I brought them along on the trip because I will be writing a full-length review for the Living Barefoot website and I had to wear them in order to do that. It's too cold here in Alberta in the winter to wear a Mary-Jane-style shoe outside (and I don't walk around too much indoors other than in my house). So I brought the Kigo Stars to Mexico. And I'm so glad that I did.
The blisters on my feet were so bad that barefoot, which had been the plan for the vacation, was not an option. The evening after I developed the blisters, I had reservations at one of the restaurants at the resort where sandals were not acceptable. I tried on my Kigo Stars for the first time since arriving. They were fantastic!
The Kigo Stars are immensely comfortable. There is plenty of wiggle room for the toes and feet. The removable insole is slightly padded along the toes and the arch without providing any specific arch support. The padding happened to be in just the right place to allow me to walk almost normally with my painful blisters.
I like the style of them, too. The hook on the front and the velcro-attached strap at the back, which allow for the shoes to be folded in half and clipped together for easy portability and small storage, takes a little getting used to. I think the contrast stitching is a fantastic addition to the minimal shoe look.
The grip on these shoes is phenomenal. I walked on wet, slippery, perfectly smooth marble and had complete confidence in the grip of these shoes.
The barefoot feel isn't really comparable to the VFFs or the Vivo Barefoot shoes but it's not bad. There is a slight rise in the heel of maybe 1-2 mm that my sensitive back did not notice while walking.
In summary, I think the Kigos are great minimalist footwear. They are easily packed in a bag or purse if you're the kind of barefooter who carries your shoes in case bare feet are not appropriate for all the places you go in a day. In addition, they are so comfortable, they can be worn all day with no issues, and eventually, I even forgot I had them on. I ended up wearing them almost all the time for the rest of the week-long trip.
The full-length shoe review will be online on the Living Barefoot website in the next few weeks. But until then, here are some pictures of the comfortable Kigo Stars.
For more information on the Kigo Stars, check out the Kigo Footwear website.
