Have you tried any of the new ‘barefoot’ shoes as yet?
Gear Junkie has a guest post on what’s available by journalist and author Bill Katovsky of ZERO DROP, a new blog about barefoot and minimalist running.
I wear a fairly flat, but conventional approach shoe myself. No plans to go even more minimal.
Certainly this concept, presumably by Nike, is out of the question:
Has Nike Invented A Second Skin?
Leave a comment if you have an opinion. Is this just a fad? … Or is minimal footwear here to stay?
besthike.com 
This is definitely not a fad; it is long, long overdue. I used to purchase running shoes at K-Mart because the “good” ones were too overbuilt.
Hopefully however, the hype will be a passing fad! “Zero Drop” is marketing hype; “Delta H” is the long-standing engineering term to describe any height differential, and is far more workable in a sentence as few shoes have a Delta H of zero (4 – 6 mm is more common).
That review was very thorough, but it left out probably the best minimal running shoe of the past two years, the NB100 (New Balance; now the 101).
Vibram made so much money with it’s Five Fingers (it has been the #1 selling shoe of any kind in the “Crosstraining” category), the major shoe companies just fell over themselves trying to get on the bandwagon, but they were really stubborn and late, so in the meantime anybody with enough money to visit the factory in China was emboldened to call themselves a shoe company and give it a whirl.
The minimalist craze is centered around running, but I believe it translates well into hiking. As Colin Fletcher said, “A pound on the foot is equal to 5 pounds on your back.” (And then he wore really heavy leather boots!) Except for particular conditions, boots are as pointless on a hiker as on a runner, but minimalism needs to have it’s limit when one is on their feet for 12 hours/day. Without years of prior training, you’d be visiting your doctor after a 3 day backpack trip wearing VFF. Running shoes with a low Delta H and an aggressive outsole are the minimalistic hiking shoe.
What do you mean by low delta H and could you mention some models? Thx
Re: Chas
Δ (capital delta) H is the scientific way of indicating a change in height Δ=change H=height. Low ΔH means that the change is small.
The NB 100/101 is mentioned already, Merrell has a minimalist line coming sometime in 2011 also. There are many options out there right now, and ’11 is looking to be a great for “our” kind.
D’oh, I missed the rest of a sentence…
Low ΔH means that the change is small… between the heel and the toe. Sorry for the flub up.
I would think minimalist footwear would be here to stay. I personally like my big thick gortex boots, but that’s just me!
I am dying for a pair of those toe shoes, but not for backpacking. Maybe some easy hiking or a jog on the beach.
I like to buy one for my parent as new year’s gift 🙂
Thanks for the information