The Vibram Five Fingers Jaya is one of Vibrams most lightest, barefoot-feeling shoes that is perfect for walking and running in hot and cold weather on paved smooth or rocky dry and wet surfaces. The Jaya is also great for water sports and rock crawling! 
The Jaya has less cushioning than most Vibram shoes, its even thinner than the Bikila, allowing for a more barefoot-like experience which is what you need to help you avoid heel strike, and adopt a forefoot strike when you run. Always remember, less protection on your feet is the best protection against mechanical errors!
Upper Specifications
The Jaya has a warm, soft and fully flexible leather upper that’ll keep your feet warm, especially when paired with toe socks, on colder days. Most relevant, the upper is stretchy to accommodate and adapt to a wider foot shape.
Another comfortable feature of the Jaya’s upper is its laceless, so there’s no fussing with laces or worrying about pressure points nagging the top of your foot, rather the lace-free upper gives a smooth, nearly seamless fit and makes the shoe easier and faster to remove and put on. Bottom line, the Jaya’s upper is so comfortable it feels like you’re practically wearing nothing!
Sole Specifications
The Jaya sits on a zero-drop, durable 5.5 mm rubber sole that feels thinner than it is, and does the necessary job at encouraging a softer touch of the foot with the ground.
The Jaya’s sole employs high performance rubber pads on the forefoot for added durability, protection and traction that impressively provides strong grip in slippery, icy conditions on rougher terrain!
Final Thoughts
The Vibram Jaya delivers a notably different ride than most barefoot shoes because of the laceless design, and because of that, you’ll love the shoes overall fit and feel.
I also like the that sole of the Jaya has more protection at the front without added weight or clouding ground-feel. More important, the shoes super flexibility allows the foot to work independently, which is effective therapy for undoing the functional and physical damage caused by traditional footwear.
Like all Vibram Five Finger barefoot shoes, the Jaya is completely dedicated to improving foot health and helping the feet transform ground feedback into functional movement patterns that are protective against many injuries!
If you’ve enjoyed this review, you’ll love my other reviews on the best barefoot shoes for running and walking here!
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Bretta Riches
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.
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