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Question from Deanna McFarlain

Hi Debra,

Like many of your readers I have been searching for non toxic shoes for years. Finding a shoe that is both healthy for our feet and non toxic is quite a challenge.

Recently I have been on the hunt for barefoot shoes & found a few promising brands. I plan on purchasing Camper barefoot shoes for school but am now looking for a summer sandal for my family.

One option is xeroshoes.com. I like the concept but want to be sure they are safe for my famiy. I emailed them about material of their soles xeroshoes.com/feeltrue. They replied that their “exclusive FeelTrue rubber is a synthetic rubber called SBR (styrene-butadiene rubber). We chose this rubber due to it’s durability, flexibility, and that there are no reported allergies or side-effects, which can not be said for the latex in natural rubber. We have thousands of customers who have worn our shoes for a number of years with no issues with this material.” I worry the shoe would be a problem with bare feet even if we kept them out of the sun.

Another is www.vivobarefoot.com/us. I called the company based out of London inquiring of the exact materials used in a few of their shoes in their children’s line. They said they would send the question over to the right department and email me but never did.

I was excited as it is affordable & outsole material is fine but concerned with the inside as my son will be wearing them without socks. I found materials listed here in this description www.6pm.com/vivobarefoot-kids-ultra-toddler-little-kid-black-white. I am concerned with the “Antibacterial microfiber lining”. And I looked up Dri-lex™ & found this info: www.faytex.com/technology.html looked www.dupont.com/products-and-services/fabrics-fibers-nonwovens/fibers/brands/dupont-sorona.html.

I’m sure many like-minded parents agree that its so hard to find a healthy barefoot or minimalist shoe that is also non toxic & isn’t close to 100$ like softstar shoes so I was hoping these would work. What do you think?

Thank you for your time! For many years your book and website have been such an inspiration & helpful resource for my family 🙂

Debra’s Answer

First I want to say that I have two pairs of Camper shoes and love them both. I bought them almost ten years ago. I can walk in them all day and still have happy feet.

Regarding Xero Shoes, SBR is a synthetic rubber. It’s one of the most toxic plastics to be manufactured and it’s also toxic to health (search on health effect SBR) and you get toxicity of rubber tires.

Regarding Vivo, I would be concerned about the antimicrobial lining.

The safest shoe I’ve seen is Po-Zu Shoes, which I have recently added to Debra’s List. Here’s what I wrote about them.

These amazing shoes are made from organic cotton, wool, coconut husks, natural latex, cork, and leather. “All our materials come from naturally renewable sources and are responsibly harvested. They contain no pesticides, bleaches or toxic dyes and are locally sourced wherever possible. We use organic cotton in our shoes and all our leather is chromium-free. You can read about our materials in more detail here.” Every shoe has a complete materials description (click on the “materials” tab on each product page). Great styles! This company is based in the UK. I don’t usually recommend websites out of the country, but I’ve never seen anything like these shoes! You can even have them custom-make shoes to your own design specifications.

They don’t make children’s shoes, but you might contact them and see what they can do for you.

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