RunningPoint

My first and greatest passion in minimal footwear is a good pair of huaraches. I fell in love with the idea of returning to one of the oldest and most basic forms of footwear as I was first researching minimal shoe options, and when I ordered and constructed my first kit I was sold. Back then, there was only two major choices: Invisible Shoe or Barefoot Ted's Luna sandals.

I was excited to see that there was a newcomer on the sandal scene called Unshoes who was offering a lightweight custom made pair of huaraches at a very reasonable price called the Wokova Feather. I was even more excited when I browsed their website and realized that they were also pushing the limits of modernizing a design based on traditional huaraches, most notably updating the lacing system.

The lacing system has always been the biggest complaint that I have seen from people who don't fall in love with their huaraches right away. A traditional style lace is made of a material such as leather, hemp, or a synthetic cord. What's the common issue with all of these materials? They are not at all elastic. There is no “give” in them which can be uncomfortable if they are not tied just right. There have been attempts by other companies to make a more elastic lace, but Unshoes has taken a unique approach to the problem by using a rigid strap with a flexible loop in it.

In case you haven't read Part 1 of my Invisible Shoes huaraches review, here's a bit of recap. Huaraches are one of the most basic forms of footwear and consist only of a material that protects the bottom of the foot and a lace to secure them. They have been used specifically by the Tarahumara Indians and have been popularized by Chris McDougall's book Born to Run. Steven Sashen of Invisible Shoes decided to modernize the huaraches and offers a DIY kit on his website or he will custom make you a pair.

Part 1 of this review chronicled the process of me measuring, cutting, and assembling my DIY kit. Part 2 is my review of running in the huaraches.

Appearance

When you are dealing with a shoe that is designed for this extreme level minimalism, I'm not sure that appearance is even a factor. I personally like the way the huaraches look. When the laces are tied in the slip on method (which I use), they retain a bit of shape and look like a very stripped down version of any sport sandal from manufacturers like Teva or Chaco.

The only area to add a splash of personality to these shoes is in your choice of laces. There are quite a few choices for lace color with the DIY kit and I chose the black laces. I am glad I did so since I have adopted the huaraches as daily wear around the office and out in public. The black laces help to not make my footwear a focal point, especially around the office. I am proud to wear them anywhere and have gotten nothing but overwhelmingly positive comments about them. There are no second thoughts involved with wearing the huaraches out in public like there would be with FiveFingers.