FeelGrounds Barefoot Casual Shoes Review

If you’re after a fancier, causal-looking zero drop minimalist shoe for long days at the office, easing going outings around town, long walks on hard, paved paths or simple to moderate off-road trails, the FeelGrounds barefoot casual shoes are ready for all that!

FeelGrounds Barefoot Casual Shoes Review

The FeelGrounds barefoot casual shoes are full of nothing but timeless style and all-day comfort, but more important functionality as the shoes were crafted with the intent of enriching foot-health, strengthening balance stability and overall, improving the kinetic flow of walking. How so?

FeelGrounds Barefoot Casual Shoes Review
Unlike most traditional footwear, which are often loaded with structural constraints and stability gizmos  –features that I refer to as ‘foot-strength robbing features’, the FeelGrounds are completely free of all that and force the feet to work on their own, making the shoe an excellent foot-strengthening tool when walking or going on light hikes.

The FeelGrounds are anatomically-shaped and ergonomically-friendly because they’re built on a wide, roomy, expansive and flexible platform –a design that works for everyone because functional engagement is virtually present everywhere on the foot. In this capacity, the feet are much freer to engage and self-strengthen. There’s also more simulatory inputs and mechanical outputs that are good for the rebuilding of a stronger, more enduring foot that’s beyond ready to take on more miles, more easily.

FeelGrounds Barefoot Casual Shoes Review

Lets zoom in on what makes the FeelGrounds barefoot casual shoe perfect at what it does!

FeelGrounds Barefoot Casual Shoes Review

Upper

The upper is made of high-quality, closed-mesh, netted-like fabric filaments thats exceptional lightweight, strong, stretchy and form-fitting, meaning that its compatible with a wide foot.

FeelGrounds Barefoot Casual Shoes Review

The upper materials not only ensures an enhanced resistant to wear, but the width and flexibility throughout the upper, especially at the toe-box, promotes a wider range of toe splay and spreading of the metatarsal heads (the long, thin bones that line the top of the foot). Why’s this beneficial? A wider toe-box gives more leverage to the toes so they can do their part in increasing your access to better footstep stability, helping you walk more balanced, safely and efficiently.

Increased toe spreading during walking also improves foot geometry! For example, if you have a bunion, it wont get worse in pain and size but rather may reverse in size in a wide shoe, like the FeelGrounds. This is how wider footwear can begin to remedy and offer relief to bunion-related pain. This is also why it’s absolutely essential to recognize the important role a wide shoe can effectively play in helping the feet not only become more functional, but build more resilience against painful ailments and malformations.

FeelGrounds Barefoot Casual Shoes Review
Despite being made of a thin, soft, light closed-mesh, the FeelGrounds upper provides just the right amount of warmth to keep your feet warmer on much colder days. The FeelGrounds upper is furnished with matching light and nimble laces fed through glossy black eyelets which altogether holds the foot snugly centered in the shoe, prevents in-shoe sliding and provides an adaptable fit without any pressure points.

The upper is also built with a plush inner-lining made of soft-touch materials that feel supple, especially in the toe-box and ensures that you always feel comfortable with or without socks.

FeelGrounds Barefoot Casual Shoes Review

Ultimately, the FeelGrounds upper is a wonderful mix of premium materials that all come together to produce a peppy, light feel, but is perfectly protective enough to safeguard your feet from pointy debris if you decide to do some walking or light trekking off-road, on less technical paths.

Outsole

Like the upper, the FeelGrounds outsole is equally important in accommodating on the functional needs of the feet on many fronts. For one, the outsole is completely flat, or zero-drop, meaning zero-heel elevation which is essential for helping you naturally secure and maintain more functionally and healthfully-aligned posture from head to toe. This also helps prevent mechanical imbalances by naturally widening the circle of better balance control.

FeelGrounds Barefoot Shoes Review
Unlike most traditional athletic footwear, the FeelGrounds are zero-drop and sit low to the ground which enhances a natural stride and continuously forces the body to balance in natural positions. This helps you achieve greater access to unshakable balance and footstep stability, especially on loose, uneven surfaces.

FeelGrounds Barefoot Casual Shoes ReviewThe outsole is also 5mm thin and flexible which are of enormous value because in this capacity, the feet are stimulated more directly, which is something that is absent in most traditional athletic footwear.

  • The more freely the sensory input flow (i.e. good ground-feel) like you get in thinner soled-minimalist shoes, the stronger the feet and ankles become because it generates increases in widespread muscular activation which directly stimulates increases in muscle tone which has proved to be a major source of tremendous progress in improving foot strength.

This type of immediate boost in plantar (or foot) nerve activation will also help you build more global mechanical and balance control support which is instrumental in sustainments in mobility health.

FeelGrounds Barefoot Casual Shoes Review
The rubber outsole is fully flexible, allowing the entire shoe to move seamless with your feet, offering a reliable ride suitable for long walks and light hikes. You’ll always be pleased that the FeelGrounds are completely made of vegan-friendly and eco-friendly materials!

Last but not least, despite being 5-mm thin, the FeelGrounds outsole is quite beefy in protection from heel to toe! The outsole is superbly amped up with enough protection that fully takes the sting out of stepping on sharp stones, sticks and acorns. Sharp rocks don’t push into your underfoot and the ouchness doesn’t pass through at all! Also, when the pavement is simmering hot in the summer, the outsole safeguards your underfoot from the heat as well.

Essentially, the FeelGrounds outsole is more than durable enough to handle long stretches of hard, harsh surfaces and overall allows you to walk or lightly trek on rock-littered paths confidently and safely.

FeelGrounds Barefoot Casual Shoes Review

As for traction, the outsole is finished with a complete array of small circular-patterned tread that not only provides further flexibility, but the outsole as well as the tread is made of a soft, light, sticky-clutchy rubber compound that delivers sure-footing, helping you cover a lot of grounds that are rocky or loose and dusty in dry or slightly wet conditions. I also like that shoe doesn’t lose its comfort over longer walks or hikes, either!

Final Thoughts…

The bottom line here is that if you’re looking for a formal-casual-looking barefoot shoe that meets the functional needs of the feet but can also handle high-mileage walking on the streets and long walks or lengthy trekking on rocky single tracks, less technical soft and hard trails and rocky woods, especially in cooler weather, but in warmer weather as well, look no further than the FeelGrounds!

Not only do the shoes look great, the feet are so well-placed in these a shoes which will keep your feet redoubling in strength while giving you day comfort.

FeelGrounds Barefoot Casual Shoes

In additional to the color black, the FeelGrounds come in a variety of nice vivid shades of playful, yet subtle-looking colors that definitely keeps the shoe looking fresh.

If you want to learn more about the FeelGrounds and get your paws on a pair, you can do so here!

If you’ve enjoyed this review, you’ll love my other reviews here on the best minimalist shoes most suitable for running and walking. You can also check out my YouTube channel, here, where I discuss at lengths the endless benefits of minimalist footwear and being barefoot!

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Bretta Riches

"I believe the forefoot strike is the engine of endurance running..."

BSc Neurobiology; MSc Biomechanics candidate, ultra minimalist runner & founder of RunForefoot. I was a heel striker, always injured. I was inspired by the great Tirunesh Dibaba to try forefoot running. Now, I'm injury free. This is why I launched Run Forefoot, to advocate the health & performance benefits of forefoot running and to raise awareness on the dangers of heel striking, because the world needs to know.
Bretta Riches

P.S. Don't forget to check out the Run Forefoot Facebook Page, it's a terrific place to ask questions about forefoot running, barefoot running and injury. I'm always happy to help!