The Barefoot FAQ

Q21: What do you wear when you are forced to wear shoes?

Soft-soled (treadless) moccasins: there's just a thin layer of leather between you and the ground. Unfortunately, they don't work well when they get wet since they absorb water. For wet conditions, Birkenstocks. (Rubber-soled Tevas make feet sweat and stink — kind of against the whole point of wearing sandals.) Soft-soled moccasins can be found at a western-clothing store. Another source is described below.

[The following was contributed by Don Weber.]

Soft soled moccasins may be purchased from Tandy Leather Company. If there is no store near you, then request a catalog from:
Tandy Leather Company
Advertising Department
Box 791
Fort Worth, TX 76101
They are a bargain at under $10. They come in the form of a kit that you sew together yourself with shoe laces. It's easy because the holes are already punched for you. Make sure you get the ones without those stupid hard soles stitched to them. The foam insole can easily be ripped out as well.
Another good thing about soft-soled moccasins is that they can be folded up and easily stuffed into a fanny-pack. This way, you don't have to carry shoes, but you have them in case you are forced to wear them.

[Don also likes Knoppy Birkenstocks.]

Super Knoppy Birkenstocks may be ordered from any store that sells Birkenstocks. They rarely stock Super Knoppies because very few customers order them. Think of them as a sandal with very wide, but blunt and rounded, plastic nails sticking up from the footbed. These "nails" are called "knops." They breath better than any soled footware I know.

Which stores do
permit bare feet? 		Is there such a thing as
soleless footwear?
Last updated: December 26, 1997
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