Questions & Answers

Hello from UK and questions on VFF

Hi all

I'm Mark, 37-year-old newish runner from Yorkshire in UK. I'm a convert to minimalist shoes having seen my persistent shin splints disappear since I ditched my asics nimbus for nike frees (don't hate me) and saucony kinvara, now my default shoe. Hoping that the chronic calf soreness that replaced the shin splints will pass too in time ;)

I've flirted with barefoot and will be doing this more when the weather improves here. I gave in and got some VFF KSO for christmas but I find my toes don't seem to be the length vibram think is "normal" - I wear 10 UK (11 US, 44 EUR) and tried 42/43 in the VFF sizes. 42 too short on big toe and tight across instep (I have fairly high arches), 43 had a little room on big toe and little toe, but the ones inbetween were well short of the toe caps - not short enough to fall out, but probably only around halfway down the toe pockets. I wonder if anyone has experience of other VFF models having longer/shorter sizes - I think I read that the women's models may have shorter toes, but are probably too small for me... In the meantime, I'm looking forward to trying the Altra Adam when it comes out.

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Answers and Replies

953

Welcome to the site!

I have found that I prefer my VFFs with a little extra room in the toes. I also wear mine with an Injinji sock, so perhaps that makes up for the bit of the extra room.

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Hi Mark,

My first shoes were the VFFs, I bought Sprints but found my toes didn't sit right in them, it was a totally different experience with my KSO Treks which fit great and are really comfortable. I have a Mortons/Greek (whatever!) toe so my second toe is longer than my big toe. Its not to bad, but tight in Bikila's. No probs in the Treks though. I'm female but wear the mens shoes (womens Treks weren't out when I bought mine), a UK size 8 = a 41 US for me.

Have you tried the Evo II? Thats a really great shoe with a wide toebox, zero drop, very flexible and water resistant for our British weather.

Karen.

953

I have not tried the Evo II yet. I have the Evo though, but it doesn't quite fit my foot right. I have a pair of the Altra Adams which I really like a lot though.

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Hi Mark,

You might want to try the Bikilas, they have different sizing that the KSOs maybe they would suit you. Mine fit SUPER tight and are very nice to run in. When I tried them on I could hardly get my feet into them, I would have abandonned, but the woman who owns the running shop where I got them, is a VFF convert, and she kept insisting to keep trying. I'm glad I did the next size up would have been too big. My second toe is longer than my big toe and I have enormously wide feet. One other thing the woman told me she loves all her VFF shoes except her Speeds (the ones with the laces) since the Speeds have super long toes and it rubs her inbetween her toes. Probably won't suit you. I have long toes and my toes are only about half way into the toe boxes in the Bikilas, although they almost touch the ends. (Yes I am actually half gorilla!!!)

Vibram says its OK to be touching the ends of the toe boxes and that matched my experience.

Niki

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Thanks for the comments. I was thinking of trying the Bikilas but over here in the UK they are super-expensive: around 170 USD. I tried KSO in size 43 and 42 - the 43 felt ok but my "middle" toes were maybe only about halfway up the toe pockets - I could kind of fold the toes pockets in half with my toe in there straight, which I figured wasn't right! The 42 was hard up against the end of my big toe and tight across the instep... I've read some people say that they do stretch a bit, so maybe I should try another 42, or perhaps a 43 in bikila...

Too confused! I may stick to my own feet for now :)

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I'm on the small side, Men's 40 in originals, and since they don't make a 39 in the bikala I had to go to the women's sizes for a good fit. I've got two pairs of 41's now and find that they fit significantly differently, I can wear socks comfortably in the blue, but they definitely wouldn't fit comfortably in the green.

I'd imagine the same is true for the KSOs, so if there's shop you can try on different colors in, or you can find an online option with no-charge returns I'd recommend trying some more 42/43s. You might have to give a little on color preference to get the best fit.

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I had heard the sizes can vary across colors, with the black usually the smallest. I tried 42 in "green" (taupe?) and 43 in brown, so probably these were the larger 42 and smaller 43 (well maybe).

I see so many threads on various boards about VFF sizing, I wonder if it might be worthwhile trying to put together some definitive chart of successful sizes e.g. with measurements of all toes, width, etc... but probably too much work!

I probably spent around $50 in the last month just returning shoes :O I'm back to bare feet for know, developing some impressive blisters moving from track to tarmac!

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