Where do your Soft Stars take you?
We have asked this question throughout the years and many customers have answered. We’ve heard coutnless stories—and seen many breathtaking photos—about adventures they’ve had in our shoes. In fact, that’s how our RunAmoc line was born: customer began telling us stories of running long races in our moccasins and that got us thinking!
Most recently, Matej in Germany contacted us to share his amazing story. One thing people often don’t realize about minimalist shoes is just how versatile they can be, especially for travel. Matej took his leather-soled Dash RunAmocs to the Alps in Austria and had quite an adventure! We are so glad to have customers that take our shoes above and beyond, and always love hearing about it.
To reach my skiing destination Bad Gastein in Alps I had to take a plane from Berlin to München and three trains throughout Germany and Austria. The trip was going to be long and require lots of precise timing to change between planes and trains. Wanting to make my trip more cozy, I decided to go against all that I’ve been told as a kid and instead of big, stiff, waterproof winter boots, I brought my Dash RunAmocs with bullhide soles.
While I was riding in the first train, the driver said our arrival would be delayed for 12 minutes, which was just as much time I had to change to the second train. In spite of the stressful situation I felt very good as I was in my RunAmocs and therefore didn’t have the usual feeling of my feet being on fire or sweating, which enabled me to patiently wait for the moment to come when I would have to switch trains in literally 0 minutes.
The train finally stopped and I rushed out in my RunAmocs, sprinting across the Salzburg train station to catch the second train. I gotta tell you here, that not only my sprint was not impaired by having a leather sole, but I was much faster than other people running to catch the same train! Ha! I found the train right on the spot, hurriedly entered and finally, relaxed in my seat while feeling happy and very comfortable. Soon the train conductor came to check my ticket and in a shocked tone asked me why I am sitting in the first class. I guess I thought if my feet could enjoy first class during the trip, I could too!
When I arrived to Bad Gastein, the temperature there was at -7 degrees Celsius. I exited the train and while walking towards my hotel I got really surprised— I found out that my feet were not getting cold nor was I slipping anywhere. This completely contradicted my expectations, which were: “This is a crazy idea. You decided to wear minimalist shoes without a rubber sole instead of jacked winter boots to Alps! Not only are your toes going to get frozen but you will slip every step!” I even had better traction on slush and ice than my friend who had boots specialized for such conditions.
Moreover, my feet were not getting wet except at the spots where I was hitting the ground most, like my toes and back of the heel, which I really wasn’t expecting for a shoe with a 2mm leather sole. I was really happy.
During my days in Bad Gastein, I used my RunAmocs every time I wasn’t skiing. I used them to walk through the whole town in all kinds of conditions—rainy, slushy, snowy and icy. I was able to enjoy every single moment without feeling the usual pain and stinging in my feet which I often experience with normal winter boots. Also, I didn’t experience any kind of smell, which tends to appear in times of prolonged use, especially in water-resistant shoes.
Because of the brilliant design of your shoes I was able to enjoy my holidays 100% and every time I’d look down to my feet, my heart would race as I knew I had finally found awesome minimalist shoes, which I do not look weird, in which I can spread my wide feet, and which I can take to long travels and even above 2000m and get away with an amazing experience! And that wouldn’t be possible if I were wearing any other shoes.
Thanks,
Matej J
P.S. I’ll be soon getting another pair of RunAmocs to use for the likes of parkour, freerunning and martial arts. I’ve already been using this pair and it performs perfectly, but some walls tend to be really slick and then I cannot avoid using a rubber sole.
The Dash with leather sole is one of the most popular styles here at the work shop. When we first tested the sole we marveled at the perfect outline of our foot on the bottom of the shoe after our first test run. They are so light weight and flexible it’s almost like wearing nothing.
For us this is such a heartwarming story. So much of our business is not about making shoes, but helping to make life’s daily actives more comfortable. When we read stories like this we know we are doing something right and we can’t help but thank our wonderful customers for their support.
Thanks Matej, and thanks to everyone else who has helped support our little shoe workshop!
By the way, Matej made a great a video talking about his experience with our shoes, including great shots of him doing parkour in his Dash RunAmocs! Check it out:
Related Posts:
- A Visitor From Afar
- A Photo Journey: Soft Stars Across the Globe
- One Step Closer to Barefoot
