Merrell now has a line of barefoot shoes that include a number of casual shoes (!!!), and because, who DOESN'T want to feel like they're barefoot all the time, I bought a pair. Now, looking on their website, I see they also have boots and fun looking shoes for fall!
I appreciated the look of the "
Barefoot Life Serene Glove", but wasn't sure I wanted the ribbon going around my ankle. Instead, I went for the "
Barefoot Life Wonder Glove"... in "mulberry"! Hooray for bright pink shoes! Actually they're not as bright as I expected them to be, but they're still plenty noticeable. I've decided shoes are now officially a netural (no matter what color), so I wear them with everthing. Haha!
The wonder glove is extremely comfortable. It seems more flexible, to
me, than either of the
Merrell barefoot running shoes I own, which is a bonus.
The fabric on the sides is very thin, similar to the fabric for
vibrams in thickness, but the toe and heel is leather. I'm not sure this would be a reasonable shoe to wear if there's water on the ground or if it's cold out, but it's been wonderful for summer. It's also cute enough that I can wear it with nicer things or with jeans or shorts. Looks especially cute with jeans. If I worked, I'd totally wear it to work.
It seems nearly all of their women's line has that elastic by the ankle. I'm not sure why that is, but it is reasonably comfortable and doesn't really bother me as I expected. The elastic is fairly stiff and not really pulling into your ankle, as it looks like it might be in the pictures. That's something I recall being worried about before I bought any of their barefoot shoes.
The sole is, as I said, thin and flexible (you can roll them right up in your hand), but with a decent amount of grip, so you don't have to worry about sliding around. It's also rubber, so not a problem in slippery polished indoor floors. As you can see, it's a vibram sole.
I've been wearing them daily, with no sock or anything, for a couple months, and have yet to detect a stench. They supposedly are treated to slow bacterial growth, but I do wonder how to clean them when they do start to smell. Of course, this would be a problem with any shoe you typically wear without socks.
Really, my only negative on this shoe is that the cross strap occasionally pulls the shoe over a little and I have to scoot it back. That is, it sorta feels like it's on sideways. It's not a huge deal, to me, though. Overall, I love them and am looking forward to getting other varieties of Merrell barefoot casual shoes!
**Edited to add**
My shoes started getting pretty stinky, so I asked merrell how we should clean these. They said they do not recommend sending them through the washer, but that I could use a typical sandal cleaner. What I did instead was dump a bunch of baking soda in them and then dampen it with some water and use that to gently scrub any crud off. Then I rinsed with apple cider vinegar. I followed this up with water rinse and then let them dry in the sun. It's not a perfect fix but it's cheap and made a big difference in the funk. :)
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