Not even close. I have feet that are roughly 10" long and about 4.5" at the widest point, though they go considerably wider if I splay the toes as I like to. I bought a Wildlings model that was supposed to be wider than average and it still wasn't enough. Pretty common story for me with supposedly wide barefoot shoes, but with Wildings it was slightly more disappointing, partly because they're really nice shoes in every other respect, and partly because I'd been in touch with them and they'd said the shoes were so flexible that they were like socks, and could effectively adapt to any foot shape.
@@DrHoulihan No, but I don't think I will. I've been told they're not even as wide as Feelgrounds, and Feelgrounds give the widthe measurement on the site and they're not wide enough for me. These days, I usually feel pretty sure I can tell from the photos. I've bought several shoes that claim to have a wide toe box and don't look like they do and...they don't, at least by my standards. Softstar Primal models look wide and they are, and that's about all I can wear. At some point I might order a pair of Drifters because you can get them made bespoke.
@@JohnMoseley you might try some of the companies that custom make them for your foot measurements, I have never had do to this for my feet but it sounds like it may be a good option for you!
@@JohnMoseley Anyas Reviews is the most comprehensive source I know of. This page is advertising womens shoes because obviously she is a woman but some of these brands also make men's anyasreviews.com/custom-barefoot-shoe-brands-for-hard-to-fit-feet/
Thank you for sharing. Something to emphasize about Wildling is that they are very conscious of the materials they use. They use recycled materials, and more importantly for me, some of their shoes don't use toxic / synthetic materials like polyester. This really sets them apart from other minimalist shoe companies.
Thanks for adding! I hadn't even realized that
Thanks for the review!! Considering buying these and this was super helpful!
Got them on right now, don't hesitate lol
Is vivos primus wider than wildling?
Those are beautiful especially for the summer. Thanks!
Thank you for sharing your expertise! Can’t wait to see more reviews!
Been wearing vivo for years but considering these . Good review bro.
Suggest giving the Xero HFS a go. Comfiest barefoot shoes I've owed (previously had Vivo Primus and Lems Primal. I have in black and think they're pretty stylish.
I have heard good things about those, I might have to go for it
Hfs is super comfy
Despite that the HFS is really comfortable, I prefer the Primus somehow.
What’s the latest on durability?
Thank you!
Could you do a video explaining why you so strongly recommend toe spacers? Thanks!
Not a bad idea, I'll make one some time in the coming weeks!
Have you experienced any slippage in wet weather with these soles? Or are they grippy enough? Thanks
I couldn't say, there's not a whole lot of wet weather here in New Mexico
Hi, thanks for the awesome review. I am quite new to the channel, so I have to ask: Are you indeed an orthopedic doctor? You give a vague statement about one should wear toe spacers (with which I agree) but then you add a caption on the screen that says "always" which left me a bit puzzled. Aren't you concerned about the possible induced muscle atrophy in case one would indeed "always" wear toe spacers? I already resorted to wearing them for about 30-40 minutes a day, and focusing on actively spreading/stretching my toes during the day - whether I am sitting or walking. What do you think about this?
I am a doctor of physical therapy and I do wear them in my shoes daily. As opposed to a product that restricts the natural function of the foot that would induce atrophy by rendering the muscles incapable or obsolete, toe spacers restore the natural alignment of the foot and optimize the efficiency of the muscles. I suppose it's correct that if one were to literally never take them off it might become difficult to actively splay the toes without them. My "always" comment might be a bit of hyperbole
@@DrHoulihan Thanks for the reply and thanks for the additional info as I learned something new here! Of course, I didn't really wanted to sound like I think you recommend to wear toe spacers 24/7, but for me it was surprising to find you recommend wearing them for a considerably long time like e.g. during a whole workday or so. But it makes sense that if a toe spacer allows for sufficiently adequate movement of the toes while maintaining the right alignment, that would mean those muscles have enough stimulus, do enough work and thus not losing the capability to actively splay the toes. Makes sense, and thanks again!
I have high arches but I have tight calves and plantar facillitis, I relieve it by stretching my calves with a slant board, but now I have a mortons neuroma. Should I get looking at zero drop options? Wouldn't zero drop have no support for my high arches? It would take pressure off the ball where the mortons neuroma is. Thoughts?
Correct zero drop would take pressure off of the neuroma and as far as I know most of the zero drop shoes are going to have less arch support. Do your arches bother you without support?
I can tell you two things from a life time of running in all different kind of terrains, once your knees are damaged (like mine with cartilage damage). 1st: if you continue running, you'll end up semi crippled, 2nd: if you use shoes without cushioning (even for walking after the damage) you'll make the damage even worse. The other bit of advice is give up running when your 50 and use bike instead, I kept on running until I was 62 and then next day after a good 8 mile run (last 4 miles 7 min/miles) I could hardly walk. No indication, no prior warning, they just went; sometimes you get a warning that something is going wrong (which many fanatical runners like me would have ignored anyway, I suspect). A year after that my left foot arch collapsed, probably due to the compensating way I was now walking.
The next mistake I made was following the suggestions of another runner and use bare foot shoes for walking, this exacerbate everything and then some. Six years later and now I require the support of shopping trolley to get round the supermarket just to make it tolerable, I can walk on pavement for around 5 minutes, I can walk on soft surfaces like grass and sand for a couple of miles but that's about it. I bought a pair of Cloudmonster running shoes a month back and found that they make it significantly easier to walk on hard surfaces, you can draw your own conclusions from that, Cloudmonster are about the most cushioned shoes you can get.
where do you get your toe spacers ?? and wide toe socks ?? or socks with separate toes. Im new to this and all i can find is super expensive. Im in spain. I have flat feet so i hope this is gonna be my solution to it all lol
I get the toe spacers online, there are a bunch of different companies with their own websites (correct toes, the toe spacer, etc) but Amazon has them too. Injini is the brand of toe socks I have (also online) but there are others as well. You can try websites like Ebay too to find these products
I'm not sure why I'm finding it so difficult to find 10.5US / 43.5EU across all the barefoot sites.. Does the barefoot sites make 43.5 that anyone knows of?
Xero Shoes makes a 43.5, that's the only one I know off the top of my head
I'm 37.5 normally. my toes are really closed so i do wanna wear toe spacers. the shoes I want come in 37 or 38... s idk if i should go for 38 or it would be too much....
I found that these ones run a little large, so you might be okay with the 37. You can always swap them out if it ends up not being the right size
how is it feel in extreme warm weather condtion like arab gulf and without socks ? is it breathable?
I live in New Mexico and it gets up in to the 100s here in the summer but it hasn't been that hot yet since I've owned them. I have worn them with and without socks though and they definitely feel cooler with socks on
How’s the traction?
Not the best but not the worst
Would this be suitable for light trails or is it more of a casual shoe?
I think they might get dirty but if you don't mind that then yes they would probably be fine
@@DrHoulihan Thank you.
Do you have any vivobarefoot models that you can compare the sizing with? Preferably primus lite 3, or trail 2 as I have those at hand.
I have vivo primus lite 2 (probably similar to 3) and US 11 correlates to Euro 44 for the vivos whereas US 11 in the wildling correlates to euro 45 so the wildlings are a little bit roomier than the vivos
@@DrHoulihan Thank you!The fact that my usual 42.5 translated to vivo 41, and now possibly even less in wildling is quite interesting. Did you use the online sizing guide to figure out your size?
@@dyvel no I didn't I just winged it lol which usually works out just fine but for whatever reason these run a little big
'...definitely big enough to accommodate your foot...' Not in my case. Not even close. I have feet that are roughly 10" long and about 4.5" at the widest point, though they go considerably wider if I splay the toes as I like to. I bought a Wildlings model that was supposed to be wider than average and it still wasn't enough. Pretty common story for me with supposedly wide barefoot shoes, but with Wildings it was slightly more disappointing, partly because they're really nice shoes in every other respect, and partly because I'd been in touch with them and they'd said the shoes were so flexible that they were like socks, and could effectively adapt to any foot shape.
Have you tried Splay shoes?
@@DrHoulihan No, but I don't think I will. I've been told they're not even as wide as Feelgrounds, and Feelgrounds give the widthe measurement on the site and they're not wide enough for me.
These days, I usually feel pretty sure I can tell from the photos. I've bought several shoes that claim to have a wide toe box and don't look like they do and...they don't, at least by my standards. Softstar Primal models look wide and they are, and that's about all I can wear.
At some point I might order a pair of Drifters because you can get them made bespoke.
@@JohnMoseley you might try some of the companies that custom make them for your foot measurements, I have never had do to this for my feet but it sounds like it may be a good option for you!
@@DrHoulihan Yeah, that's what I was saying about Drifters. They're the only company I know of that does it. Do you know of any others?
@@JohnMoseley Anyas Reviews is the most comprehensive source I know of. This page is advertising womens shoes because obviously she is a woman but some of these brands also make men's
anyasreviews.com/custom-barefoot-shoe-brands-for-hard-to-fit-feet/
If you love water bleeding through the soul into your sock this brand of shoe is for you! Talk about feeling bare foot. :I ....