Move over, Crocs. There's an uglier shoe in town.
With individual toes and and a foot-hugging shape, FiveFingers are like gloves for your tootsies. They have no chance - nada, zilch, zip - of ever being paired with a Prada dress in a Vogue magazine spread.
They make feet look, well, gorilla-ish. Or, worse, hobbitlike. All these babies need are some clip-on hair tufts. Hmm, perhaps that could be the FiveFingers' equivalent of Crocs' Jibbitz charms?
Love 'em or hate 'em but come to terms with the fact that you may well see them on the streets and in the gym - even the symphony. Concert pianist Michael Sheppard, who played with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra last year, said at the time that he wears his FiveFingers to tickle the ivories because they help him pedal.
Summit Hut, with two locations, at 5045 E. Speedway and 605 E. Wetmore Road, has been carrying FiveFingers for years, and lately they've been flying off the shelves.
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"It's crazy - you can't keep them in stock," said Summit Hut sales associate Dave Weeks. "It's just amazing. We think it would be slowing down."
Sure enough, on a recent weekday afternoon, two people - including a man toting a ripped-out FiveFingers ad from Men's Health - stopped in specifically to try on a pair. Weeks himself has been wearing FiveFingers for more than a year. He sheepishly admitted he owned three pairs but recently sold the third to a buddy because he didn't "need that many shoes." Spoken like a true dude.
FiveFingers debuted five years ago. Made by Vibram, an Italian company known for making rubber soles for hiking boots, the un-shoes appealed to a very small niche market of runners. Interest in them spiked two years ago, Weeks said, with the publication of Christopher McDougall's book "Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen." The book maintains that traditional running shoes do more harm than good to our feet.
FiveFingers mimic being barefoot and have a minimal sole. The idea behind them is that they promote natural foot movement while stimulating and strengthening the feet and lower legs. Still, you shouldn't go out and run 20 miles as soon as you get them. Experts recommend slowly acclimating to the shoe.
Summit Hut sells the shoes for $75-$125, and Vibram recently started making kids' sizes ($60).
"I love working out in them," Weeks said. "You can feel each toe supporting and balancing. It does promote greater use of all your foot."
But the idea of what's known as barefoot technology is controversial, especially to podiatrist Dr. Marvin Dobkin, who treats many runners. He's not a fan.
"Certainly, exercise physiologists will tell you that what's best is moderate, regular exercise for the rest of your life," Dobkin said. "If that's the case, you don't buy into gimmicks or fads. You do things accordingly because you are in it for the long haul."
OK, but the more important question is, how do you plan an outfit around them?
They come in lots of colors, from basic black to pale silver with shocks of neon green, but still they look, um, unattractive.
Weeks says that he hears everything from "Those are the ugliest things I've ever seen" to "Those are so cool. Where'd you get 'em?"
Contact Kristen Cook at kcook@azstarnet.com or 573-4194.