Rating Minimalist Shoes

Many people ask me about minimalist shoe recommendations. First, I always recommend people learn to run barefoot first, then use minimalist shoes as needed. Keeping that in mind, there are some conditions that warrant shoes (extremem weather, terrain, etc.) With this in mind, I am going to start rating the shoes I encounter based on a rating system I'm using from Barefoot Ted's Google Group (Ted himself posted this.) Each shoe will be rated on a 1-5 scale for each of the categories, then a composite score will be derived from that. Here's the scale:

1. How lightweight is the shoe? Lighter is better; 1 = heavy, 5= light
2. How flexible is the shoe? More fexible is better; 1 = limited flexibility, 5 = extremely flexible
3. How much support does the shoe provide? No support is better; 1 = very supportive, 5 = no support
4. How much cushioning does the shoe provide? No cushioning is better; 1 = very cushioned, 5 = no cushioning
5. Is the shoe wide enough? Wider is better; 1 = very narrow, 5 = very wide
6. Does the sole allow you to feel the ground? More ground feel is better; 1 = very little feeling, 5 = very good ground feel
7. How puncture-proof is the sole? More puncture-proof is better; 1 = little protection; 5 = great protection
8. How durable is the shoe? More durable is better; 1 = not durable; 5 = very durable
9. Is the shoe easy to take on and off? Ease of use is better; 1 = very difficult to take on and off; 5 = very easy to take on and off
10. How portable is the shoe? More portable is better; 1 = very difficult to transport, 5 = very easy to transport
11. How environmentally-friendly is the shoe? Greener is better; 1 = not at all environmentally friendly, 5 = very environmentally friendly
12. How breathable is the shoe? More breathable is better; 1 = not breathable, 5 = very breathable
13. How good is the traction? More traction is better; 1 = horrible traction, 5 = excellent traction
14. Does the shoe allow for good toe articulation? More toe articulation is better; 1 = litle or no toe articulation, 5 = excellent toe articulation
15. Aesthetics- how do they look? Higher score is better; 1 = pretty ugly, 5 = good lookin'
16. How resilient is the shoe to odors? More resiliency is better; 1 = very stinky, 5 = not at all stinky
17. How close does the shoe approximate barefoot running? Better approximation of barefoot running is better; 1 = not at all like barefoot running, 5 = excellent approximation of barefoot running
18. How expensive is the shoe?  The cheaper, the better; 1 = very expensive, 5 = very cheap.

Using this 18-point scale, I plan to review all minimalist shoes I come in contact with. As of right now, I will review the following shoes:

•  Vibram Five Finger KSOs,
• Terra Plana Vivo Barefoot Aqua,
• Saucony Killkenny XC2s,
• Banana Republic Gibson Driving Moccasin