Vibram, my two-cents

Literally two. One of them, Vibram probably wouldn't mind hearing about. The other, not as much.

First cent is the class action lawsuit brought against Vibram by Valerie Bezdek in March of 2012. Here’s from a Runner’s World article, Vibram Agrees to Settle Class Action Lawsuit: “The gist of her claim is that Vibram illegally obtained an economic windfall from her because it was only by making false health claims that Vibram induced consumers to buy FiveFingers shoes, and to pay more for them than they would have otherwise.” There has been a whole lot written about the lawsuit, many of them focusing on the sensational. Here are couple reasoned perspectives on the lawsuit, from The Science of Sport and Natural Running Center. Vibram probably overstated to some extent, but the consumer bears some responsibility for the proper use of a product. Anyone who expects to put on a new pair of Vibram FiveFingers (VFF) and, within a short period of time, be able to regularly run in them without injury is being unreasonable. My own transition to minimalist shoes occurred smoothly and injury-free but over the course of about a year and a half, starting with Nike Free, followed by Merrell Trail Glove and then VFF. Currently, I alternate between the VFF and New Balance Minimus 10. I’m a natural mid-foot striker, so I didn't have to make as big a change in my running form as would those who are heal-strikers. But, that’s precisely the point, isn't it? As Christopher McDougall said, “It's not what is on your feet, it's what your feet are doing.”

I actually have a second pair of VFF that I use indoors on the treadmill. So, my second cent is that I haven’t felt the need to replace my first pair, in which I've been running for almost two years now. There's no support provided by the uppers of VFFs anyways. So, as long as they are intact, they're doing their job.

As for the soles, there are not much data on the relationship between miles run and injury. Shoe life could range from couple hundreds to couple thousands of miles. For the VFF, there's minimal cushioning to begin with, so there's no loss of cushioning as an indicator for replacement. The main role of VFF soles is to provide some protection from surface roughness (e.g., small sharp objects) that would otherwise be unpleasant or hazardous to the bare feet. As long as the outer Vibram layer is not worn through and exposing the layer underneath, the protection remains. One way to always have an intact Vibram layer is to replace the VFF every so many miles. The other (my) way is to extend the life of the VFF by repairing the soles with Shoe Goo. Here's what they look like, after the latest repair.

And here's a close-up.

Any resulting unevenness from the application of Shoe Goo gets smoothed out after a run. At about $5 a tube, I could get a year's worth of running in my VFF for $10-$15. I run almost 2,000 miles a year. Because I use the VFF for about half of my runs, I figure, over the two years I've had my first pair of VFF, I'm close to putting 2,000 miles on it. If Vibram were to sell their shoes less expensively, I may replace them more frequently. But, at current prices, I'm going to just continue repairing and extending the life of my pair of VFF, until it really falls apart. I love running in them!