Stretching in Vibram FiveFingers
My first exposure to Vibram’s FiveFingers footwear came in October of 2007. A group of us were in Florida at The Adventurers Club, a sadly now defunct interactive themed theater/club on Pleasure Island at Walt Disney World Resort. Many of us attended that evening in costume, being the Halloween season and all, and we found ourselves in the company of a group that had dressed themselves as various wolf-like creatures. Their costumes were odd, but not nearly as strange as their footwear!
On their feet were these unshoelike shoes, with little pockets for each of their toes and strange rubberized bottoms. Frankly, I’m surprised that we even remembered their costumes for the amount of energy and attention we put into laughing (privately, of course!) at their feet.
So one can imagine that when I developed this obsession with barefoot running, was looking for some minimalist protection from urban dangers and weather, and subsequently realized that these funny “gorilla feet” (as we were calling them at the time) were ideally suited for my needs, I got roundly teased! Teased – and shunned! Several of my friends flat out refused to be seen with me in public if I were to wear them, and I had to make a “promise” to my girlfriend that they were only for running and working out – I’m slowly working the knots out of that one and look forward to a slow infiltration of FiveFingers into my larger life. She just needs to get used to them, right?
It’s startling how easy it was to make the transition from teasing those poor wolf people to being an almost die-hard advocate and lover of the product. My apologies to the weirdos. You’re not so weird anymore. Okay, the wolf thing was kind of odd…
In any event, I set out on a journey to score myself a pair of these funny feet. I did relentless web searching and found what I thought were many sources online, but I really wanted to try these babies on! I located a distributor in State College, near my home here in Pennsylvania, and walked in hoping to walk out with a new pair of these non-shoes.
Appalachian Outdoors is the name of the place. As a New Englander I’ve seen my fair share of really good outdoor stores, and the size, scope and variety of this store places them up there with the best! Best of all, the service is absolutely fantastic! If you’re ever in the area and in need of something they might offer, don’t hesitate to drop in. It’s worth it.
Alas, though they had what I thought was going to be my size in the FiveFingers KSO model, it turns out that I was a size smaller than anticipated – the very size that they were cleaned out of. In fact, they were cleaned out of a lot of sizes and models because there’s been a mad rush for these things! They offered to order me a pair (with no money down and no obligation! If I didn’t want ‘em when they came in, no problem! Wow!) but told me that they honestly can’t expect a shipment until the end of October because Vibram is so back ordered. End of October??? I was hoping to have many, many miles on them by then!
To their credit, they offered to put them on order and also encouraged me to look elsewhere. If I found them elsewhere, they’d just cancel the order! They were truly interested in me, as a customer, getting what I needed. I’m sure they would have loved the sale, but they were clearly more interested in building a positive relationship by helping me to find them faster elsewhere – kudos to them! I made the decision to look elsewhere, and if I couldn’t find them any faster elsewhere, I’d be back to put them on order with Appalachian Outdoors.
My first stop was the Vibram website. I didn’t even try to order online – I just called them directly. Vibram typically does phone business only with its distributors so it was a bit difficult to find a human to speak with, but I eventually got through. It was a very pleasant experience, and made more pleasant by the fact that I got confirmation that they had both my size and color choice in stock! It was recommended that I order on the website though, for that way I could receive confirmation, a receipt and tracking information, details that they were unable to provide on the phone.
Cruising on over to the website several hours later, I was a bit miffed to discover that every size and color of the KSO’s on their website were listed as out of stock! It was past business hours, so I called, left a message and managed to reconnect with the same woman the following morning. I received an enormous apology for the mix-up and misinformation. As it turns out, they had just received a large shipment at the warehouse, which would account for her seeing a positive number in inventory, but they were all going to fill back orders! After transferring me to another customer service department, I was dismayed to learn that Vibram was expected to be back ordered at their own facility until late November!!!
They gave me some good leads though. There are several brick and mortar stores that they do business with that they suspected may have stock, and they gave me the following list of their websites:
Travelcountry.com (Central Florida)
City Sports (Boston-based, now across the East Coast)
Kayak Shed (Oregon)
New York Kayak Company (New York City)
I checked their stock in the order in which I received them and everyone was out of my size save for New York Kayak Company. I wish I had called them first, for whereas everyone was perfectly wonderful, the guy (Pat, I believe) at New York Kayak Company was an absolute joy to deal with. Easy going, on top of things, accommodating and efficient. My FiveFingers went out the very same day.
Looks like many people, including Vibram, are having problems keeping up with the demand. It’s wonderful for them that they are selling out so fast, but it certainly makes it difficult to find them if you’re in the market! If you’re looking for a pair, try some of the websites I’ve listed above – or just give New York Kayak Company a call (800.KAYAK.99).
We had the pleasure of interviewing Georgia from Vibram yesterday for The Living Barefoot Show, and asked the very same question. It is after all not a unique experience. Georgia indicated that they doubled production last year, only to find that demand was even greater. They will again increase production to keep up with the demand. This episode of the show should be out on the weekend (October 3rd or 4th). Georgia answers questions about the new Bikila and Speed models as well.
@Al – Great to hear that you interviewed Georgia for the show! Georgia is indeed the one that I spoke with, and I must say, she was extremely pleasant and easy to deal with.
I can’t fault her or Vibram for a.) not having stock or b.) misreading the stock numbers in inventory. They have their hands quite full what with the huge new demand for their product! It was difficult to find mine, but it was worth the hunt, and Georgia and the team at Vibram were fantastic at communicating exactly what to expect, the details of the production situation, and they were great at helping me find them at one of their distributors. Pretty good one-on-one service, and from what I understand, Georgia isn’t even really *in* customer service! (she mentioned that she’s in marketing or some such, and also fills in where need be – that day, customer service)
I should just mention, for anyone reading here that may be interested in getting a pair, that my experience was size and color specific, so you may indeed still find what you’re looking for at the Vibram website, especially as new stock comes in the door – don’t forget to check them out, as well as your local distributor (and you can find out who that is on the Vibram website as well!).
Thanks Al! Can’t wait to hear the interview on The Living Barefoot Show! Great site, btw – everyone that finds themselves here should check it out: http://www.livingbarefoot.info/
What? Refuse to be seen in public with your wearing those? Had to promise girlfriend that you are only wearing them to run? This is the ridiculous face of peer pressure. Do what you like, Roderick; I am glad I don’t have friends like yours.
@Jan – Rest assured, the hurdles have been jumped. I regularly wear the FiveFingers out and about now. Errands, grocery store, bookstore, general living, you name it – and guess what, my friends have become accustom to it. I think that they are secretly proud of my choices – they are just reluctant to admit it.
At least, that’s what I keep telling myself.