Gladsoles barefoot sandals review

This summer I’ve been on a quest to find the perfect minimal sandals, and Gladsoles are minimal in the truest sense of the word.  A sliver of Vibram, a length of cord and a plastic lock.  That’s it.  At first glance, then, they sound (and look) pretty similar to the Xero Shoes Amuri Venture, but those costs $40 USD while Gladsoles are $50-70.  Are Gladsoles worth the extra money?  Rich Gladstone, Gladsoles’ founder and owner, kindly gave me a discount on a pair of Hybrids so that I could find out.

The first difference is that all Gladsoles sandals are custom-made.  Xero’s custom options, which cost $50-55, are therefore a better comparison than the Amuri Venture.  A custom pair of Unshoes Wokova Feather’s will set you back $63.  For a custom sandal, then, Gladsoles are actually one of the cheapest options.

I made tracings of my feet (Gladsoles have you do both left and right) and emailed them off.  My sandals turned up here in Canada about a week later, tucked into a cute little burlap bag together with the extra laces and lock I’d ordered.

Gladsoles Hybrids arrive packaged in a burlap bag

Little One is always eager to test things for himself and he was especially impressed with the Gladsoles.  A pleasing sole texture for teething: check.  Long, colorful laces to wave and throw: check.  Brightly colored  toggles to chew and…….OK, mommy’s going to put those choking hazards away until nap time.

Little One absolutely loves these sandals!

And you will definitely want to wait for a leisured moment before you sit down to work out how tie these sandals.  I was initially entertained that there were instruction videos for both the left and right feet.  “Who are these people who can’t just translate from one foot to the other?” I thought.  Well it turns out that would be me.  It’s not the fault of the videos; the are very clear and informative.  But I totally needed a demo for each foot, and several gos at watching them.

And I still couldn’t get the lacing right.

Now, I’ve seen other reviewers comment on how much fun they had experimenting with different ways to tie their Gladsoles.  This was not my experience  Perhaps these other people are more crafty than me, or more patient (which isn’t hard!).  My primary emotion was frustration.  All I wanted to do was put on my new sandals and go for a walk, and instead I was stuck indoors watching videos and trying to work out what went round what and under where.  My meager reserves of patience ran out after about 45 minutes and I went walking anyway, but I still hadn’t got it right.  The soles felt floppy, the knot on the top slipped up my foot and overall they felt very insecure.  I couldn’t see how anyone could run in these things.  I could barely walk round the block!

But after a day or two of fighting with them I finally got my left foot comfortable, and by the end of a week I’d got the lacing down.  Possibly other people are not such slow learners, but in case anyone else shares my struggles my top tips are:

• When they say in the videos to “pull the laces nice and tight”, they’re not kidding.  I found that if the laces aren’t tight to your foot – and I mean really tight – the sandals just don’t work.  Although they felt uncomfortably tight when freshly tied they always loosened off after a few minutes walking.  Any looser to start with and they quickly get too loose.
• It’s a fine line between having the laces tight enough to be secure and so tight as to dig in painfully at my Achilles’ tendon or between my toes.  I eventually discovered that the ‘sweet spot’ is much easier to find with small adjustments rather than by undoing all the lacing and starting again.  Just pop off the locking toggle, loosen the knot and pull through about a quarter of an inch of lace before tightening it up again.  This small amount of extra looseness or tightness will distribute itself around the whole lacing system after 5-10 minutes of walking, and makes a surprisingly noticeable difference.  A couple of adjustments like this and I found the perfect fit.
• The exception to that rule is the first span from the toe plug to the outside of your ankle, and the first loop round the back of your foot.  Small adjustments at the knot don’t get passed along to these sections because the lace is gripped at either end of them where it passes through the sole.  It’s worth taking the extra time to make sure that these are right (i.e. nice and tight!) before you lace up the rest of the sandal.

But every cloud has a silver lining.  After all that practice, I’m pretty nifty at tying these things up now.  And it’s actually not much harder than lacing up a pair of sneakers. I dimly remember was a knack that took a little bit to master too.  The free lacing system is also more versatile than sandals that use webbing straps.  Between the custom-made sole and the flexibility inherent in the lacing system, even oddly-shaped feet like mine can get a good fit. And if the basic tie doesn’t work for you there are other ideas out there – or you can make up your own.

Even better, once you have them laced to your satisfaction you can slip the sandals on and off pretty easily.  In fact, I was surprised how easy it is.  I’d thought the laces would be soft and floppy but in fact, while they feel soft against the skin, they stand up even when your foot isn’t inside them.  This makes it relatively easy to slide your foot in and pull the heel straps up, even one-handed while carrying a wriggly baby.  With two hands it’s a breeze!

Gladsoles Hybrids

The Gladsoles Hybrid lets you feel all the rocky contours of the path

The Vibram Newflex sole easily flexes with your foot

The laces are thoughtfully designed with a flattened end under the toe hole held in place by a slim plastic washer recessed into the sole.  No uncomfortable knots under the toes here.  How long the laces will last depends on how you use them.  Although they do touch the ground either side of the ankle, they can also wear out under the toes.  Using the sandals only for walking/hiking the laces can apparently last a year or more but running will wear them out faster.  If you’re a runner you’d probably be looking to replace your laces every 2-6 months, depending on mileage.

But enough about laces.  Let’s talk about the sole.

Well, again my first impression wasn’t that positive.  The sole felt floppy and I hate floppy soles.  My issue is ‘toe-flap’, when the sole flips back underneath your toes if you catch it wrong.  But I think part of this was my poor early lacing efforts.  Once I had that right the sole was held to my foot much better.  So far, the sole has only flipped back under my toes a few times, and even when I did it didn’t cause me to stumble or scuff my toes.  I can still feel the sole flap a tiny bit as I walk but now I’m used to it – and confident I’m not going to get hurt – it doesn’t really bother me.

And it may not just be the lacing, or the getting used to it, or even that the soles molding to my feet that made the difference.  It seems that the soles have actually firmed up a bit after just a week of wearing them (averaging 2.5 miles of walking per day).   Check out the before and after pictures below of the sandals in front of my home-made “Droop-o-meter”.  The lines are marked at inch increments.  You can see that the Gladsoles Hybrids had a 7″ droop when new, but after a week of wear it was down to 3.5″ and I don’t think the process is complete yet.  Weird!

Flop when new

Flop after 1 week of wear

The soft soles are super easy to roll

The flattened toe-plug ends of the laces

I have no idea what strange Vibram alchemy causes this effect.  Perhaps the soles just get a bit denser under the compression of walking on them?  Whatever the reason I’m happy with the result!  The reducing floppyness was another reason why the more I wore these sandals, the more I liked them.

And I got to really like them.

Airy and weightless (at just 96g/3.4oz per shoe according to my kitchen scales) these are the lightest shoes I own.  They fit so snugly it actually feels more like having a Vibram coating on your feet than wearing shoes.  Normally I’m the the kind of gal who minces round the edge when I find a big puddle, but in these I started leaping over.  They are fun shoes to wear!  And it helped to know that if I fell in I could just swish them in the river or toss them in the washing machine and they’d be good as new.

Looks wise, I think they’re one of the more delicate barefoot huarache-style sandals available, and there are lots of different color options for locks and laces.  They’ll always be a casual shoe but I think they absolutely work with skirts and dresses.  I felt like they blended in quite well with other summer footwear.  No-one gave me strange looks in the grocery store.

Gladsoles Hybrids – on

All the Gladsoles sandals use the same tying system but there are different options for the sole.  The Hybrids I tried ($60), with their 8mm Vibram Newflex sole, are the floppiest sandal that Gladsoles make but also the most flexible.  Of the different types of sandal I own, these are the easiest to roll up.  They are very flexible in their uses too.  Newflex combines a slight yield as you walk on them – perfect to take the edge off hard city streets – with an aggressive tread to grip the trails.  Their relative ‘softness’ also makes for excellent ground feel.  In fact, I found it’s almost too good.  I find them great for mixed terrain but I couldn’t walk in them for more than about 15 or 20 minutes on rougher ground, like the river stones path pictured above.

If the Hybrids don’t sound like quite what you’re after, one of Gladsoles other models might be the one for you.

• The Street ($50) is made from Vibram Morflex, which has very little flop.  Like the Hybrids sole, this sandal has that slight give as you walk on it and will mold to your feet with wear.  Although they have next to no tread they still offer excellent traction on pavement, even in slippery, wet conditions, and can handle light trails too.  For a good, general, first barefoot sandal, this is probably the one I’d pick.
• For more rugged terrain, the Trails ($70) are made with an even denser Vibram Gumlite sole.  It has next to no flop but also next to no yield underfoot so it’s not as forgiving on hard man-made surfaces.  But it offers good grip on the trails and reduces the sensation of sharp rocks and stones.  This is the sole for longer stints on rougher trails.
• Last but not least, the Ecos ($60) are made from upcycled tires and also have very little to no flop.  They won’t mold to your feet like the Vibram soles, and they don’t have much give in them, but they’re environmentally friendly and incredibly durable.

So, are Gladsoles worth the money- and the effort of learning to tie them?

For myself, I’d say unequivocally yes.  I have odd-shaped feet that don’t fit most sandal’s templates so I’d probably be looking at a custom sole anyway.  The only custom options at a similar price to the Gladsoles Street are Xero and Unshoes, both of which use proprietary soles that are unyielding and prone to floppiness.  For me, then, the Gladsoles Vibram sole clinches it, and while the tying put me off at first I now think the pros of a free lacing system at least balance the cons.

If the regular templates do work with your foot it’s obviously a slightly different equation, but even then I think Gladsoles are great value.  Given my sole preferences I would definitely pay an extra $10 vs the Xero Amuri Venture or $2 more than the Unshoes Wokova Feather to get the Vibram sole on the Gladsoles Street.  I’m still making my mind up about whether the floppier Hybrids are worth an extra $10 again.  Lucky we have plenty of summer left for me to keep wearing them while I work it out…