Mama Goes Minimalist (or Maybe Not)

September 15, 2011

When we moved, I did what all the minimalist/downsize your life gurus suggest to do with your clothes. Get rid of them.

Not all of them of course. I tried to keep only those pieces of clothing that were either useful or beautiful - from that oft quoted William Morris advice to "have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."

Beautiful, comfortable and useful - that is the perfect, but elusive, clothing combination for me.

a favorite sweater
not beautiful but very comfy and cute

Downsizing my wardrobe was all fine and dandy but when July hit (and I started rummaging through my stash for hot weather clothes) I discovered I didn't own a pair of shorts. Not a one.

We remedied the shorts situation on our trip out west, turns out I actually enjoy shopping when I'm on vacation. And I was able to add a couple more beautiful, and functional, pieces to my wardrobe this summer with hand-me-downs from my mom.

My clothes for the summer, and much of my fall wardrobe as well, fit into a locker sized cupboard in the trailer where Damien and I are sleeping while staying with my parents. All I really need are a few basic clothing pieces, with a touch of whimsy - a flowered dress, a batik shirt, a colorful hat - to express my free spirited side.

The shoe situation when we arrived this spring in Nova Scotia was somewhat discouraging, totally devoid of whimsy, color, or personality. It was blah.

These are the shoes I moved from Maine:

1. rubber boots for farm and garden work
2. old sneakers for more farm and garden work
3. open toed black leather mules, my summer dress shoes (haven't worn once this summer)
4. black leather, very conservative, dress Rockport's with a 1 inch heel, my winter dress shoes that I've owned since before Celine was born
5. winter hiking boots

Notice there were no flip flops, casual sandals, crocs, or even hiking shoes in this list. I got rid of all my worn-out shoes before moving which was basically my summer shoes.

Lucky for me I'm married to mister minimalist shoe man and he knew how to remedy that situation.

You see, Damien knows shoes. But not just any shoes - minimalist shoes. What is that you ask? You can read all about minimalist footwear at our family's site Toe Salad - a community for all things minimalist footwear.

This is not a fad for us, like wearing those funny five fingered shoes (I started wearing those four years ago when they were the only minimalist shoe we could find for me). Going barefoot and wearing "barefoot" shoes has transformed our health. Really.

All this hiking we do would not be possible without having made the discovery years ago that less is really more when it comes to shoes. Knee issues, back pain, joint problems... health issues that had stopped us in our twenties from hiking don't exist for us now.

That's my little blurb to get you investigating this in case you have body pain issues that are keeping you from being active.

This is where I share one of the funny ironies in our simple living journey. We believe in downsizing and love reducing the amount we own (ie: my clothing philosophy) but my husband owns more shoes that anyone I know!

To fair, he doesn't keep them for ever and ever but as a shoe reviewer he gets sent a lot of minimalist shoes. It's one of the things he does - tests, reviews, and writes about minimalist shoes.  And here I am, earlier this summer, with no summer shoes! Oh the injustice (wink).

The good thing though is that Damien has connections and knew who to sweet talk to solve my summer shoe problem.

So I started the summer with the VIVOBAREFOOT Ultras (purple shoes earlier in post). If you click that link you can read my review of them. I really like them. They replaced my crocs and I even hiked and backpacked in them.

When we went out west I quickly discovered that hiking in smooth soled shoes was not going to work on the loose rocky terrain of the western mountains so Damien bought me a pair of New Balance Minimus Trail shoes.

These are now my spring, summer and fall hiking shoes. I was happy to replace my once-weird-now-trendy, four year old, falling apart Five Fingers. 

And then Damien scored me these gorgeous brown leather VIVOBAREFOOT Miles. They are so fun on my feet but definitely weren't suited for summer. By August I was starting to feel like a girl going back-to-school shopping (without having to actually shop - how awesome is that!?)

I was all set. Scruffy, old shoes for dirty work (boots in case it's really mucky), purple lightweight sandals for everything else, sneakers for hiking/backpacking, a dressier pair of shoes for fall and spring. What more does a girl need?

A girl needs beauty, every day. At least, this girl does.

And so when I saw these Kigo shoes I knew they were the shoes for me. Not for hiking and not for gardening (though you could do those activities in these shoes). But shoes for me to slip on and look pretty.

Shoes for going to town or the market with one of my colorful skirts. Shoes to wear with shorts, shoes to wear with my bathing suit when taking the kids to the beach.

Shoes for everyday activity that are also pretty!

Not only that, Kigo shoes are a perfect fit for the "barefoot lifestyle". Which is basically the premise that barefoot is best but that shoes are often needed for many modern life situations. And that to give our feet and bodies the best health our shoes should be as close to mimimalist as possible.

Which is basically our family's shoe philosophy. I know, we have philosophies about everything!

Here's what's so great about these Kigo shoes, in addition to their minimalist design:

• This pair of Kigo shoes I own (the flit model) is made from recycled materials and are 100% recyclable when they are worn out and I can't wear them anymore. Seriously, I have an address to mail them to. I hope it still exists in x number of years when I'm ready to part with them.
• Kigo footwear works towards a minimal environmental footprint. They seem to walk the talk of the minimalist philosophy, and not just in their shoe design.
• Kigo is a small company run by thoughtful, conscientious folks. I've met them. I realized when we went to OR that behind businesses and products are people. Kigo is not just shoes, they are people. And having met them I know they are the kind of people I like to support.

That's the spiel about the company but I have to say I just love the shoes. Since getting them last month, I wear them as often as I leave the house. And I feel pretty when I put them on.  And that counts for something.

Beautiful, useful and very comfortable.

The utilitarian in me is happy. The inner-barefootist in me is happy. And the girl just wanting pretty is happy. A perfect fit.

I now own nine pairs of shoes, including my winter and rubber boots. Hum... doesn't seem all that minimalist. I think I'll get rid of the open toed black mules that I didn't wear all summer. I don't need them now that I have the Kigos.

Eight pairs of shoes. In my defense, Brienne owns more than I do. She's a shoe fashionista.

Care to share how many pairs of shoes you have? Are you a shoe minimalist? Either in terms of actual shoe design or in number of pairs you own?

{And yes, I do take a lot of photos of our family wearing shoes. It's part of my job description as photographer-wife to the minimalist shoe man.}

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