Xero ShoesMen's HFS Original Barefoot Running Shoes

It seems like almost every time I've jumped on YouTube recently, I've seen an ad for Xero's shoes. Their Marketing department must be in full swing. Either way, I've heard only rave reviews about their shoes, so I decided to order a pair of their recently-released HFS shoes in hopes of maybe being able to add them to my repertoire.Straight out of the box,- The fit of the shoes felt very dialed in;- The outsole felt very grippy;- Build quality and materials were also top-notch;- The huarache-esque straps on the sides of the shoes hugged my feet, with no worries about having my feet slip around in them.Unfortunately, the dialed-in fit ended up being the problem I had with these shoes. From the back of the shoe to just behind the ball of my foot, the shoes felt great. Locked down, but not restrictively so- no issues there; however, from the ball of my foot forward, the HFS felt cramped, both in width and height. Maybe I'm just spoiled by the generously-sized toeboxes of my Lems Primal 2s and Altra Escalante 1.5s/Kayentas (all of which I wear without the insoles). But the HFS's are significantly narrower from the midfoot forward compared to my Lems and Altras and, even with the insoles pulled out, it felt like my toes (especially my big toes) were constantly bumping into the sides and top of the toebox.The whole reason I've transitioned to wearing only zero-drop shoes with wide toeboxes is so my feet can function as close as possible to how they do when I'm barefoot, with the shoes I wear being as unobtrusive as possible. So if my toes are getting feedback from my shoes that they're moving too much, and keeping in mind the issues that lack of big toe flexibility can cause, that's not the kind of feedback I want them to be getting, especially given that my Lems and Altras fully let my toes do their thing.That said, my gut feeling is that the HFS's will probably work for most people, but given that I have relatively wide feet (probably an outlier compared to the average person's foot dimensions), the HFS's narrow/shallow toebox is a no-go for me. The rest of the shoe is great, so I'm holding out in hopes that Xero tweak the HFS "2.0" (or "1.5," as Altra number their updates ;)) to have a slightly wider and taller toebox while keeping the mid- and rear-foot fit the same. In the meantime, I'll keep happily kicking around in my Lems and Altras :).

Xero attempts another running shoe. I switched to this shoe from the Vibram FF V-Run because the latter was giving me blisters. I now run with the Correct Toes toe spacers to keep my toes spread. All in all, I'm happy with the purchase.Pros:- It's a Xero shoe. It's zero drop, has a spacious toe box, a flexible sole, no arch support, and no toe spring. Xero doesn't make pseudo-minimalist shoes: they go all the way.- It's lightweight. Not quite as lightweight as the Lems Primal 2 or the Vibram V-Run, but still very light; lighter than the Prio.- It's pretty! Most athletic shoes (including some Xero shoes) are downright ugly. I love how the Crimson Red color fades into blue in the back. The Glacial Blue looks nice as well. Although it's a running shoe, I would feel comfortable wearing this at the gym or casually.- No blisters or hotspots. Massively better for my feet than the V-Run.- As a running shoe it's competently designed. The sole travels up near the front of the toes, the toe protector extends over the big toe (good for durability), the sole treads are made for the pavement, and there are extra lace holes to make a runner's loop.Cons:- As one other reviewer noted, the fit is poor. It feels loose around the heel. After comparing the shoe to other minimalist shoes (I own a few), the problem is that the shoe does not taper at the midfoot. Not a problem if you tie the laces tight, but it's bad enough to knock a star off the rating.- The insoles slide back as I run. I suspect this is due to the poor fit. I now hold the insoles in place with double sided tape.- Finally, this shoe runs a little small. Maybe go up half a size if you consider purchasing.If Xero ever makes an HFS v2 I hope they fix the fit. Otherwise, it's still a great shoe that I enjoy running in.

I really liked these shoes when I first got them- they seemed to fit perfectly and felt nice on my feet for the first two or three weeks. However, the insole on the right shoe began slipping. I contacted the company with an email to support for a new insole or possibly a replacement shoe within the allotted time for returning the product and received no response. Following several days with no response, I called support and reiterated my concerns (the return window by this time had closed according to Amazon). Again- no response.I tried wearing the shoes occasionally anyway but began suffering pains in my left arch when I had them on, so I have completely stopped wearing them and no longer have those pains. A real shame- at first they seemed to be such a good product.I wish I could say good things, but due to the many issues I had and the lack of response by the company's support team-would not recommend.Another note to buyers- as the soles are very thin these shoes get very uncomfortably hot in a short period of time in places with scorching temps and endless sun (aka, my experience walking in them on sidewalks in the Arizona Valley in summer). This did not appear to deform the shoe at all, but it TRULY felt like I was walking barefoot on the scorching sidewalk- and not in a good way.

When I first tried these on I found them very uncomfortable. The main thing I noticed is that my foot wasn't sitting completely flat inside the shoe. It felt like the outside of my foot was raised up while the instep was angled down. At first I was planning on returning them but I decided to check out the insole. Turns out it's mainly the insole the sucks and not the shoe. I replaced the insole with a Vivo insole I had and it's 1000% better. I've decided to give them a shot using the Vivo sole and see what happens. Xero, you should consider replacing this sole.

I normally never find shoes that fit my feet, but these shoes fit like a frigging glove 🧤Couldn’t be happier, like I go to bed looking forward to going for a long walk/run in the morning.The color is also really beautiful! The pictures don’t make em justice.