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They don't slice, dice or make julienne fries. But the odd-looking MBT sneakers – touted on TV's morning chatfest ‘The View' and spied on the celebrity soles of Madonna, Angelina Jolie and Hedi Klum – promise to do almost everything else.
According to the catalog for Bliss, a New York spa that sells them, wearing the sneakers for one hour daily improves balance and circulation. Two hours a day improves posture and muscle tone in hips and thighs. A month of regular wear (including workouts) can reduce cellulite and lead to "abs an 18-year-old would envy." Can a sneaker really do that? Even a $234 sneaker? Even a sneaker that comes with a training manual?
The full name of the shoes in question is "Masai Barefoot Technology," named after the indigenous people of East Africa known for both standing tall and for their nomadic ways. The Swiss-based maker of MBT (its U.S. offices are in Hailey, Idaho) boast that the shoes replicate the experience of walking barefoot in the sand, even when traversing hard sidewalks and parking lots that don't allow any give.
A thick, seven-layer sole provides a cushion and gives the shoes the slightly goofy look of moon boots. When Sally Brown inherited a used pair from her sister, she remembers wanting to wear them as much as possible because they were like "an amusement park" for her feet. Her husband teased her, asking if she was going to wear them to bed, she wore them so often.
"I think they're shockingly homely, at least my grey ones are... Still, I was so enchanted by them that, before going out to a restaurant, I recall wracking my brains, trying to figure out some way I could make them work with a skirt or anything moderately fashionable," Brown remembers.
Her shoes, the Grey Sport, are the line's best seller, and the thick sole with a fiberglass plate, rubber sole and heel sensors make them resemble therapeutic shoes more than Jimmy Choos. Newer models, like the Lifestyle, are a little more hip, but certainly are not sleek.
Kate Leydon, the owner of Chicago's Ruby Room boutique spa, wasn't spurred to try them because of their looks, the promise of a dimple-free rear or because of the poetic nature of the shoe's name. Nor was it the study from the 2004 University of Calgary's human performance laboratory suggesting that there was some science behind the claims that the shoes increase muscle activity and reduce joint pain. (In addition to finding that the shoes did demand more of "lower extremity" muscles than traditional shoes, the study also found that wearers required 2.5 percent more oxygen consumption while walking, which helped increase the training effect.)
For Leydon feeling was believing.
"I have a lot of lower back issues and I was intrigued by the idea that the shoes might not allow dead energy to travel up the spine. I personally tried them and my back pain was completely eliminated."
At Ruby Room in Chicago, everyone on staff wears the shoes.
The shoemakers recommend new users take a training class to learn to walk properly in the shoes. Some retailers offer ongoing MBT exercise classes; others give shoppers a CD or video to follow along at home.
"For training, we just try to get people into the shoes, so they can experience where their weight will fall, and they get used to how they are built like a rocking chair. There is this continual rolling, instead of just hitting the ground with your heel first," Leydon says.
She says that once her gait adjusted to the shoes, she found her posture and walk improved, even when she was wearing other shoes.
Brown lives on a farm in O'Fallon, Ill. (across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Mo.). When Brown lucked out and received her older sister's too small MBTs, she didn't have the benefit of a training session. She hadn't even heard of the shoes when she received them in the mail.
"I thought she had just picked up some shoes on sale and they'd given her the wrong size," Brown remembers.
"I'm sort of rabidly enthusiastic about exercise and athletic shoes, but also extremely frugal. I never spend more than $29.95." So, Brown tried them on and watched the CD-Rom. "Unfortunately, I can't say that I have lost cellulite," she laments, one of the most frequent first complaints from many who compare the shoes to their claims. "I have a very clear sense, however, that they make life much easier on my knees and joints."
Even the most trusting among us is aware that that truth in advertising is a relative term. Even with regulations and watchdog groups, none of us is naïve enough to believe all we read, even when it comes to scientific studies. Part of what may make the shoes work for many, is that because they are comfortable, wearers are more willing to walk and exercise than they are in shoes that cause blisters or shin splints. And, the more you exercise, the better shape your muscles take.
In addition, the rocking shape of the sole makes it difficult just to stand still. Even waiting in line at the grocery store a wearer is likely to rock back and forth.
Says Brown, "All of a sudden, things like standing in line at the grocery store were actually kind of a kick."
Again, any movement that keeps your muscles going can help you feel more in shape. As for the cellulite, well, there still doesn't seem to be anyway to get rid of that, even at $234... other than having a photograph of your rear retouched.
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