Fila and Vibram Go Toe to Toe in Court

When Christopher McDougall’s excellent Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen hit bookshelves back in 2009, the running world and general public was suddenly turned onto a new concept: running barefoot. As he set out to research the book, McDougall had set out to research and write about Mexico’s Tarahumara, a group that was rarely seen but known to be able to run hundreds of miles late into life wearing sandals or no shoes at all.

How did they do this while runners across the globe in their fancy techno-booster $150 running shoes were still dealing constantly with minor injuries of all sorts? McDougall traveled with a few American ultramarathoners to see if he could find out. One of those characters, Barefoot Ted, has been at the forefront of a movement of runners who believe the traditional running shoe should just be chucked out the window (or at least recycled somehow).

Barefoot Ted, as you may have guessed, generally goes shoeless when he’s running, but occasionally he has worn Vibram FiveFingers, which is basically a glove for your feet that helps protect it from sharp edges while running. Now, the brand is trying to protect itself from the sharp edges of competitors.Continue reading...