There's No Tip-Toeing Around Vibram FiveFingers Shoes Now

Brand consulting agency founder Tara Khanmalek was strolling out of the Paris Metro this summer when she did a double take at a fellow commuter's Vibram FiveFingers shoes. Their owner had styled her pair—sneaker-flat-hiker hybrids with grippy soles and tiny compartments encasing each toe—with barrel-leg Pleats Please pants and an oversize tote. Khanmalek says she couldn't look away.

Some shoppers might consider the paw-forward style "ugly." Khanmalek found them "offensive in a delicious way." "I was definitely influenced to consider wearing them," she tells me.

Vibram FiveFingers weren't initially designed to stop fashion girls in their tracks. The brand originated in 1937 as a hub for mountaineering shoes. When the ergonomic FiveFingers line was introduced in 2005, its barefoot-adjacent designed was geared toward yacht crews: people who are shoe-less by profession but needed extra grip to stay steady on the deck. Hardcore trail runners then picked up the style as a part of a nearly-barefoot exercise movement (with mixed results).

Now, they're hardly seen in just an athletic context. From the streets of Copenhagen Fashion Week to the wardrobes of It girls like Blackpink's Jennie and supermodel Paloma Elsesser, Vibram FiveFingers have lately become the so-ugly-it's-chic shoe of choice. Pairs range from a Mary Jane adjacent flat to low-cut ballerina sneaker, each with breathable, netted mesh uppers and defining sleeves for each toe. Lyst reports the line received a 110 percent boost in searches during Q2 this year. The V-sole flats landed between Miu Miu's boat shoes and Ancient Greek Sandals' jelly flats on the firm's ranking of the quarter's "Hottest Items."

In a fashion context, they look like viral Alaïa ballet flat went to a summer adventure camp and came back a little crunchier. The same cohort of well-dressed women as the initial Alaïas style them with jeans and summer dresses all the same. In a summer defined by luxury toe rings, $690 Dune sandals, and all-around naked shoes, Vibram FiveFingers' turn away from their earthy roots is not necessarily unexpected—but it still has the capacity to surprise.

"In New York, it’s hard to shock anyone, but I get the 'what is that?' factor," says Yana Bononi, founder of the creative agency Y2B. "There’s something about seeing the exact shape of a foot that pushes people’s comfort zones, and that tension makes them exciting."

She acquired her first pair at a customization event hosted by Caterina Mongillo, the upcycling designer at Metagirl, and has since styled them with everything from wide-leg jeans to romantic skirts. Mongillo, meanwhile, has been a fan for nearly three years. Her first secondhand pair of neoprene lake shoes sparked a search for sold-out, baby-pink V-Souls across sites like Vinted, Vestiaire Collective, and Poshmark (where they're often in short supply).

"From a fashion standpoint, I love that it goes with any outfit, from street to smart, because in the end it’s an extension of your own anatomy," she says. "I typically style my pair with knee-high ribbons blending into some capri pants, or paired with a cute balloon mini skirt. It evokes freedom and awakens the little wood fairy in me."

TikTok creator Melina Flores has styled her pairs as she would any other ballet flat since discovering them on the platform: with dresses, with denim, "the list goes on and on." For Flores, FiveFingers similarly bring a sense of whimsy to her grown-up wardrobe. "I loved running around barefoot as a child and I hoped these would deliver the nostalgia while being a practical everyday shoe," she says.

For all their newfound fans, there are still fashion people who don't quite understand the appeal. Marie Claire fashion features editor Emma Childs tells me a friend's Vibram FiveFingers purchase set off a heated debate among her friends at a recent dinner. When one pal said the shoes made "erognomics sexy," Childs had the opposite reaction: "It would be like her feet were topless" at the bar, she says.

They did challenge her outlook on shoe trends all the same. "It made me wonder if I've been brainwashed by a 'beauty is pain' mentality for too long," Childs says. "What's wrong with someone choosing a comfort-first shoe, even if it does give me the heebie jeebies?"

Flores understands why some shoppers might hesitate when they see ten toes caressing the sidewalk in mesh. "They’re not something that I was used to seeing out and about in my day to day life, so maybe that is where the discomfort from some people comes from—straying from the norm. I do believe the adverse reactions to them to be overblown," she adds.

Mongillo adds, "We are still in the early stages when it comes to fashion, so only pioneers and early adopters really understand it." She cites the Latin phrase De gustibus non est disputandum in her FiveFingers defense. "[It's a] phrase that says taste is personal and shouldn’t be subject to judgment, and I think it applies here," she explains. "The reactions are definitely overblown, in the end it’s the drama that makes fashion fun."

Some of FiveFingers' appeal seems to be the reactions non-believers have when they see them, anyway, Bononi says. "I love pairing them with wide-leg jeans so only the toes peek out—it’s such a fun, almost sneaky way to style them and watch people on the street do a double-take, like, Wait, am I seeing this right?"

In August 2024, fashion writer Liana Satenstein told subscribers to her newsletter, Never Worns, that the age of the Vibram shoe was only just beginning. "We will all be FiveFingered soon," she wrote.

A year later, stylish women are still adjusting to the idea of individually wrapping up their digits—but they're not totally opposed to them, either. "I’m not quite to the point of purchase yet," Khanmalek says. "But as with everything I once deemed unwearable, I’m sure I’ll get there soon." Meanwhile, the early FiveFingers adopters will be standing ten-toes down in their favorite shoes.

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