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Journeying from the depths of south London into the city, I’ve become familiar with the standard commuter uniform. Running trainers that live part time under an office desk, a protruding backpack, a dissociative stare. But earlier this month, a fellow twentysomething’s choice of footwear caught my eye on the Overground. Under her camouflage khaki cargos peeked a pair of Vibram FiveFingers, the instantly recognisable thin-soled, glove-like trainers that separate each toe in its own section.
Launched in 2006 by Italian company Vibram as a performance shoe for watersports and running, the FiveFingers were once reserved for the niche gym-goer or tech bro, but no more. This year, they have appeared in a multitude of TikTok videos, styled with skirts over trousers and balloon midi skirts. In April, Grammy-winning artist Doechii wore them in the music video for her viral song “Anxiety”. In July, K-pop star Jennie Kim of Blackpink was photographed sporting a pair of V-Soul FiveFingers at Seoul’s Incheon international airport. The same month, search engine Lyst ranked them as number five on its hottest product list, ahead of designs from labels such as Isabel Marant and Prada.
Spotting them “in real life” was the final confirmation that the FiveFingers had shifted from freaky to cool, trickling into trendy pockets of London and on to the feet of fashion-savvy millennials and Gen Z-ers. But how did that happen?
Headquartered in Albizzate, a small town 50km outside Milan, Vibram was founded in 1937 as a manufacturer of rubber lug soles, which it still licenses to different brands. Footwear as a category was conceived in 2006 with the launch of the FiveFingers, which today comes in a variety of styles, from the dainty V-Soul to the more sneaker-like Roadaround. Footwear is still a supplementary division, but according to Carmen Marani, global senior vice-president, today the FiveFingers range makes up 15 per cent of the company’s revenues, which in 2023 reached €248mn. The company expects the popularity of FiveFingers to grow further, with sales doubling by the end of 2026 compared to 2023 levels.
According to Marani, the traction of the FiveFingers has been powered by the company’s new focus on female shoppers. After joining in 2023, Marani’s first move was making the product more appealing to women, transforming the FiveFingers from simply a performance shoe to a trendier “aesthetic offering” with seasonal colour palettes. Abby Bucknall, head of global marketing at Vibram FiveFingers, worked on tweaking the brand’s voice, pivoting from technical imagery to a softer, ’80s-inspired aesthetic created through film photography. In 2024, the Instagram audience was 70 per cent male. Today, Bucknall says, it is 78 per cent female.
But the FiveFingers style has also benefited from young shoppers’ appetite for niche and quirky footwear. That trend accelerated during the pandemic, with fashion-forward split-toe designs like Maison Margiela’s Tabi boots entering the mainstream, and has continued with the launch of hybrid sneakers such as the Puma Speedcat ballet flat and the New Balance 1906L Loafer. Today, alongside Vibram’s FiveFingers, shoppers indulge in slip-on trainers with tabi (separated) toes designed by Kiko Kostadinov and Asics and split-toe Mary Jane sneakers by Nike.
In earlier years, Vibram touted health benefits for the FiveFingers (a claim that caused a customer lawsuit settled for $3.75mn in 2014). Many long-term users feel that the shoes strengthen their feet, and vouch for the style’s comfort. But for the fashionable city dwellers who are wearing them to their local wine bar, the real appeal lies in the unexpected edge they add to an outfit. New York-based fashion writer Leandra Medine Cohen, who recently included a picture of herself sporting the FiveFingers in her style newsletter Cereal Aisle, attributes their success to a “sort of ‘freakiness’ that is making outfits feel alive these days”. Toronto creative Nancy Nguyen, 29, regularly posts TikTok videos in her FiveFingers V-Soul ballet flats. One in which she pairs them with a gauzy lace camisole dress layered over a white T-shirt and black cropped slacks has had more than 160,000 views. “They instantly elevate a casual look,” she tells me.
The 2018 V-Soul style is enjoying a particular renaissance, so much so that it was impossible to find them in my size when I set out to buy my own FiveFingers recently. I settled for a pair of Groundsplay, which have a less feminine silhouette but cover the whole foot, making them suitable for all seasons. I wear them to the gym, to run errands and on nights out (to the dismay of some of my friend). They are comfortable, delightfully off-kilter and provide infinite conversation starters. What more could you ask of a pair of shoes?
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