At times, technology seems to take a step backwards, apparently moving against the tide. One such example is the “Free” shoe developed by Nike after studying the advantages gained by barefooted African athletes. This might seem something of a paradox for the sports shoe market, which today even proposes footwear with a sole equipped with sensors to regulate hardness according to the terrain.

Yet two years of scientific analysis and studies have demonstrated that walking and doing sport barefoot can allow a better performance than with shoes that block the foot. It can even strengthen the muscles that make feet work, a fundamental factor in preventing sports injuries. The particular strong points of “Free”, the shoe that allows a totally natural movement of the foot as if one were barefoot, are a sole with grooves to make it super-flexible, the active cavity of the heel that doesn’t block it and special straps on the upper to make it dynamic.



by Loredana Mascheroni
from Domus News