Love them or hate them, barefoot shoes are polarizing. But they are becoming big business, both for fashion (a subject in which I am, admittedly, not an expert) and for health and wellness. This is a relatively recent development. Before 2019, I did what most of us do and wore highly padded shoes because that’s what modern shoe companies sold us. But I did have a long history of going barefoot, from growing up at the beach.

Like most people who start looking into barefoot shoes, I started having foot pain. My heels began to hurt when I walked. Plantar fasciitis was the problem, and the conventional wisdom is to